I have been making homemade baby food since my first daughter was an infant. There are so many fruits and veggies that are hard to find in premade baby food and I found that limiting. Like Avocado – I haven’t found avocado in a baby food but it is such a great, healthy fat item for your little one. Mix that avocado with a little banana and you have a yummy combo.
Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.
Homemade Baby Food – That sounds complicated
It’s not! Homemade baby food is so simple with just a couple of tools (and you don’t need the fancy baby food maker that you will see). Many of the “recipes” that I make don’t even require measuring or cooking! Here is what I use:
- NutriBullet – I love this because it blends great & when you are out of the baby food stage, it makes great Green Smoothies for you!
- 4 oz Storage Containers with Lids
- Fruits & Veggies
Seriously, that’s it. I will show you multiple ways to make food that is quick and cost effective!
Is it Really Cheaper to Make my Own?
It really is. My 5 month old currently eats at least 4 pouches of baby food per day (sometimes big boy eats 5 but we are going conservative for the analysis). The cheapest pouches that I can find are at Aldi or the Walmart brand and they are around .78 or .79 a pouch. So I’m looking at $3.16 a day in baby food or $22.12 a week.
If I make my own, I use different fruits and veggies so the cost may vary some but for simplicity we will look at the breakdown of the Avocado Banana mix and extend it across a week for comparison to pre-made pouches.
Bananas – $0.43 a lb or $0.16 per banana
Avocado – $0.78 each
Total Cost for this Batch -$1.33 (1 Banana – 0.16 / 1.5 Avocados – $1.17)
Total per 4 oz – Equivalent to one pouch – $0.3325
Total Savings
So if I fed him my homemade baby food vs. pouches for one week, I would save $12.81 that week! Ya’ll that is more money for formula or diapers! It is so simple to make your own. Here’s how!
5 Minute Avocado Banana Baby Puree
This is so simple and quick. You will have this whipped up in 5 minutes or less!
1. Prep your Fruit
Did you know Avocado was a fruit? I always think of it as a vegetable but either way it is a super healthy food! Simply peel your banana. Cut and remove the pit of your avocado.
2. Load your blender with the fruit.
3. Add a Liquid.
For this I just added water, but you can add breast milk or formula if preferred. I added 3/4 a cup of water in this recipe and it was still a pretty thick mixture but it is ok with my baby. If you want a thinner consistency, just add more liquid. I would add a little at a time so that you don’t end up with complete soup though!
4. Blend!
5. Divide out into your 4 Oz cups.
Depending on your consistency, you may get more or less. I got 4 from this recipe with a consistency of guacamole. If I had made it a little thinner, I probably could have gotten 5 (making it even more economical) and easier on babies that may have trouble with thicker purees.
6. Store
The purees will keep for a few days in the fridge but I usually put mine immediately in the freezer. Every night, I just pull out the number of purees that I need for the next day and put them in the fridge to thaw. I had wondered how the avocado would hold up & if it would brown. It is perfectly creamy after being frozen and there was a very light browning on the top. I just mixed it up when opening the container and it blends right up to a nice avo green color. (The pouches brown a little too on the first bite if you look closely).
I hope you will try homemade baby food for your little one! What are your favorite baby food combos to feed your little one?