An Easy Guide to Making First Foods

One way to save money on baby food is to make your own.  It's SO simple and doesn't require any fancy equipment (ie. the baby bullet), just a blender, a microwave or oven & some ice cube trays.  If you buy your baby food at the grocery store, it will run you about $1 for a couple ounces.  I do most of my grocery shopping at Walmart with price matching and mostly stick to what is on sale.

Apples, peaches & plums were on sale this week, all of which make excellent first foods.  I also bought a sweet potato and a butternut squash because I wanted her to have some veggies too.  I'll cover how to prepare those five foods in this post!

Friendly Reminders

*If you are blending with breast milk, do NOT use previously frozen milk 

*Once prepared, fruits & veggies can stay in freezer for up to 3 months.  Think about that when deciding how much you want to make.

*Have patience. The longer you bake your fruits & veggies, the easier they are to peel and blend.

Apples

Five apples made about 11oz. of food

1. Peel & core apples
2. Chop apples
3. Put in saucepan with just enough water to cover the top of apples
4. Boil until apples feel soft to the touch (mine took about 30 min.)
5. Drain apples
6. Blend with leftover water or milk 
7. Pour into ice cube trays
8. Cover with foil & freeze

Butternut Squash

This squash made 15oz of food

1. Cut squash in half, lengthwise
2. Put 1-2 inches of water in baking dish
3. Place squash flesh-side down in baking dish
4. Bake at 400 degress for about one hour (stick a knife in to test softness)
5. Scoop out flesh and blend with water or milk
6. Put in ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Sweet Potatoes

Tip: Don't go for the largest sweet potato available!  
I did and it took nearly an hour and a half to cook!

1. Poke holes in sweet potato
2. Wrap in foil
3. Bake in oven at 400 degress for about 30-45 minutes.  Use a knife to test for softness.
4. Cut in half and scoop out insides
5. Blend with milk or water
6. Put in ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Plums

Tip: There are many different ways to cook a plum. 
This is the one I used and they were still hard to peel.  
If I made them again, I would boil them for longer!

1. Place plums in a pot of boiling water for 5-10 minutes.  The longer they cook, the easier it is to get the skin off (lesson learned).
2. Once the skin starts to pucker, place them into a bowl of cold water
3. Roll the plums on a hard surface to peel the skin away
4. Cut into small pieces
5. Blend with milk or water
6. Pour into ice cube trays
7. Cover & freeze

Peaches

Tip: Use peaches that are nice & ripe and don't be afraid to cook
 them until they are really soft.  
The skin will come right off, the longer you cook them.

1. Cut peaches in half, remove pit
2. Place peaches flesh side down in a baking pan that contains about an inch of water.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, test their softness with a knife.  The softer, the better & easier they are to peel (lesson learned).
4. Remove & discard skin
5. Cut remaining peaches into piece
6. Blend with milk or water
7. Pour into ice cube trays
8. Cover & freeze

It is my hope that someone finds this post helpful.  Making your own baby food is so simple and satisfying; it's really hard to mess up, so don't be afraid!  Once you have your freezer stocked with various fruits and veggies, you can start mixing them together to make delicious meals for your baby.