I freely admit to knowing next to nothing about babies before having one my own, but one thing I did know was that when the time came I wanted to make my own baby food. I prepare Ben’s and my food everyday, so why should it be any different for my sweet baby boy?
First a little background: we attempted rice cereal when Lincoln was 4 months old but whether he was too young, or rice cereal just wasn’t for him, it didn’t agree with his tummy. We waited two months then tried again with Earth’s Best Organic Whole Grain Oatmeal Cereal, which you can find in all major grocery/baby stores. Ding, ding, ding, we had a winner and have been serving it to him ever since.
After figuring out the iron-fortified grains, we started incorporating real foods into his diet in addition to oatmeal. I can’t tell you how excited I was for that day to come – it was so hard to wait 6 months! Ben wanted to feed him spring rolls but I suggested we start with sweet potatoes, which has remained his favorite food to date.
We started with 1 Tablespoon pureed food with dinner then gradually added more volume and variety. After a few weeks, we gave him real foods with breakfast as well. Around 8 months, we added a small lunch. Right now, at 9 months, Lincoln eats real food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in addition to oatmeal at breakfast and dinner.
Now, what do I mean by “real food”? I mean REAL FOOD! Here’s the pureed and/or chopped foods he’s currently chowing down on:
- Sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Peas
- Spinach
- Bananas
- Avocado
- Carrots
- Butternut squash – we get those giant clamshells from Costco
- Blueberries
- Cheerios
- Applesauce
- Peaches
- Prunes
- Pears
- Broccoli
- Black beans
- Eggs, usually scrambled
- Well-cooked pasta
- Watermelon
- Summer squash
- Asparagus
- Salmon sauteed in olive oil
(Lincoln has shown signs of a dairy intolerance so right now we are not feeding him cheese, cottage cheese, or yogurt, which are typical in the diets of a 9 month old. I have not had to cut dairy out of my diet though.)
Currently Lincoln prefers finger foods over pureed foods (seriously kind of a divo about it!) but that certainly wasn’t always the case. As the title of this post implies, I made all his baby food using a blender starting at 6 months and I’m going to show you how to make homemade baby food too. Here’s what you need – I’m sure you have most if not all of the supplies already!
- A big pot to steam food in
- A steamer basket to steam food on
- Ice cube trays to freeze baby food in
- A strainer for extremely pulpy/fibrous foods
- Blendtec Designer Series Blender + Twister Jar
Start by choosing the food you want to puree. Soft foods like pears and avocados you can blend without cooking, but harder foods like sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, green beans, etc, you’ll need to prep first by washing, peeling if necessary, then chopping.
Add a couple inches of water to a big soup pot then place a steamer basket inside. Bring the water to a boil then add the raw food to the steamer basket and place a lid on top. Turn the heat down to medium and then steam until tender. How long will that take? Well, it depends on what you’re cooking and how small you chopped it, but foods like sweet potato and butternut squash could take 10 minutes, while peas and green beans will take just 3 or 4.
Pop the steamed food into a blender then add enough water from the pot to blend until smooth, or breast milk if you’ve got extra on hand. These juicy pears didn’t need anything at all!
Blend the food until smooth – I use the “smoothie” setting on my Blendtec – then pour into ice cube trays.
If the puree is thick, like avocado, scrape into a Zilock baggie then cut the tip off and squeeze into ice cube trays. Cover with plastic wrap, I like Glad Press’n’Seal wrap, then freeze.
FYI – homemade baby food is measured in “cubes” which is 2 Tablespoons (1oz) a cube, aka 1 standard-size ice cube. Do not be tempted to buy cheap-o ice cube trays, by the way. I guarantee they’ll snap in half after your second time using them then you’ll just have to buy another set. Spend an extra couple of dollars for thick plastic ones like these or if it’s in the budget, splurge for silicone ice cube trays.
Once the cubes are frozen, pop ’em out then stash in freezer bags. Heat in the microwave or thaw in the fridge overnight if that’s how you roll. Either way – that’s it!
I know a lot of Moms and Dads go on food making benders on the weekends, making a month’s worth of food in one afternoon, but I prefer to make batches here and there. It fits my schedule better…and my freezer!
To recap: wash, peel, chop, steam, blend. Easy peasy. You can totally do it!
Don’t be afraid to blend foods that aren’t “obvious” either, like soups (my sister-in-law religiously blended my Homemade Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup for my niece,) and steamed or sauteed meat. Pureed chicken, sweet potato, and green bean cubes, anyone? Lincoln is on the tiny side so I have been adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to his reheated purees, too! As always, make sure you are feeding your child age-appropriate baby food and check with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. My biggest piece of advice is don’t rush the process. Your baby will eat real food when he or she is ready so don’t force it.
Time-Saving Tips:
- Buy frozen fruits and vegetables. They’re just as healthy as fresh, and are frozen at the peak of ripeness. I buy frozen organic peas, green beans, and spinach then steam them according to package directions before blending.
- Buy store-bought when it makes sense. Nobody says that since you make some of your own baby food that you have to make all of it. I feed Lincoln store-bought organic unsweetened applesauce cups, which are the perfect portion size, as well as chopped peach/pear cups packed in 100% juice. Avoid the chopped fruits that are packed in syrup at all costs!
- Mix foods in the blender after you know your child isn’t allergic or have an aversion to it. I used to only blend/freeze foods by themselves, but found myself opening 3 or 4 bags of food cubes to mix up his dinner. Now I blend sweet potatoes and green beans together, for example, and only have to open 1 bag to make a meal.
Now go forth, and blend your own baby food!
Blendtec Blender Giveaway!
Having my Blendtec Blender for making baby food has been invaluable. I tried making purees in my food processor at first but the food just never got smooth enough. The Blendtec whips everything I throw into it until it’s silky and whippy – and does it fast. Heck, it’s so appetizing that I sometimes sneak a swipe or two out of the blender for myself!
Blendtec would like Moms and Dads out there to experience the same blended bliss as I have, so they’re giving away a certified refurbished Designer Series Blender plus a Twister Jar for small batches to one IGE reader! (Note: I have the signature series blender, not the designer series which is why they look different.)
Enter to win the Blendtec Designer Series Blender plus a Twister Jar by using the voting widget below (may not work in Internet Explorer.) To enter, click the “+1″ button then click “Enter” by 12pm central time on Friday, May 9th. Gain an additional entry by Liking Blendtec on Facebook. Good luck!
*** PLEASE NOTE: the voting widget below may take up to a minute to load and may not work in Internet Explorer. The winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org and will be contacted directly via email. ***
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thank you for supporting IGE!
Hannah 05.12.2014
LOVE this post!! So helpful! Can you also share about how often you are nursing him still? Now that my daughter is eating foods…just not sure how often/how much to keep nursing her! Not sure we have a good “schedule” down with that. I know it’s important for her to keep getting the milk, but sometimes she doesn’t seem hungry enough for it and I’m worried she’s not getting enough and that my supply might run out!!
Hannah 05.12.2014
oops…submitted a wrong email with the last comment (left the “l” out of gmail… :)
Kristin 05.12.2014
We are still nursing 4 times a day. We also had some trouble with him being too full from meals to nurse so we scaled back until his appetite revved up a bit more!
Food Recipes for Babies | Food Recipes 05.10.2014
[…] How To Make Your Own Baby Food + Blendtec Blender … 8 months, we added a small lunch. Right now, at 9 months, Lincoln eats real food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in addition to oatmeal at breakfast and dinner. How To Make Homemade Baby Food | iowagirleats.com. […]
Jenelle 05.09.2014
Hmmm. I just tried to register for the giveaway, because in the post it says it’s open until today at 11:59pm, but the widget says that the contest is over??
Kristin 05.09.2014
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I must have set it to end at 12pm instead of am. I will manually add your name to the list of entrants!
Jenelle 05.09.2014
Aw. Thanks so much, Kristin! :)
Emily 05.09.2014
My little guy is 4mos and I cant wait to start this! Thanks for the tutorial!
You mention Lincoln is on the tiny side and so it my guy – 3rd percentile! Have you found real food has moved him up the weight and percentile charts!? I feel super uptight about it :(
Kristin 05.09.2014
It’s only moved him up 1%. I’m short, 5’2, and my husband was super short until high school, so I think he’s destined to be on the tiny side for awhile. I worry about it too, but know that there’s also nothing I can do to move him up. Hang in there, he’ll be just fine!! :)
Hayley 05.08.2014
Love this post! I didn’t make my food with my first, but am planning on making it for my second. How does the pureed avocado do? Do you still blend it in the blendtec and then freeze without any browning?
Kristin 05.08.2014
Yep! It freezes and reheats perfectly – you would never know it wasn’t fresh!
Naya 05.08.2014
Awesome post! I’m gonnna need this information by the end of the year.
Trisha 05.08.2014
Bookmarking this now, using it someday! I’m not even pregnant but I already know that I want my babies to eat real, whole foods, made by me!
susan 05.08.2014
Ive been dreaming of getting one. Thank you for the opportunity.
jesser 05.08.2014
We did this for both our kids and I would do it all over again. The only snafu we hit was when we were traveling one time and we bought some food for our daughter and she refused to eat it. I really hadn’t expected that! I also would recommend Anabel Karmel’s website – she has some meat/fruit/veg combination puree recipes that were really great.
Amanda 05.08.2014
I made all the food for my first two, but I will say this last time around baby food has come a long way and I love some of the organic pouches too. So many great combos and options available. I especially love the Plum world baby ones!
Food Recipes for Babies | Food Recipes 05.08.2014
[…] How To Make Your Own Baby Food + Blendtec Blender … https://iowagirleats.com/As the title of this post implies, I made all his baby food using a blender starting at 6 months and I'm going to show you how you can do it too. Here's what … Well, it depends on what you're cooking and how small you chopped it, but foods like sweet potato and butternut squash could take 10 minutes, while peas and green beans will take just 3 or 4. How To Make ….. Subscribe to Daily Posts by Email. Iowa Girl Eats Weekly Update Email · 15 10 Fresh Salad Recipes … […]
Alis 05.07.2014
Did you ever mix your purees with breastmilk? Do you only use water and e.v.o.o. on the veggies?
Kristin 05.08.2014
I don’t just because I don’t have that much extra to spare for his food. If I did, I probably would, but water works just fine!
erin @hooleywithaz 05.07.2014
love this post! i am definitely planning on making my own baby food (although it will be a while…baby isn’t even here til august). it just makes sense to make food out of what we eat for the baby.
Sara S. 05.06.2014
I love this post!! My second child is 8 months and I’ve been making most all her baby food. I was working out of the house full time with my first and just couldn’t find the time to get it done. It is really easy, just can be a bit time consuming. I haven’t tried spinach yet, I’ll have to give that a try. Some new puréed veggies and fruits that I just tried are zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower and mango (I bought the frozen chunks at a Trader Joes). Thanks for this post, you do a fantastic job!
Jeri Wendzel 05.06.2014
Does Lincoln have any teeth yet? My 8 month old doesn’t and when I read that you give him some whole foods I wonder how he does that! Sometimes, I’ll give my daughter some food and it might have a chunk in it and she’ll gag or choke. Didn’t know if that was just my child. That’s why I haven’t even thought to give her anything whole yet.
Kristin 05.07.2014
No teeth yet! He just gums everything. :) At first with things like blueberries it was hard for him to eat the skin without any teeth – he’d spit a few of them out – then they just kind of figure it out. He just slammed a 1/4 of them cut in half this morning!
Jeri Wendzel 05.07.2014
Then there is hope!!
Joanna 05.06.2014
Awesome! Loved making my own baby food! Although I don’t have babies anymore, I can make all kinds of good stuff with this!!
Megan 05.06.2014
My mom follows your blog and sent me the link because she knows I’m thinking of making food for my 5 month old. You make it sound really easy! Quick question- how do you heat up the food when it is time to eat? I know you shouldn’t use the microwave if the food is mixed with breast milk.
Kristin 05.06.2014
I use the water from the pot to blend my purees so I just microwave them when it’s time to eat. If you’ve used breast milk you can let the cubes thaw in the fridge overnight then feed it to your child cold (Lincoln’s eaten cold purees before and hasn’t seemed to mind.) Alternatively you warm it slowly in a sauce pan on the stove!
Daniela Taylor 05.06.2014
Thank you for the post. I am a first time mom of a 3 months old girl and I really appreciate the help that you present. I am afraid of the right decisions I am about to make concerning my daughter health when the time comes. Eating habits start development from the first spoon and it will be little easier when there is somebody to show you this important first steps. Thank you again.
Lucy 05.06.2014
I LOVE my Blendtec that I recently purchased. It is amazing!
Food Recipes for Babies | Food Recipes 05.06.2014
[…] How To Make Your Own Baby Food + Blendtec Blender … https://iowagirleats.com/Let's talk about homemade baby food! I freely admit … If you're looking for some good recipes for homemade baby food, plus charts on what is appropriate by age, check out http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com. We have … […]