One of my most wonderful friends recently had her first baby, the cutest little girl imaginable. She (the mama, not the baby, of course) was asking me about how I made baby food, and I had to dig way back into the recesses of my memory. It has been about 5 years since I was in the business of making baby food. But I did make make it for my babies and I did it as inexpensively and easily as possible.
I mainly used frozen bags of vegetables for their food. I found it to be most convenient and best priced. I would steam it in the microwave until it was very mushy then blended it using my stick mixer with enough water added in to give it a smooth and soft consistency. I didn't have a food processor back in those days, but it would have done a fabulous job. After mixing, I would scoop individual servings of the mushed veggies into Ziploc bags using a 1/4 C measuring cup and kept it in the freezer until I needed it.
Some of my favorite things that I made for them were mixed vegetables (using the peas, corn and carrots combo), butternut squash (using fresh butternut), lentils (just cooked according to package directions and then pureed), mashed avocado, bananas, homemade applesauce, canned refried beans, and homemade macaroni and cheese (just cook the macaroni extra long and it is perfect for pureeing.)
Making baby-food is a money saver. As you go about your normal meals keep an open mind to things that might be adaptable to a toothless mouth. With some planning and creativity there are dozens of different things that you can make for your baby. I never found baby food making to be cumbersome. I would often steam up some veggies when I was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and I could make a large batch for freezing without any extra effort.
You're best to get in the habit of making food for the kiddos when they are still babies, since you will be making food for them for a long time to come! The only time I bought jarred food was when we were traveling and I needed shelf-stable food; I think store-bought is still the best options for those situations.
*Consult with your pediatrician regarding the timing and order of solid food introductions and only introduce one new food at a time.
Tuesday: Spinach and Strawberry Salad