12 Quick & Healthy Baby Food Recipes

Want to become the Julia Child of slurp-able foods? You'll be well on your way once you check out these easy options.

By Susie Foresman January 21, 2014

Want to become the Julia Child of slurp-able foods? You’ll be well on your way once you see how easy it is to make your own baby puree at home. We sourced the best recipes from across the web, with flavors ranging from sweet potato to Asian pear. (Tip: Make a big batch on Sunday afternoon and you’ll be set for the whole week.) Click through our slideshow to check out all the choices.

Organize a Baby Food Tasting and Swap

When you reach the 6-month mark, making your own baby food purees can suddenly feel like a full time job. Share the work load with your new mom friends by hosting a baby food puree swap. Each mom will make a different puree in a batch big enough to share with every member of your group. Plan ahead to make sure no one doubles up. Feel free to encourage everyone to get creative. Instead of a pea puree, try pea and basil puree. Find recipes in baby food cookbooks or in our post on 12 quick and healthy baby food puree recipes. You'll also need to decide how you want to share purees - will moms freeze in 1-ounce portions and give each mom two? Or should every mom fill 10 baby food jars and pass one to each of the other moms? On your playdate day, beyond swapping the purees, you could even have a tasting, so the babies can try new foods together.

Got an older baby? Try swapping different veggie nuggets - we have seven nugget recipes for finger food loving babies here.

Why it's a Winner: You want to introduce lots of different foods and flavors to your baby, but making tons of different purees every day is time consuming (and you have a needy 6 month old!). This is an easy way for your baby and all of his friends to get a healthy, homemade, varied diet.

Photo: Hellobee

Do you make your own baby food? What’s your favorite kind? Let us know in the Comments section below.

— Susie Foresman

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