Making your own baby food—and searching for homemade baby food recipes—may have seemed like a pie in the sky idea before the pandemic, but now that everyone has more time on their hands, they’re cooking more, and sharing family meals, it may be more realistic.
Feeding you child homemade baby food has so many benefits and it’s one of the best ways to encourage healthy eating habits from the start, particularly in light of a new study that found picky eating starts early.
Besides, as everyone has been stocking up on food and essentials, the demand for baby food has increased by 153% demand, which may make it tough to even find store-bought baby food.
So if you’re looking for homemade baby food recipes, food blogs are a great place to start. If you’re looking to have an entire guide to starting solids and infant nutrition, several recipes all in one place, and you like having a cookbook in your hands, here are 9 of my recommendations.
1. LITTLE FOODIE, BY MICHELE OLIVIER & SARA PETERNELL
Written by baby food chef and founder of the Baby FoodE blog, Michele Olivier, and Sara Peternell, a board certified holistic nutritionist, (check out my interview with her for Fox News about infant cereal), Little Foodie: Baby Food Recipes for Babies and Toddlers with Taste is one of the best cookbooks for meal ideas.
With over 100 unique recipes for every age and stage including fennel, pea and peach—yum!—the cookbook has a ton of helpful information on nutrition and eating habits and a how-to guide to make the process easy and quick.
2. MAKE-AHEAD BABY FOOD COOKBOOK, BY STEPHANIE VAN’T ZELFDEN
One of the best new cookbooks for homemade baby food recipes is Make-Ahead Baby Food Cookbook: Meal Plans and Recipes for Every Stage, written by Stephanie Van’t Zelfden, a Brooklyn, NY-based registered dietitian-nutritionist.
What I love about this cookbook is that Van’t Zelfden focuses on teaching busy moms how to make homemade baby food quickly and easily with 4-week meal plans for every stage.
The book will teach you everything you need to know about starting solids, batch cooking, freezing, and reheating, and includes shopping lists, step-by-step recipes, a list of the best tools, and a ton of time-saving tips.
3. THE BIG BOOK OF ORGANIC BABY FOOD, BY STEPHANIE MIDDLEBERG
The Big Book of Organic Baby Food: Baby Purées, Finger Foods, and Toddler Meals For Every Stage, by NYC-based registered dietitian-nutritionist Stephanie Middleberg, includes over 230 healthy, delicious recipes for purees, smoothies, finger foods, and meals, as well as ideas for superfood combinations.
With a ton of homemade baby food recipes, and meal ideas for the whole family, this is one cookbook that you’ll rely on for years to come.
4. SUPER EASY BABY FOOD COOKBOOK, BY ANJALI SHAH
If you’re a fan of Anjali Shah’s The Picky Eater blog, then you’ll definitely want to pick up her book, Super Easy Baby Food Cookbook: Healthy Homemade Recipes for Every Age and Stage.
From purées to toddler meals, this cookbook has more than 150 homemade baby food recipes, including make-ahead, puree recipes that you can batch cook, 5-ingredient toddler recipes you can whip up in 30 minutes or less, and sample menus that will help you save time in the kitchen.
5. THE BABY AND TODDLER COOKBOOK, BY KAREN ANSEL & CHARITY FERREIRA
Gosh, I know I write about the “The Baby and Toddler Cookbook: Fresh, Homemade Foods for a Healthy Start,” every chance I get it, but it’s such a big part of my story and one of the reasons I started my blog.
With over 90 homemade baby food recipes, tons of evidence-based information, and time-saving tips, this cookbook is one that you’ll return to over and over again.
6. BABY-LED FEEDING, BY JENNA HELWIG
In recent years, baby-led feeding (also known as baby-led weaning) has become a more accepted and popular way of feeding babies. Baby-Led Feeding: A Natural Way to Raise Happy, Independent Eaters, written by Jenna Helwig, the Food Director at Real Simple serves up a how-to guide to baby-led feeding, including essential safety and nutrition guidelines, basic fruit and vegetable prep, plus more than 100 nutritionist-approved recipes and ideas.
7. SAGE SPOONFULS, BY LIZA HUBER
With 66, easy homemade baby food recipes, plus hundreds of delicious food combinations, this award-winning cookbook has a ton of ideas for every age and stage, including no-cook recipes to help you save time.
Liza Huber, founder of the Sage Spoonfuls Baby Food Maker, also serves up a ton of information on nutrition, organic food, foods to avoid and food allergies.
