Raising Eco Baby on a Budget, Part 7: DIY Eco Baby Food

Looking for the healthiest and most budget-friendly baby food options?

Ounce per ounce, pre-made baby food can cost up to 5 times as much as homemade, and it can sometimes be full of fats, fillers, salts and sugars that baby doesn’t need. I’m sharing some great tips on how to make your own baby food in no time, with little mess, no waste, and lots of great health benefits for baby and Ma’ Earth.

Homemade Baby Food 101

Why this matters

• Conventional pre-made baby food can be full of icky preservatives and pesticides, by making your own organic baby food you can slash your little one’s exposure to pesticides by nearly 97%.
• It’s super important that baby is eating organic food, and here’s why: the EPA has determined that infants up to age 2 are, on average, 10 times more vulnerable to carcinogenic chemicals than adults. Before the age of 2 babies have accumulated 50% of their life-time cancer risk. With all the money you save from making your own baby food you can even add more organic produce into your own meals as well.
• Making your own baby food can cost as little as $55 in the first year, not to mention how much it drastically reduces your carbon footprint.

On a personal note

I thought this sounded like a pain in the baby butt to make their food on top of everything else a new parent has to do. But in reality, even though I don’t like to cook, I loved making their food because a) it was easy and b) I was beyond content knowing that I was giving my babes the very best nutritional start and helping to reduce their chances of disease later in life. 

Ready to try?

• Tune in to this episode for my tried and true tips on homemade baby food (that’s all Baby Sky approved).
• Skip the fancy baby food maker (I admit I fell for one, it now sits in our storage closet) and use a simple metal vegetable steamer and your blender instead.
• There are a gazillion baby food recipes online, so skip the baby food cookbooks and save yourself the money. We loved a bunch of veggies like peas, green beans, squash and carrots – and sweet potato for a sure home run. You can mix in some avocado for healthy fats, and you can mix in breast milk to lighten the consistency. 
• Once you’ve made your batches of baby food for the week, you can save the puree for later by freezing in BPA-free ice cube trays. (Use within a month.) 
• If you love a squeezable baby food pouches, try a reusable one like like these from Squooshi. Nearly one billion (yes, you read that right) squeezable baby food pouches hit the landfill worldwide every year!

A Deeper Dig

Momtastic’s Wholesome BabyFood is a great resource for baby food recipes and tips.

Fresh Pick

Once you’ve made a big batch, store and then freeze it in these BPA-free silicon trays.

Did You Know?

Those squishy store-bought pouches are not recyclable. However, if you must buy them sometimes to help you out of a jam, Terracycle (a company that recycles the non-recyclable) will accept them.