7 Homemade Baby Food Recipes to Save Money This Month (2024)

The feedback from my first homemade baby food post was so wonderful, I thought I’d do a round two. I’m so glad you found it to be as helpful a resource as I had hoped. Hope you enjoy this one as well!

One Month of Baby Food

I still love making food for Liv as much as I thought I would. It’s so much fun to introduce her to new flavor combos and ingredients, and I have a feeling it will be this way… forever.

I make one month of baby food at a time, freeze it all, and thendefrost it over nightas we need it. It’s theperfect main component of her meal, and I’ll always give her a little bit of what we’re having, too. It always surprises me to see what she’ll go crazy over (salmon! a girl after my own heart) and what she doesn’t enjoy as much, like egg yolks.

Liv is currently 8.5 months and here’s some of our recent stash of homemade baby food. As usual, it took a little under an hour and about $20 to make everything.

(I like to use these storage containers)

7 Homemade Baby Food Combinations for This Month

Apple-carrot

Sweet potato, apple, cinnamon

Zucchini-banana

Broccoli, apple kale

Spinach, pea, pear

Blueberry quinoa (brown rice, or oats)

Plum banana quinoa (brown rice, or oats)

For all of these, see what your baby prefers as far as fruits and veggie ratios go. For Liv, I find that she enjoys the veggies more if a little fruit is mixed in, especially with greens to cut the bitterness. Usually I’ll try to do mostly veggies and a little fruit.

Homemade Baby Food Recipes

Blend these homemade baby food combinations well and thin as necessary with water or breastmilk–especially necessary with starchy mixes.

Apple-carrot:1-2 peeled, steamed applesand3 steamed carrots.

Sweet potato, apple, cinnamon:2 baked sweet potato flesh, one peeled and steamed appleplusa tiny pinch of cinnamon. (A little goes a long way for tiny tastebuds!).

Zucchini-banana:3 steamed zucchini and 2 fresh bananas.

Broccoli, apple, kale:1/2 package of steamed frozen organic broccoli, one peeled and steamed apple,1/2 bag of kale, wilted in a little olive or coconut oil on the stove top.

Spinach, pea, pear: 1/2package of defrosted frozen spinach (or fresh, wilted in a little olive or coconut oil on the stovetop), 1/2 package of frozen, organic defrosted peas (the other half of last month’s bag) and 2 pears.

Blueberry quinoa: 1/2 bag frozen blueberries and1/2 cup cooked quinoa.

Plum banana quinoa:1 banana, 2 plums and 1/2 cup cooked quinoa.

Make Healthy Homemade Baby Food in Under an Hour

Follow these steps for efficient homemade baby food prep!

-Preheat the oven, wash the sweet potatoes and poke with holes. Bakefor about 50 minutes at 375.

-Start boiling the water for the quinoa (or brown rice), rinse well and get that cooking.

-Peel all the fruits and veggies as needed and start steaming. You can either microwave in a glass bowl with a little water, or steam on the stovetop. We use this electric steamer contraption, which makes everything easy to steam at once in layers. Apples and pears can also be boiled for 7-9 minutes until tender. (You can do fruits together, like the apples, pears and plums, and then veggies together, like the broccoli, spinach and peas to make less steaming rounds. Remember, it’s not an exact science! Have fun with it)

-Heat up the pan and start wilting the greens as the fruits/veggies steam.

-Puree in batches, adding a little water or breastmilk as necessary to thin out.

-For the combos that use the same ingredients, do those together. For example, I’ll do the quinoa batches right after each other (half with blueberries, the other half with plum and banana)

BONUS: Chicken, quinoa and carrots(You have almost all the ingredients for this already on hand- all you need is a plain roasted chicken breast, season with a little garlic, oregano or cumin as you like)

How to Store Homemade Baby Food in the Freezer

I love the Baby Bullet containers, and will usually fill 2-3 with the purees and freeze the rest flat in Ziploc baggies (all Ziploc products are BPA free).

Ice cube trays are perfect too -I couldn’t find any at Target which was kinda weird- and remember to defrost only what your baby will eat over the next couple of days. Keep the rest in the freezer.

Just for Fun Baby Food Extras

-Happy Baby puffs or Little Ducks dried fruit. Liv loves these for breakfast and lunches! I’ll put a few on her tray with some fresh, soft fruits or veggies (bites of banana, melon, avocado, peeled beans and sweet potato work really well) while I get our meals ready. We used to use the mesh feeder often, but Liv is getting much better at gnawing on food with her gums and swallowing it. She loves to pinch up tiny bites of soft food.

One Month of Homemade Baby Food Shopping List

-3 apples

-2 pears

-2 plums

-3 bananas

-3 zucchini

-2 sweet potatoes

-carrots (buy the long ones instead of the baby ones, which are washed in a bleach solution)

(The followingusually last 2 months, with the exception of the fresh kale. I still had thebroccoli, peas and blueberries in the freezer from last time. I always have quinoa on hand, but you can buy it in the bulk bin. I only included half a bag of each in the $20 total cost)

-1 package frozen blueberries

-1 package spinach (fresh or frozen)

-1 package broccoli (frozen)

-1 package kale

-1 C quinoa (bulk bin)

*Keep in mind that I’m not a baby food expert or baby nutrition specialist in any way- these are just the foods that Liv likes and an inexpensive list of combos. Always check with your doctor regarding the best method for feeding your baby and before introducing any new foods. We do a combo of pureed food and baby led weaning over here, and it’s working well for us so far <3

xoxo

(Affiliate links are included, which do not impact purchase price but allow me to earn a small kickback. Thank you so much for your support!)