by Muriah Summer

Created on: September 04, 2010

Making your own baby food is easier than you might think. Still, it can be intimidating for a parent used to the convenience of jarred baby food. There are plenty of good reasons to consider making your own baby food- nutrition, cost, taste, and variety all come to mind. If you're looking for a way to test the water, there are some dishes that are as easy to make as opening a jar (well, almost.)

Baby food companies try to make new parents feel that jarred baby food is the best and only choice; it is their business, after all. Busy, harried parents are led to believe that the jarred baby food is somehow nutritionally superior to the food that they could make themselves. But there is nothing special about the fruits and vegetables in the jars. They've been processed so that they don't go bad, and if you are lucky nothing has been added but water. Jarred baby food isn't bad for your baby, but nothing could be better than fresh, real food. (There are a couple of exceptions, which I'll get to later.) And it's cheaper, too. Compare the cost of jarred bananas- about 50 cents for a three ounce jar- to fresh bananas- often as little as 50 cents a pound. The fresh bananas cost five times less!

-Easy as opening a jar-

There are some foods that can be given to baby directly from the can or container. There is no good reason to by special baby food applesauce, for instance. Applesauce for adults is just as nutritious and a lot cheaper. You can even find fun flavor varieties such as blueberry, peach, or cinnamon flavored. Be careful to check the labels, though- you want to be sure there is no added sugar or artificial ingredients.

You can also give your baby canned pumpkin, such as what you would use to make a pumpkin pie. Again, be sure that the only ingredient is pumpkin.

-All you need is a fork-

The easiest homemade baby food can be made with nothing but a fork, a bowl, and a few seconds of your time. Ripe soft fruits such as bananas, pears, peaches, and so forth can be fork-mashed to a consistency that most babies will find acceptable. Papaya and mango also mash easily when they're ripe.

Avocado is another great fork food that you'll never find in a baby food jar, and full of nutrients and fats that babies need to be healthy. Don't fall prey to the idea that you should limit fats for the baby, as they need far more than adults do. This also comes into play when choosing yogurt for your baby- babies can have yogurt from about 7 or 8 months, but you'll need to scan the

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