There are so many reasons why homemade baby food is a better choice for our babies. For me as a mom, there are 5 main reasons.

1. Homemade baby food is the most nutritious

Store bought baby food has a shelf life of about 2 years.  In order to achieve this shelf life, the food needs to be sterilized.  This is accomplished by heating it to very high temperatures to ensure food safety.  While sterilization is necessary to achieve shelf life, it kills vitamins, nutrients, taste, color and aroma in the process.  Homemade baby food is higher in nutrients, tastes much better than store bought and has the enticing aroma that will make your baby excited about eating.  It can retain most of its nutritional value, taste, color, texture and aroma because it is only lightly steamed and not overcooked.  In fact, once your baby is 7 months old, most ripe fruit can be pureed without cooking, leaving all of the precious nutrients intact!

2. Homemade baby food is the most economical

Depending on the brand, store bought baby food can cost up to 3 times more than homemade!  Not to mention the dollars wasted when you throw away a jar or pouch of half eaten food.  The best way to save money on baby food is to make it yourself in large batches and store it in the freezer.  You save money while giving your child the most nutritious and best tasting food.  What could be better than that?

3.  Homemade baby food leads to more adventurous eaters!

Babies do not need to eat bland food.  They are far more adventurous eaters if given the opportunity.  Commercially prepared baby food is usually bland in color, taste and texture.  Additionally, the smell of store bought baby food is rarely as enticing as homemade.  Babies who are fed a consistent diet of this food have a much higher chance of becoming picky eaters.  They become so accustomed to eating bland food, which they don’t enjoy very much, that they are less eager to try new tastes and textures.  Unfortunately, this pattern often continues into the toddler years and well into childhood.  How many young children do you know who won’t eat anything other than processed chicken nuggets?  

On the other hand, babies who are fed a consistent diet of delicious homemade baby food often grow to become adventurous eaters who make healthy choices for themselves without even realizing it.  This is not to say kids who are fed homemade baby food won’t go crazy for ice cream, cookies and chicken nuggets on occasion, it’s just that getting them to eat well isn’t a daily struggle.  

4. Homemade baby food is the “green” choice

With commercially prepared baby food, there is the constant purchasing and discarding of jars, lids, and pouches.  About 4 million babies are born in the US every year.  On average, by the time each of those babies turns 1, they will have eaten 600 hundred jars of store bought baby food.  That equals about 2 million tons of baby food packaging waste.  Unfortunately, only about 15% gets recycled, leaving the rest to be incinerated or placed in a landfill.

5.  Homemade baby food puts you in charge!

You know where the food came from, because you bought it and you know what’s in the food, because you made it.  You are also able to expose your baby to the widest variety of flavors.  Your baby’s taste buds and palate are developing during her first year of life.  The more tastes, textures and yummy smells you can expose her to, the better.  With store bought baby food, we are only given a handful of choices for each stage, usually whatever the manufacturer thinks is the most popular.  With homemade baby food the yummy flavor combinations are almost endless!

Next: 3 easy baby food recipes

By Liza Huber - Liza is an actress, author of Sage Spoonfuls - Simple Recipes, Healthy Meals, Happy Babies, mother of 3 and creator of Sage Spoonfuls. Liza also serves as an Ambassador Mom for the March of Dimes.