• Save time by making baby food with appropriate ingredients that can also be incorporated into the family meal so you are only cooking once.
• Spend one day making a few recipes which you can freeze and use as needed.
• Make smaller amounts at first to be sure baby likes it.
• Take one day & invite your sister, mother, and/or friends over to help make baby food, and have fun. You can easily make a month or two worth of food while you all bond with your baby.
• Get together with other mothers/fathers and/or friends/family and make a day out of cooking a variety of baby foods which you then share and take home.
• Plan with other mothers/fathers and/or friends/family to each  make one recipe, then get together for a play date and exchange them all so everyone gets different types of homemade baby food while only having to cook one recipe.
• Whenever you heat up the oven to make your own dinner, throw in a couple of whole potatoes, carrots, apples or other firm fruits and vegetables. Let them cool, and keep them in the fridge and mash as needed.

FRUITS & VEGETABLES

• Buy fresh produce to use at the beginning of the week and buy frozen ones for the end of the week.
• Check out your local Farmer’s Market for seasonal fruits & vegetables.
• When fruits and vegetables are in abundant supply in the summer and fall, stock up! Then blanch and freeze until ready to cook and puree for baby.  This is especially helpful if your baby is going to be starting solids in the winter, when produce is more costly and not as yummy.
• If fresh produce is on sale, stock up and make your baby food at that time & then freeze it.
• Avocados are great baby food - creamy, healthy and tasty.
• When making your own baby food, find a store that specializes in frozen foods. They usually will have every vegetable and fruit that you want to make already cut up and frozen, so all you have to do is cook it and puree it.
• Cauliflower can be processed the same as mashed potatoes and has a lot of nutrients. When cooking, put a piece of bread in the water while boiling the cauliflower to get rid of the odor. Remove before mashing.
• Save some frozen berries/fruit for a teething toy in a mesh teething bag. Ensure that it is one that won’t let pieces of fruit/berries out to prevent a choking hazard.

MEAT/PROTEIN
 

• When your baby is ready to start eating meat, buy a beef medallion and slice it into three thinner cutlets. Use a low-sodium organic broth to sauté it in, instead of water. The broth reduces to a nice gravy, and keeps the meat moist. Cut meat up into small pieces, or puree depending on the stage your baby is at.
• Sneak some pureed meat into their favourite vegetable or fruit. (ie: applesauce)
• Meat can sometimes be a challenge with no teeth. Cut meat & veggies into baby-sized cubes before cooking. Bake in a casserole or steam, then remove the meat. Puree it up with juices from the cooking process, then stir it back in with the vegetables.
• Try making homemade chili and break up the ground beef into very small pieces that will both be un-noticeable to your little one, but also prevent a choking hazard. The beef gets tender after cooking in the tomato-based liquid for a period of time.
• Try legumes such as lentils to get them used to eating various proteins. For example, mixing pureed beans like chickpeas with organic plain yogurt.
• Try adding cottage cheese to their favorite fruits, vegetables, or blend of foods to create a creamy texture that has iron & protein.
• Peanut butter hides almost anything, so if your child is not allergic, you can hide foods like mashed hard boiled eggs in it. Just be sure to spread the mixture thinly to prevent a choking hazard with the peanut butter.

COOKING
 

• Steam your baby food, which makes it very tender and retains many of the nutrients.
• You can bake your fruits/vegetables instead of steaming them.
• Reserve the liquid from the steamer to water down the food once you puree or mash it.
• Instead of adding water when making baby food, try adding homemade no salt chicken or vegetable broth, or even a bit of breastmilk/cow’s milk/formula for something different.
• Most fruits and vegetables can be peeled, chopped, steamed, & pureed with a hand mixer in under 20 minutes.
• Add a small touch of real maple syrup or honey to sweeten foods if they do not have an allergy to it. (But only after they are over 1 year old, due to health risks associated with botulism).
• Use 100% pure fruit juice and unsalted stock to thin out pureed foods.
• After baby gets used to plain foods, don't be afraid to season the food with herbs or spices. Stay away from sugar and salt. You can try things like cinnamon with apples, or a little sage with chicken. Don't use too much though, just a little goes a long way for their sensitive taste buds.
• Don't be afraid to mix up tastes! Many babies enjoy sweet/savoury combinations like chicken and peaches, green beans and apple, lentils and butternut squash or bananas and spaghetti squash blended together.
• Little ramekins are great for re-heating small servings of baby food.
• Try baking fruit like peaches and then pureeing.
• Freeze homemade chicken broth into ice cube trays, which can be quickly defrosted to add to pasta for a quick older infant or toddler meal.

FREEZING BABY FOOD
 

• After making the baby food, freeze individual portions in ice cube trays.  You can also cut/break your ice cube tray into smaller ones to freeze smaller portions than a full ice cube tray has.
• Once you have opened up a commercial baby food jar,  immediately freeze the unused portion in ice cube trays, and treat the same as homemade baby food.
• For larger portions (ie: for Toddlers), freeze in muffin tins or silicone muffin bake ware.
• Store pre-frozen individual servings in sandwich sized plastic bags, then into large freezer bags. Try to squeeze all the air out of the bags to prevent freezer burn, which can affect taste, smell and appearance. This will prolong their freezer life and keep the food fresh.
• Label your bags so you remember what they are, and when they were made.

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

• Keep the texture of the baby food very smooth in the beginning. As baby gets older, give the food more texture so graduation to "real" food is easier.
• Once your baby gets used to pureed solids, try mashing them, then cutting them into tiny chunks, and then eventually into small chunks.  
• Consider making foods that you don't like, because your baby might love them even though you do not.
• Don't be afraid to try different foods with your baby.  Just because it's not sold in a jar doesn't mean your baby won't like it. Try things like mashed turnip, potato, etc.
• Search online for other moms’ favorite recipes. If other babies like them, chances are yours will too.
• Let kids dip their cookie/cracker in apple sauce or other fruit/veggie puree. (This is a good substitute for plum sauce/BBQ sauce for dipping chicken nuggets in when they are older)
• Use 100% pure fruit juice to make popsicles for older children.
• When making baby food for your little ones, you can use some of the pureed baby food in your older children’s food giving them extra veggies that they don’t notice, like spreading pureed carrots on a grilled cheese sandwich.
• Get your toddler/preschool aged child(ren) involved by getting them to count items like carrots, or get them to help wash some of the fruit. They can also press buttons and turn things on and off. This keeps them occupied, involved, and interested in this educational opportunity so that you can get the food made.
• When your little one first starts on bananas it’s hard for them to grab the gooey slices, so crush up some Cheerios and coat the banana chunks for a little grip.