Making homemade baby food may sound like a daunting task and just one more to add to your list as a mom. I’m certainly not here to do any mom-shaming if you just don’t have time to do it, but I do want to tell you how easy it is to make if you’ve been thinking about trying!

Babies triple their birth weight in the first year and it seems like they are constantly eating whether it be milk/formula or baby food or a combo of both. I remember when my little one was closing in on 4 months, I was so excited to start giving her cereal. I thought, “you’ve got to be tired of milk kiddo!” We started with a basic organic rice cereal and moved on to avocados, then sweet potatoes, beets and the rest is history – she now has the pallet of a 40-year-old hippy!

Creating homemade baby food is a faster, healthier, less expensive alternative to jarred or pouched baby food. While it may seem convenient to just buy the jars or pouches from the store, I can make weeks worth of wholesome baby food in less than an hour. With one sweet potato, I can typically make 24 ounces which equates to roughly 12 meals for my girl.

Sweet potatoes are one of the most popular first foods for babies and often are the first food they try after rice cereal. Today, I’m going to share with you a basic puree for sweet potatoes. As a side note, I accidentally picked up white sweet potatoes at Earth Fare, so that’s why they aren’t a beautiful orange.

Tools Needed:
-blender, immersion blender, or food processor
-steamer, steam basket, or medium sauce pot
-vegetable peeler
-vegetable wash and brush
-cutting board

Step 1: Prepare Sweet Potato

Spray sweet potato with veggie wash or simply wash thoroughly. Peel potato.

Step 2: Slice Sweet Potato

Slice sweet potato into 1/2 – 1 inch slices.

Step 3: Steam Sweet Potato

Using a steamer* or steam basket, steam sweet potato until tender. If you do not have a steamer, simply use a sauce pot to boil the sweet potato until tender.

Step 4: Puree Sweet Potato
Using a blender or food processor, add sweet potato and 1/2 cup water and blend. Add water to find desired consistency.

Step 5: Freeze Puree

Pour the puree into ice cube trays and freeze for 1 hour or until hardened.

Step 6: Store Puree

Once frozen, pop the cubes out and store in a freezer bag. Take cubes out as needed, thaw, heat (if desired), and feed to your little one.

I hope you find this to be simple – if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

*I use the Baby Bullet Steamer.