One Hour for One Month’s Worth of Homemade Baby Food- 40+ Stage 1 Recipes!

Making homemade baby food does not have to be another chore! It can actually be really enjoyable and I personally love making it. I have never bought jarred food for my first son Miles that is 2 and ½ and am now making it for my second son Ellis who is 7 months old.  I say that ONLY to tell you that I have gone through a lot of different ways of making it, until I figured out what I think is the best way to go!  

Just like cooking for your family, planning is key. You don’t want it to be something you have to do all the time or worry about having enough.  Does this happen sometimes? Of course! We are human. But I always feel best after I follow this strategy, and I don’t have to worry if I’ll have enough food or variety for the month.  If you have 1 hour, you can make one month worth of food with 40+ different recipes!  This meal plan is for stage 1 of baby food, 6-8 months old.

UPDATED on 9/20/19! New pictures and made a few changes to the steps, adding in options for an instant pot that made this even faster!

Related Post: If you want to start with easy, one and done recipes: Baby Food Recipes for your 6 Month Old 

Related: All posts on baby food,  If your baby is 8-10 months old, make sure to check out the stage 2 plan! For 10-12 months old (or baby led weaning!), some easy and healthy baby finger foods

A couple of disclaimers before we start!

This article is not to convince anyone to make your own homemade baby food, but to give you a great strategy if you have decided this is the route you want to go!  There is nothing wrong with buying baby food.  Personally this is something I wanted to do for several reasons 1) saves money 2) I know exactly what is in the food 3) I don’t have to lock into buying premixed jars and could play around with different baby food recipes.  

Per American Academy of Pediatrics, babies still get the majority of their nutrition from breast milk or formula until 1 year of age (24-32 ounces daily).  Most babies start eating solids at 6 months, but your doctor may tell you that your baby is ready at 4 months. I’ve never started at 4 months, and there is new evidence that there aren’t nutritional benefits to starting early.  But again- this is one of those decisions you can make with your pediatrician and personal research. 

When you first start feeding your baby solids, give him one new food at a time for 3 days before starting the next.  This ensures that you will catch any allergic reaction they may have.  Once you know that your child can tolerate a food, introduce another single ingredient and repeat the process.  You can mix in previously tolerated food.  For example, if you start with sweet potatoes first for 3 days and you try apple next- you can mix in the sweet potato because you already have fed your baby sweet potato.  You wait 3 days after introducing apple to feed them a new food, and so forth.

Download Your Free Baby Food Resource Guide!

Use this resource guide for all 6 months of baby food! Includes shopping lists and recipes for all 3 stages, a first foods log and a meal planning tracker.

Subscribe (free!) to my newsletter with 23K+ moms and get tips for mom life, projects, and meal preps PLUS get instant access to my resource library with ALL of my other free files and printables (including this baby food resource guide)! Once subscribed, I will send you a newsletter with all the details.

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Okay, back to cooking!

I’m going to be upfront- this will cause lots of dishes.  🙁  That is  my least favorite chore to do!  I like to have the dishwasher empty so I can load it as I  go.  Or when reality happens, I put it off and regret it later but I have to at least tell you the optimal way of going about it!  What makes this process so fast is that I use different methods of cooking at the same time and everything I own that can puree.  Of course, you can also split it up and do it the way that fits your life best.  

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience, please read my disclosure policy for more information. 

You will need:

Related: A more detailed list of everything you need to make baby food.

*** Why ice cube trays?? Each cube is 1 ounce so it’s a perfect amount for baby food.  I combine 2-3 cubes per meal.  I need a lot of trays because I freeze each fruit and vegetable separately, this is how you can get 40+ recipes in one meal prep afternoon!

But just because you make your own food doesn’t mean you need to be envious of others when they pull out their easy breezy baby food pouches.  There are some amazing reusable baby food pouches!  If you know you’ll be out and about a lot during the week, just prep a few on Sunday and have some ready to go food.

Grocery List of Fruits and Veggies:

  • Sweet Potato
  • Butternut Squash
  • 3 Apples
  • 3 Pears
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash
  • Carrots
  • Bag of Frozen Peas
  • Blueberries

You don’t need to cook the following, but are always great to have on hand:

  • Bananas
  • Avocados

Update: I used to have baby cereal here.  I’ve never really used much of it, a little with my first and none with my second. There is nothing wrong with feeding your baby cereal, but there is no value either.  So if you leave it out, they aren’t missing out on anything.  If your baby is 6 months, then fruits and veggies are perfect first foods. 

Step 1:

OVEN OPTION: Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

  • Wash sweet potato and poke it with a fork all the way around.
  • Put on cookie sheet.
  • Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise.
  • Scoop out seeds and lay flat on the cookie sheet.
  • Move on to next step until oven is preheated.  Then put them in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

INSTANT POT OPTION:

  • Wash sweet potato and poke it with a fork all the way around.
  • Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise.
  • Scoop out seeds and cut halves into quarters.
  • Put one cup of water in the bottom of your Instant Pot. 
  • Place trivet on the bottom (you don’t have to, but will be helpful so that you can scoop the veggies out and decide how much water you want to mix in when blending)
  • Turn on manual high pressure for 8 minutes. 
  • Let pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, then switch to quick release. 

butternut squash and sweet potato

instant pot squash and sweet potato baby food

Step 2:

  • I use a rice cooker for this next step, because that is what I have but other people love this steamer.  
  • Cut zucchini, yellow squash and carrots into pieces.
  • Arrange in steamer basket with 3 cups of water on the bottom.
  • All of these cook in 10-20 minutes in my Aroma rice cooker. 

INSTANT POT VERSION:

  • Steam zucchini and squash alone for 10 minutes. 
  • Carrots will go in Instant Pot in the following step. 

Step 3:

  • Peel and cut apples and pears into medium sized pieces.
  • When you are almost done, put two cups of water into the pot on high.
  • When water is boiling, put apples and pears inside.
  • Boil for 8-10 minutes.  

INSTANT POT VERSION: Since your butternut squash and sweet potato only took 15 minutes, your Instant Pot should be ready for the next step. You can put in as many of these fruits and vegetables depending on the accessories you have,  or split it into multiple steps.  I used a steam basket and a pyrex bowl to steam the apples, pears, carrots and frozen peas at the same time. 

  • Put a cup of water at the bottom, insert trivet and add apples. Arrange carrots in the steam basket.  In another small pot or bowl (if it is oven safe, it’s Instant Pot safe), add frozen peas.
  • Turn on manual high pressure for 4 minutes.  Quick release. 

Step 4:

* Skip for Instant Pot Version, unless you did not have an extra pot or bowl. 

  • Put the frozen bag of peas in a microwavable bowl with a little bit of water.  
  • Cook for about 5 minutes.
  • As you can see, everything cooks at varying times.  I put the longest items first and the shortest last.  This way you can start blending, while the other fruits and vegetables are still cooking.

The next step is blending.  I put a little bit of water with all of these to help them puree (sweet potato needs a little extra water than the others to get smooth).  There are a few things you can use: a food processor, a baby bullet, hand blender or a ninja (any kind) blender.  Hands down the hand blender with the Instant Pot makes it the fastest. But if you are saving money and not trying to buy new gadgets, use what you have.

With Miles, I used the baby bullet.  My husband gave me the ninja for Christmas last year and I am obsessed with it, so now I used that AND a hand blender.  For the ninja, I use the main large blender and both individual cups to speed up time. 

Step 5:

  • While everything is cooking, puree blueberries- pour into ice cube tray.
  • Whichever vegetable is done first, puree it, pour into tray and repeat process until you have blended all of your fruits and vegetables. Do every fruit and vegetable separately.  This gives you more options for recipes and combinations. 
  • Make sure to scoop out butternut squash and peel your sweet potatoes after cooking and before blending.  I keep the skin on zucchini and yellow squash and blend it together. 

blend homemade baby food butternut squash

Step 6:

Arrange all of your trays with lids if they have them, and put in your freezer.

Step 7:

Freeze it all!  Overnight if possible. (If you don’t have enough ice cube trays, put the rest in the fridge.  When the first round is done freezing, put them in pre labeled bags with the date.  Then freeze the next batch.)

Step 8:

After all of your homemade baby food is frozen, take out and put into ziploc bags. Label with the fruit or vegetable.  This takes less freezer space and makes it really ease to grab the food that you need. 

Voila!  

Pat yourself on the back.  You have a month’s worth of baby food and 40+ different meal options! It’s pretty satisfying to see that huge amount of food all ready to go.  Make sure to check out and save the stage 2 (8-10 months) baby food meal prep and baby finger foods (10-12months) for when your baby is ready for exciting new ingredients!

Defrosting

I put 2 cubes in a small bowl and put in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir and check temperature- add more time in 5 second intervals to avoid food getting too hot.  Make sure to test it!

The homemade baby food resource guide will give you all the tools and recipes you need! Scroll down and subscribe to get access. Includes a first foods baby food log, baby meal tracker, shopping list and recipe ideas for all 3 stages. 

And of course, my latest happy customer!

first baby food sweet potato
Yum! Sweet Potatoes!

Happy Cooking!

Download Your Free Baby Food Resource Guide!

Use this resource guide for all 6 months of baby food! Includes shopping lists and recipes for all 3 stages, a first foods log and a meal planning tracker.

Subscribe (free!) to my newsletter with 23K+ moms and get tips for mom life, projects, and meal preps PLUS get instant access to my resource library with ALL of my other free files and printables (including this baby food resource guide)! Once subscribed, I will send you a newsletter with all the details.

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111 thoughts on “One Hour for One Month’s Worth of Homemade Baby Food- 40+ Stage 1 Recipes!

  1. As a full time single mom, these ideas are invaluable!! Thanks so much

  2. This is by far the most detailed instructions I’ve found. Sometimes I just need things broken down no matter how easy it already is. I will say it’s a little confusing going back and forth with all the different appliances given I don’t have all of them. But I think if I write it out for myself (that’s how I learn/comprehend best) with what I do have it will be totally fine. Thanks so much for this 😊❤️

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thanks for reading!

      1. Can all of these just be boiled then puréed?

      2. I’m super thankful for your post! New mom here and I am going to make my son’s baby food. So I want to go ahead and prep it all he’s 5 months.

  3. Courtney South says:

    So what is next after I finish these foods? I have butternut squash and pears to try.
    I’m lost in this process.

  4. How do you use when on the go? Nothing talks about how to store in diaper bag and how long it will be good for.
    Thank you

  5. Jamie Bouc says:

    Thank you for making this so easy! How would you prepare this for daycare when it is frozen?

  6. Hi! I really love your post! I’m a first time mom and my son’s doctor said he can start eating solids (he’s 4 months old) do you think making homemade oatmeal mixed with my breastmilk will be a good first food?

    I knew I wanted to make baby food for my child and your post just helped me so much! Love it!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Glad you found it helpful! That sounds like a great first food. 🙂

  7. Great post! It really saves time to prepare the baby food in batches like this. Thanks for the reminder that new food should be introduced one at a time for 3 days to catch any allergic response!

  8. Hi! I have so many questions 😀

    Whet would a day look like as my daughter will still be breastfed at 6 months. In your example for breakfast you have yogurt, how did you incorporate that to the purée? Do you mix any of the food together (as in the cubes) or would you just take 2 ice cubes with different veggies/fruit? for example, can I make a apple banana cube?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Rebecca! You can start with one food at a time and after 3 days, incorporate something new. After your daughter has tried a certain flavor alone a few times, than you can play with mixing cubes together. Apple banana was a favorite around here! I am still breastfeeding my 11 month old. Our routine is he usually nurses right when he wakes up, then eats solids maybe 30-60 minutes later depending on the time. They start small- just tasting. At 6 months, we sat down for “3 meals” even for a few bites just for routine. As she gets older, she’ll eat more and you can make 2 cubes instead of one, then start finger foods and so forth. Before you know it, you’ll have a one year old! Enjoy. 🙂

  9. Hi I just noticed that you didn’t peel off the skin for the yellow squash and zucchini? Is it ok to puree the skin as well? Or did you have to take off the skin once it was cooked and then puree it? Thanks

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      The skin gets really soft and purees well!

  10. Heather Fringer says:

    Hey! My daughter is about to turn 6 months old and I was looking into making my own baby food! This is super helpful! I was wondering if you knew if we could use an instant pot instead of a rice cooker?

  11. I’m so excited to try this! Thank you for organizing it so efficiently! I can already tell my time in the kitchen has been cut down immensely!

    Question: how long is the puree good for once defrosted? I love the idea of the ice cube trays for portion control, but I know we will be utilizing pouches quite often. Do you use the cubed puree to prepare pouches or do that separately?

    Thank you!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Jen! Thank you so much for reading and trying out the baby food meal plan. 🙂 It is good for 3-7 days once defrosted. I would also defrost cubes and put into pouches. I liked to prep a few of those at a time so that I could just grab one and go when needed. You could also freeze pouches and let them defrost overnight to take the next day.

  12. Loved this! This was my first time making baby food and I haven’t done it because I thought it would be really challenging, but your guide made it easy! Thank you so much!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      So glad it made the process easier! It’s definitely an overwhelming thought at first. 🙂

  13. Samantha Brown says:

    Hi I’m about to start feeding my lily girl real foods, and we wanted to make our own!! This post is awesome and so helpful, but I was wondering how long do these last in the freezer for?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      About 3 months! Thank you so much for reading. 🙂

  14. Awesome 👏👏👏 Thank you for posting this, first time mom and this was so amazing, it really helped answer so many overwhelming questions I had. Plus a sign from God that this was right I bought all these exact ingredients yesterday except blackberries not blueberries and I have no idea why I got butternut squash I never buy it lol. You truly are an answer to my prayers thank you again, tons of love and many blessings for you and your family ❤

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      So glad it all came together! Have fun cooking. 🙂

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thanks for reading!

  15. Love to read this article. it gives me some great Information that I’m looking for, thanks and keep sharing 🙂

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thanks for reading!

  16. LOVE THIS!! Tried it, and had my SIL and I followed directions, it would have literally only taken us an hour – we made a whole evening out of it instead and had a great time 🙂

    I am currently introducing food to my DD who will be 6 months on the 14th, she is my first and I am learning all of this as we go along basically… so, when should she be getting formula/breast milk if we follow your 2 week meal plan? She currently nurses first thing in the morning, then eats oatmeal cereal shortly after (within 2 hours) gets formula 2 hours after cereal, then again every 4 hours until bed with 1 ounce of a new fruit or veggie about 2 hours before bed which is between 8-9.

    Sorry to make my comment so long… Just trying to figure all of this out!

    Thank you for your awesome instructions!!! So incredibly easy!!!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I LOVE that you made this into an evening activity you could do with a loved one! It’s fun cooking and trying new things with other people. So glad you found it helpful. 🙂

      Your schedule sounds great! Formula/breast milk is still the main source of nutrients for them at this age so it’s good to give it first so they finish it. Solids are just supplemental at this stage. If you find that they are too full from the milk, you could split it up more so they will be interested in trying new food. But only if that becomes a “thing”.

      1. Can you make these in the crockpot???

        1. Shantall Bond says:

          I haven’t cooked veggies in the crockpot so I’m not sure!

  17. Hi 👋🏻 I am trying out making baby food for the first time and I love this. I’m just wondering how long should everything freeze for? I thought the pears were done and they ended up mushy again when I got the cubes out 😔

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Bummer! You can leave them in at least overnight initially to make sure they are fully frozen. After that they should last for about 3 months in the freezer.

  18. Dear shantall , great idea thank you! Just a practicle question :
    since i dont own a microwave…AND i often take baby food on the go..
    1) Is it tasty if you just take the food-ice-cubes in a jar/box, and eat thrm after they have defrosted naturally?

    2) love the idea of reusable food pouches! How do you use thise exactly? I mean do you make puree and freeze it in them?

    Thx a lot
    Ella

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Ella! There is a product called a Lily pot where you could defrost on your stove. It fits on top of a pot. But you could also let them defrost naturally- the only thing is that your baby may not love it if it’s still really cold when eaten. You never know until you try though! For pouches- yes, I put the puree in and then freeze them. Or I’ve defrosted food and filled pouches if I know I’m going to be out and about for the day.

  19. How much water do you tend to use when blending? Would breast milk be a good alternative? New mom here and I read I shouldn’t be giving much water.

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I didn’t use much water at all. Only for the vegetables that were really dense and needed a little liquid to blend properly. I never used breast milk to make baby food so not sure about that! But I never gave my boys water either- it was just mixed in to a couple of the foods to smooth out.

  20. Stephanie says:

    I’m trying to do this but I’m having issues with consistency. It would be so helpful if you had some pictures of the purée. I’m pretty sure I will have to throw out my blueberries and apples. I absolutely love this.

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      That’s a good point! I don’t have any recent pictures since we are out of baby food age for now. What are your issues with consistency? Blueberries tend to be runnier than the others- I always mixed them with sweet potato or banana that were thicker to create a better consistency overall.

  21. wow… I never post comments on blogs but I just had to say thank you!! I’m a new mom and between work, baby, and taking care of our ranch I have been feeling overwhelmed figuring out how to prep food for baby. I’m so glad I stumbled across this and will be ordering the ingredients from the store today! Thanks again!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I felt the same way! It can be a lot especially the first time, but it gets easier. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the post!

  22. Samantha Ebanks says:

    thank you so much for sharing! is your week schedule for both AM and PM or do you feed one food in the AM and another in the PM?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi! It’s for both AM and PM. I would do 3 meals of solids throughout the day, timed with family meals for convenience.

  23. Thank you so much for sharing. My son is just being introduced to solids, so i’ll definitely be trying this. once again thanks for sharing

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      You’re welcome! 🙂

  24. I was wondering about adding the spices, ginger and garlic, do you use fresh or dried, and how much do you add to a meal? Thanks!

  25. Do you mix the different options together when feeding or feed each ingredient separately?

  26. Roxanne Galvan says:

    Hi there Shantall! I too am very happy to have found your blog. I’ve searched and searched for ideas for a few months just trying to find THE right one. I definitely hit the jackpot with your recipes ! Today I prepped quite a bit of foods that I can’t wait for my 6 month old to try. Thank you so much !!

  27. Hi Shantall,

    First let me say that I love your blog and hope to create my own someday! You make it look so easy and fun.
    I tried this for the first time last Saturday and it was truly so easy. It took longer than an hour but I loved the feeling of making it and knowing that my baby would be eating healthier than the alternative. I wish I would have done this for my 10 year old, but its never too late.

    So my question is on your 6-8 month example, you have listed for example (Bfast: rice cereal-banana, Lunch: carrot-Apple-6oz breast milk or formula) So do you mix the cereal with the banana? Do you mix a carrot cube with an apple cube? Or are you just providing options by listing both

    Thanks for your ideas!

  28. Dear Shantall,
    I’m writing to you from Hungary, I’ found your site via Pinterest, and I have to tell you, your post is amazing! I like it so much! Thank you for sharing your experiences, it has helped me a lot! Keep going! 🙂

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Oh wow! You might be one of my farthest readers. 🙂 Thanks for reading and I”m glad you find it helpful!

  29. Melanie Jett says:

    Hi!

    Great post and currently trying these out. Quick question…do you cook the blueberries or just puree them without cooking like the bananas?

    Thanks!

    Melanie

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I just puree them without cooking! Works great. 🙂

  30. Youor page is by far the best I have found so far! I am due next week with my new baby boy and have a 6 yr old girl and never even thought about oing things like this for her because I was soyoung I guess 🙂 I do have a question though… how can you make it work with being out for the day? Could you just put the food jars in a cooler with a cold pack if you are only going to be gone for the day? May seem like a dumb question just trying to get my ducks in a row and have all the info I possibly can. 🙂

    THANKS!!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thank you so much! That is so sweet! There are no dumb questions in parenting. Lol. You know those little coolers that come with milk pumps? Or they also sell them individually in the bottle aisle. I had two of those- one I used when I pumped milk at work and the other I used for baby food. It is small enough that it fits in the diaper bag. Mine came with the Medela pump- small square bag with blue ice pack. If it is only a few hours of an outing, I would just put the container without the cooler in my bag. Hope that helps!

  31. What do you do if your family is going on a trip? I am thinking the cooler with ice can only help for so long. Our trip is over a week long. I was hoping not to have to buy remade stuff at the store. Any ideas???

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Miriam! I’ve only traveled to see family while making baby food. So I always made more when I got there. If you can stay somewhere with a small fridge or at a house like air bnb?

  32. can you use a air fryer instead of a steamer??

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I’ve never used one so I’m not sure!

  33. Hi! I would like to congratulate you! It seems pretty easy! How many oz do you get for each prep? The trays in the pic are those all or half??
    Thanks

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Mariana! I’m not sure exactly on the amount of ounces. The trays in the picture are about half the amount. But you also want to factor the banana and avocado that can be mixed in without freezing. Enjoy!

  34. Hello!!!
    I was so excited to find your site! I love that you give example weekly feedings! Question though. You say that you pop out two of the frozen cubes to make 2 ounces. Is that 2 ounces of carrots and 2 ounces of apples in one feeding or are you only giving them 1 ounce carrot and 1 ounce apple to make a total of 2 ounces for the feeding? Or does it just depend on the how much the baby will eat?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Corinne! I’m excited that you find the site also! 🙂 To start, I did 2 ounces total- so 1 ounce carrot and 1 ounce apple. But then yes, you start to see how much your baby eats. So if they are hungry after 2 ounces, give them one more. If they are always hungry after 2 ounces, then start giving 3 ounces at each meal. And so forth!

  35. Kenzi Strain says:

    When fixing the apples and pears … are you actually putting the fruit into the water to be boiled or are they also steamed ?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I boil them in water with a lid so that the steam is blocked in and also cooking them.

  36. Shantall, I have been searching for weeks and watching every video I could find on how to make my babies food and freeze it safely. Your website is the best I have found so far. You have broken it down and made the whole process simple and easy to follow. I’m looking forward to making the first batch of baby food this weekend.
    Do you recommend using organic fruits and veggies or is the regular fruits and veggies okay?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Beth! Thank you so so much! That is so sweet and I’m glad the instructions are clear and useful. 🙂 It really depends on your situation- if budget is not an issue than I would 100% buy everything organic because why not? If budget is part of your decision making, buy the items that are part of the dirty dozen organic (http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214) and the others not. This is what I have done in the past.

  37. I don’t have a steamer or rice cooker so wondering how else I can steam zucchini and yellow squash.

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Martina! You could steam in a covered pot on the stove or in a covered microwavable bowl. On stove- bring a 1/2 inch layer of water to a bowl, throw in vegetables, cover and steam for 5-7 minutes. In microwave, add a 1/2 inch layer of water, add vegetables, cover and microwave for 5 minutes. Keep adding more time as needed, until vegetables are soft but a little crunchy. Hope that helps!

  38. I cooked the peas and the skins didn’t really do a good job getting pulverized in the food processor. It’s chunky. Is this okay to use starting out as a stage 1?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hey Emily! There have been times that happens to me, especially with carrots. I usually add a little bit of hot water and try to blend it at the highest speed to get them a little more pureed.

  39. Hi Shantall! I really love your post. So easy to understand your steps and you make preparing baby food sound so easy! I have one question. If I puree banana, can I freeze it too? You mentioned to have them on hand but require cooking. Just wondering. Thanks!

    1. Sorry, don’t require cooking. Just want to know if I can freeze them too. And also the avocado.

      1. Shantall Bond says:

        Thank you so much Michelle! I haven’t frozen them, but they can be mashed and put into trays as well. The only thing is they might turn brown, but that is a natural occurrence for avocados and bananas, not a sign they have gone bad.

  40. I am SO GLAD I found this. Thank you for making such a complete guide. My only question was how long they last but I saw you answered that already. Thanks so much. My 6 month old is currently just eating oatmeal but I think he’ll be ready for fruits and veggies soon, so I can’t wait to try this! And i love the smoothie idea!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      No problem! It’s fun seeing them try new foods- enjoy!!

  41. Danielle Dawson says:

    How long can you freeze baby food before it goes bad and unable to use?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      3 months to be safe! Some may keep longer, but I use the 3 month mark as my cut off.

  42. I’m a huge meal prepped for my family. So I LOVED reading this post. I have a newborn so I’m trying to learn all I can by the time he’s old enough to start eating foods. How long do the items keep in the freezer, no longer than the month?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thank you! 🙂 They actually last up to 3 months. It’s a fun milestone when they start eating solids, enjoy!

  43. When it comes to blending the squash and zucchini you don’t have to shave off the outside? You just blend it all together and it mushes good?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Just blend! They get softer than any of the other vegetables. 🙂

  44. Hi! First time mommy here so excuse my ignorance. Since you’re supposed to only introduce 1 ingredient at a time, does cooking the apples/pears and steaming the carrots/squash together pose a risk? I know you separate them before blending, but doesn’t cooking them together means it might get a little mixed? Thanks for your post, I hope to follow your instructions.

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Not ignorant at all! This is a great point. There are a few ways you can go about this. 1) I had done just sweet potato, apple and carrot for the first round of food (with also banana). This will get you through about two weeks of food since you are doing one new food every 3 days. Then after those two weeks, you could follow this plan. Since you already introduced apple for example, it won’t matter if you cook it with pear because you have already ruled apple out as a potential allergen. To be honest, my son had not tried zucchini or yellow squash when I made this, I just kind of went for it. 2) You can cook all the same foods, but separately. This will just add a little bit of time to your food prep. 3) Make more of just a few foods. For example, double the apples and carrots- while eliminating the other fruits and vegetables for the first month. Hope this helps!

  45. How did you prepare the blue arrows? I must be overlooking that step.

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Hi Kim, I’d love to help but not sure what you mean by blue arrows.

      1. I think she means blueberries!

        1. Shantall Bond says:

          Oh my goodness! I don’t know how I didn’t guess that! Sorry! I just blend them raw. 🙂

  46. Thankyou so much! I’ve tried this today and loved every second so easy and fun to do wish i had seen it with my 3 year old!:)

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! That was exactly what I was going for- fun and easy. 🙂

  47. This is also a great way to make smoothies too!

  48. This is fabulous. I can’t wait to try. Thank you so much! Just wondering: In Step 6, will the apple and pear require some blending before putting into ice cube trays?

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Yep! Sorry, just realized I didn’t write that. I cook them in the same pot but blend separately. 🙂

  49. Shantall,

    Finally did this yesterday. Really happy with results! Baby tried sweet potatoes for the first time this morning 🙂 also got a bullet and am loving it!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Oh yay! Ellis is obsessed with sweet potatoes- I use them to sneak in anything green. 🙂

  50. Great recipes! You couldn’t have said it any clearer… a variety of foods with no hassle what so ever will be trying these out thank you so much. 😊

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thank you Ana! It definitely made my life easier, so hoping that for all of you as well!

  51. Mehwish Salman says:

    Thnk u soo much, I will surly try these yummy recipes wid my LO. Keep posting more recipes. And kindly give some cheese recipe for my 7 month baby

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      Thanks so much! Will do. 🙂

  52. Thank you so much!!!! I am heading to the store as soon as naptime is over to get started on this! Your links and steps are on point!!! 👌🏼 Great job, Mama!!

    1. Shantall Bond says:

      I’m so glad I could be helpful! Let me know how it goes. 🙂

  53. Thanks Shantall! I’m gonna do this for my little girl! Great ideas !

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