Homemade Baby Food Basic Recipes

Making your own baby food is not only easy, but really economical.  I always try to make my baby food from fruits and vegetables I already have and am serving the rest of my family.  The fun part about making your baby food in small cubes like this is that you can try lots of flavor combinations!  Just pop 1 cube of each flavor from your freezer and heat.  Some of our favorites are:

Pear + Spinach

Banana  + Squash

Apple + Sweet Potato + Blueberry

Carrot + Squash + Apple

Peach + Banana + Carrot

Apple + Blueberry + Kale

Pear + Carrot + Peas

Pear + Zucchini

Squash + Peas

Have fun experimenting and letting your baby try all sorts of new flavors!  

  

Fruit/Veggie	How to Prepare
Apple/Pear	Place fruit in a pot and add enough water to just cover the fruit. Cover and cook on high until fruit is soft. Drain water and puree the fruit in a blender.
Peaches/Nectarines/Plums	Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place fruit (with skin) in the pot and blanch for 1 minute. Immediately transfer blanched fruit to the bowl of ice water using a slotted spoon. Leave in the ice water for another minute.  Remove fruit and slip skins off. Cut fruit in half and remove the pit.  Puree in a blender.
Banana/Avocado	Remove skin from the fruit.  If your baby is just starting solids, puree in a blender. If they have been eating solids for a while, mash with a fork.
Blueberry	Puree fruit with a small amount of added water in a blender.
Sweet Potato/Squash/Pumpkin	For sweet potato, poke holes in it with a fork and place on a baking sheet. For squash, cut in half and remove seeds; place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 1 hour depending on the size. Once baked and soft, scoop flesh out.  If your baby is just starting solids, puree in a blender with a small amount of water.  If your baby is more experienced, mash with a fork and serve.
Carrots/Cauliflower/Broccoli	Peel carrots and cut in half.  Cut cauliflower and broccoli into small pieces. Steam veggies until tender.  Puree with a small amount of water in a blender until smooth.
Peas/Zucchini	Cut zucchini into pieces.  Steam veggies until tender.  Puree in a small amount of water until smooth.
Green Beans	Cut ends off and steam until tender. Puree in a small amount of water until smooth.
Kale/Spinach	Trim ends off of leaves.  (Use baby Kale) Puree in a small amount of water until smooth.

Storing Homemade Baby Food

If you are going to use your baby food right away and you only made a small portion, you can just store in your fridge for up to 3 days.  If you make your baby food in bigger batches then freeze it.  The best way to make baby food into single serving size is to use ice cube trays!  Spoon the pureed food into the tray and freeze.  Once it is frozen (2 hours)  then pop the cubes out and store in an airtight freezer container for up to 3 months.  

Heating Homemade Baby Food

When you are ready to use your baby food that you have frozen, remove as many cubes as you will use in a sitting.  Once reheated, you should not freeze again.

Microwave

Place in a microwave safe container and heat in 15 second intervals until the desired temperature has been reached.  Stir between each heating interval.  Before serving to your baby, stir thoroughly and test the temperature again to avoid any hot pockets.  

StoveTop

Use a smaller saucepan and place the food into the sauce pan. Heat on low and stir frequently until desired temperature has been reached.