Natural and Thrifty in 365: #41 Make Your Own Baby Food

by Crystal Collins on September 22, 2011

in Organic and Green Living

baby food chopper Natural and Thrifty in 365: #41 Make Your Own Baby Food

One of the things I did to save money when my children were little, was make my own baby food. In fact, I didn’t make a lot of baby food, but let my children do infant-led self-feeding.

When they become interested in certain foods, I let my children try them. As long as a child is still getting plenty of breast milk or formula, and he or she is healthy and thriving, babies don’t need to be force-fed a lot of baby foods. They will usually guide you and let you know when they need more foods in their diets.

But to help out, I would puree up baby foods in my little mini processor. I did this with carrots, sweet potatoes,fruits, vegetables and more. But as long as food is soft, you would be surprised what babies can do with those gums. Have you ever had a baby bite down on your finger with his gums? Pretty powerful stuff there!

With baby food being so expensive these days, especially the organic brands, its easy to save money when you puree your own baby food. But just remember to always supervise babies no matter what you are feeding them.

Natural & Thrifty in 365 is a year-long series of 365 tips for living more green, natural and healthy while saving money. Do you have a natural and thrifty tip that you would like to share with The Thrifty Mama readers? Contact me here and let me know about it. You just might get featured as one of the 365 tips!

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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

Mary September 22, 2011 at 5:46 pm

I did. It was easy & much less expensive than store bought.

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Stephanie September 22, 2011 at 5:49 pm

my kiddo NEVER wanted purees, cereals, etc. he wanted to eat what we were eating, so that’s what we did. steaming or nuking fruits and veggies to make them soft, sharing cheerios and yogurt…so i guess, in a way, we did make our own baby food. ;)

of course, it was easier for us, since he didn’t show any interest in solids until he was nearly 10 months old…

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Rebecca September 22, 2011 at 5:50 pm

Yes, with a Magic Bullet.

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Brittany September 22, 2011 at 5:50 pm

I got their very first foods store bought to make sure they weren’t allergic to anything before I made a huge batch, and that way I had some jars to store my homemades in :)

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Hallie September 22, 2011 at 5:50 pm

Not for the first baby but I did for the second and third and it was much easier than I expected

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Jennifer September 22, 2011 at 5:50 pm

I almost exclusively made my own baby food. I’d freeze it in little containers so I could make a larger batch at one time. The only time my kid had jar food was when my mom brought a bunch home from the day care she works at that was not going to be used up.

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Gloria September 22, 2011 at 5:51 pm

I did, loved it! It was SO easy to make and great to freeze in individual bags & cups. All I had to do was stick a few in the fridge at night and by morning they were ready to eat.

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Gloria September 22, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Freeze your babyfood in ice trays. Once frozen pop them out and store in your freezer in ziplock bags.

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Sally September 22, 2011 at 5:55 pm

I didn’t, but if I had a little one now- I totally would!

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Elisabeth September 22, 2011 at 5:55 pm

I did with my first 2 and then figured out it was even better to just feed them what everyone else was eating!

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Brittany September 22, 2011 at 5:56 pm

My youngest HATED pureed foods! We did infant led weaning and loved it! Sha has always eaten what we eat.

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Amy September 22, 2011 at 6:08 pm

Easy and superior quality.

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Larken September 22, 2011 at 6:09 pm

We just fed DD what everyone else was eating. I don’t really see the sense in shoveling purees in a little baby’s mouth…

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Alicia September 22, 2011 at 6:34 pm

I sure did! I liked that by making them myself I could control the texture! I used the ice cube trays as mentioned above. I would measure the food into the trays using tablespoons. Neither of my kids really liked jarred food, but did have it from time to time.

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Danya September 22, 2011 at 6:57 pm

We have made all of our kids food. As soon as he has a few more teeth he will eat the same as we are.

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Melissa September 22, 2011 at 7:42 pm

We made our own– and found a great book of recipes- mommy made and daddy too — I used the gladware disposables wee one cups for storage. I would chop with food processor on pulsate so it would have texture without big chunks.

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Gina September 22, 2011 at 7:47 pm

I did it! It was awesome & cheap.

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Gina September 22, 2011 at 7:49 pm

Random question but I have been wanting to ask you – does cooked rice freeze well? Ok, 2 questions – do you freeze just the pizza crust & then cook it later or freeze the whole pizza?

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Anonymous September 22, 2011 at 8:02 pm

Yes I have not had an issue with frozen rice. And you can freeze pizza both ways.

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Melanie September 22, 2011 at 8:46 pm

Did!/do

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Anna September 22, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Yes made my own baby food. steamed the fresh or frozen veggies and then pureed and froze them in ice cube trays. After they froze I stored them in baggies in the freezer. My son wouldn’t eat any of the jarred baby foods in the stores.

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Sarah September 22, 2011 at 10:19 pm

Yep! We made our own for our last 2 kids!

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Jess September 23, 2011 at 1:33 am

Yep – all of it!

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Traci September 23, 2011 at 7:57 am

I did. Cooked veggies, pureed and froze in ice cube trays.

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Rachel September 23, 2011 at 4:41 pm

I do both – I make most of my own, but do use sales/freebies to stock up on some jarred food to use while on the go because we have a hectic schedule. That way, I dont have to cart around a cooler bag… just toss the jarred food and a spoon in my bag.

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