If you’re like most moms, you’d prefer to make your own baby food, but you’re worried that you won’t have the time. We totally get it! Taking care of a baby is already a full-time endeavor, and sometimes picking up a store-bought pouch of puree in between folding laundry and cleaning the nursery is all you can manage.
However, there’s a simple way to make as much baby food as you want in a single setting, then save it single-serving increments so you can feed your bundle of joy healthy, fresh, homemade food without spending a fortune.
There are only two steps:
1. Puree baby-friendly fruits, vegetables, or a combination of the two food categories.
Favorites include strawberries, blueberries, carrots, peaches, and bananas. If the puree looks a bit too thick for your baby, just add apple juice (remember to be mindful of the amount of sugar the juice contains) and continue blending until you achieve the consistency your kid loves.
Fresh purees are ready for your baby to eat immediately, but by no means are we suggesting you should get out the blender every time your infant is hungry. That’s far too labor intensive. Instead, we suggest that the next time you find 10 spare minutes (not easy, we know), dash to the kitchen, puree a bunch of fruits and vegetables, and preserve them. As for how that’s done, let’s move on to Step 2.
2. Freeze any unused leftovers in an ice cube tray.
Freezing preserves the nutrients and general goodness of a freshly pureed fruit. Even better, puree cubes allow you to serve a perfect portion every time. Hungry babies might want two or three cubes, while a little one who just wants a light snack might get by with a single serving.
You can defrost the pureed cubes really quickly in the microwave, or you can serve them frozen. This frozen option might be the ideal treat for a teething baby or a toddler who really enjoys popsicles. If you don’t want to use an ice cube tray, there are BPA-free molds available on Amazon that are a great fit for tiny hands.
Every mom develops her own favorite recipes. This isn’t baking, so you can’t really go wrong. Just throw some fruit into the blender and see how your child likes it. Here are a few ideas, courtesy of Parents magazine, to get you started:
1. Blueberry Applesauce Puree
Blend a handful of blueberries with a sweet, peeled apple. Golden Delicious and Gala apples are fine, but you can also spice things up with a sweet Honeycrisps.
2. Banana Yogurt Puree
You don’t even need a blender for this one! Just smush super-ripe banana fruit in with unsweetened yogurt and watch your baby grin.
3. Pear Raspberry Puree
First off, this recipe is only for babies who are 8 months or older, so if your kiddo is even younger, save this one for later. (It also requires a little extra work.)
Once you blend the raspberries and peeled pear chunks together into a fine puree, you’ll want to squeeze the mixture through a tightly wound sieve. Otherwise, your kid could choke on the raspberry seeds. Let’s be honest: Who wants to deal with raspberry seeds, anyway?
