Homemade baby food: Save by making your own

Commercial baby food is convenient and has a certain official, "this-is-what-babies-eat" quality about it. But except for rice cereal, baby food is something you can make yourself from scratch. It's a money-slashing tactic many new parents swear by.

All you need is a fork, for example, to mash bananas. You can process fibrous foods such as sweet potatoes or meat in a baby-food grinder (found in baby stores), food processor, or blender. Buy the freshest fruits and vegetables and use them within a day or two. Remove peels, seeds, and cores. Boil, bake, or steam first until soft, then purée them well.

A time-saving tip: Pick one day a week to make a big batch, then freeze individual portions in ice-cube trays. Once they're frozen solid, remove the cubes and store them in plastic freezer bags in the freezer. Frozen fruits and vegetable purees will last six months; pureed meat, fish, and chicken will last up to eight weeks. Good veggies to start with include asparagus tips, avocados, peas, potatoes, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. Excellent first fruit choices are apples, apricots, bananas, peaches, pears, plums and prunes.

Homemade food can go right from freezer to microwave, but make sure it's just barely warm before serving. Add water, breast milk, or formula to smooth the texture, but omit butter, oil, sugar, and salt. And don't use honey as a sweetener for babies under 1 year old. It can harbor bacteria related to botulism. Give the food a good stir to dissipate any hot spots before serving.

Another caveat: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), fresh beets, turnips, carrots, collard greens, and spinach may contain nitrates, chemicals that are rich in the soil in certain parts of the country and can cause an unusual type of anemia (low red-blood-cell count) in infants up to six months of age. Unfortunately, you can't solve this problem by buying organic produce. The AAP recommends buying commercially prepared forms of these foods, especially when your child is an infant. Baby food companies typically screen the produce they buy for nitrates and avoid buying these vegetables in parts of the country where the chemicals have been detected.

See our reports on baby formula, baby food, and organic baby food for more information.