by: Jennifer Shircel

Those little containers of baby food sure are expensive once you start totaling up how much you use in a day. Now you are probably wondering how you could possibly save money on baby food (besides those $.25 coupons). Well, you can't save money on those little containers, but you can on baby food itself. How? Make it yourself! It's really not as hard as you think. Do a search on the internet for "homemade baby food" and you'll find tons of recipes on how to make just about anything perfect for your little one.

Let me tell you how easy it can be to make your own baby food. Yes, it takes a bit of time, but knowing that you're giving your baby the best food for him (uh huh, better than the baby food you buy in the store) and saving some money at the same time it is all worth it! So, here we go…

The best thing to do is to buy fresh fruits and veggies, but the next best is frozen. Canned foods usually have too much sodium or preservatives in them. Before we begin, there are very important rules to follow when you're cooking the foods on your own, but you'll learn those from specific recipe requirements. Besides bananas and melons, most foods need to be cooked or steamed first. Steaming is the best choice for preparing your baby food. You'll need to steam the foods until they are nice and soft which can bary anywhere from 15-25 minutes. Once they are done, they are placed into a blender to be pureed (some foods will need to be peeled before they are pureed). When they've been pureed, you will either use fresh water or the water left over from being steamed to mix with the pureed food to make it thinner for the baby to eat. Once you have the food ready, it is poured into ice cube trays (which are easiest) and then frozen. When the cubes are completely frozen they can be stored in zip lock bags until they are ready to be served.

Also note that there are specific cooking rules for all the foods, so be sure to follow all recipes thoroughly. Try making some baby food yourself. If you don't want to do it solely, try just preparing some homemade fruits or desserts for your little one.

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