Top 5 No-Cook Baby Food Recipes - True Aim (2024)

FAQs

What are the best real foods to start baby on? ›

Start Simple. Start with one food at a time and select foods that are nutritious and easy to mash such as bananas, avocados, peaches, mangoes, plums, grapes, potatoes and butternut squash. If your baby responds well to these, advance to other nutritious foods such as asparagus, kale, ground chicken, or quinoa.

Start with menu items like pieces of soft cheese; small pieces of pasta or bread; finely chopped soft vegetables; and fruits like bananas, avocado, and ripe peaches or nectarines. These foods should require minimal chewing, as your baby may not yet have teeth.

Solid foods can be introduced in any order, but most pediatricians recommend starting with a single-ingredient food that is easy to digest like pureed sweet potato, carrot, banana and/or avocado. Other options include pureed meats, poultry, beans and iron-fortified baby cereals like rice cereal or oatmeal.

Making homemade baby food is a great option, but don't feel badly if you need to use store-bought food, as well. Family size, budget, and schedule all contribute to these decisions. Just remember to offer a variety of foods to your baby, and make every bite count!

We found no evidence to suggest that homemade purees and family brands are generally safer, with lower metal levels, than store-bought baby food. Our study includes a new parent's guide of popular baby foods to serve, limit, and avoid, based on our tests.

Homemade Baby Food Benefit #1: Making baby food is affordable. While it does take more time to prepare homemade baby food than to pop open a jar, it's often cheaper to make your own. For instance, a 4-ounce jar of banana baby food costs roughly $1.00, whereas a 4-ounce banana costs $0.19.

When comparing Beech-Nut and Gerber baby foods, though, the stronger option seems to be the Beech-Nut. It's not only a little less costly, but it also tends to have fewer additives than the Gerber baby food options.

When should babies stop eating purees? ›

The stage at which he becomes ready for chunkier textures depends on many factors, from his physical development to his sensitivity to texture. But as a guide, it's wise to try to gradually alter the consistency of his foods from seven months onwards, and aim to have stopped pureeing completely by 12 months.

You can give your baby the entire egg (yolk and white), if your pediatrician recommends it. Around 6 months, puree or mash one hard-boiled or scrambled egg and serve it to your baby. For a more liquid consistency, add breast milk or water. Around 8 months, scrambled egg pieces are a fantastic finger food.

Good finger foods for babies include soft, easy-to-swallow foods like steamed veggies; soft fruits; whole-grain bread, pasta, or cereal; crackers; chicken; cheese; and scrambled eggs.

In comparison, stage 2 baby food is designed for infants 6-9 months old, and is a thicker texture, between mashed and puréed. It may include combinations of meat and veggies or fish. After stage 2, you need to reach several other feeding milestones: Stage 3 baby food is for 10-12 months.

Doctors recommend waiting until a baby is about 6 months old to start solid foods. Starting before 4 months is not recommended. At about 6 months, babies need the added nutrition — such as iron and zinc — that solid foods provide. It's also the right time to introduce your infant to new tastes and textures.

From around 6 months your baby's first foods can include soft cooked vegetables like parsnip, potato, yam, sweet potato or carrot. Soft fresh fruit like banana, avocado, peach or melon are good too. Babies often like to start eating these by having them as finger foods, or mashed.

You can start weaning with single vegetables and fruits – try blended, mashed, or soft cooked sticks of parsnip, broccoli, potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple or pear. You could also try baby rice mixed with your baby's usual milk. Make sure any cooked food has cooled right down before offering it to your baby.