I decided to stick to making just my own fruits & veggies.  Instead, I chose organic iron-fortified baby cereals, such as Earth’s Best, and buy organic whole, plain yogurt in the quart-size containers.

The Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food Kit is a great place to start. Absolutely necessary?  No.  But it gives just enough guidance to get you going (& enough confidence to experiment a little).  It really is easy to feed your baby all homemade fruits & vegetables.  And here’s the most surprising part: it only takes about 20 minutes a week.

So take advantage of local Farmers’ Markets or a sale on organic produce and get pureeing!  I’ve found that all I’ve needed besides the kit is a covered glass dish (try to avoid using plastic in the microwave), a hand stick immersion blender (you can also use this to whip up green smoothies), and gallon-size zip freezer bags (these can be washed & reused).

Think this sounds expensive?  The first food I made was organic green peas.  It ended up costing me $.08 per ounce–jarred foods cost at least three times that much.  The kit makes foods in one ounce servings, the perfect size for introducing new foods & blending with others.

Try it.  And see how much you cut down on spending, as well as food & packaging waste.  And best of all, you’ll also be ensuring  your baby is introduced to a wide variety of additive-free foods.