At Edie’s 4 month old appointment, her doctor said we could try feeding her solids and it kind of caught me off guard — already? Wait, how does this work again? What foods? Sometimes I kind of forget how all this goes, but am too embarrassed to ask as she’s our second and I should know all this by now, right?

Moving from breast milk to food is a big jump. You go from knowing exactly what your baby is eating to not really being sure all the time. It’s a little scary. I mean, now I eat hot dogs from NY carts without batting an eye… but babies! They’re so new and precious. There are hot dogs and boxed macaroni and cheese in her future for sure at some point. But for now, let’s stick to the good stuff for her first tastes.

Edie has been interested in food seemingly since birth. Everything we sat at the table eating she’d watch with such intent. I was convinced that she would love food when it was offered. Well… 3 months later and it’s still very touch and go. Sometimes she’s into it (like lemons, who knew??) and other times she clamps her mouth shut in silent protest (‘if it ain’t breast milk, don’t bother’).

Way back when I found out I was pregnant with Edie a friend told me that the biggest improvement in baby care since I was pregnant 6 years before were the invention of these baby food pouches. And I believe it! They are so easy to travel with, not messy at all, and for slightly older kids, they can even feed themselves (Edie likes to try that too already). So I was excited to finally try some Plum Organics pouches with Edie.

But. I really wanted to try making my own baby food. I always kind of felt bad I never did it with Henry (like, never!). I’m not sure why. I guess I was intimidated by the process, or maybe I didn’t have a good blender (love this nutribullet our friends gave to us last year). The idea of making our own baby food seems so simple, it’s just pureed…anything! With my list in hand, Edie and I headed to our local Target to get some supplies. Here’s how it went…

Photography by Liz Stanley

This post is sponsored by Target. The Made To Matter line has been handpicked by Target to bring you brands that make things better for your you, your family, and the place we all call home.

I first did a bunch of research into flavor combos and age appropriate foods. Turns out there are actually less rules now than with Henry. You don’t have to try cereal first! Getting some of my inspiration from the Plum Organics flavors at Made to Matter, Handpicked by Target™. I picked a few combos that seemed interesting. I tried to stick to organic and fresh fruits and veggies as much as possible.

Here are the four homemade baby food combos we tried and what Edie thought of them:

Pumpkin mango yogurt: Organic canned pumpkin, organic frozen mango chunks (cutting a fresh one seemed way too time consuming), and organic plain yogurt. I blended them up together.

Edie’s verdict: She loved it! I think it was her favorite. I liked the creative combo of fruit and veggie too.

Baby Pea hummus: I blended up a tablespoon or so of tahini sesame sauce, organic frozen peas, and a bit of lemon juice.

Edie’s verdict: Nay. Maybe too young. Although I did dip some crackers in it later for myself and thought it was pretty good!

Blueberry Banana Avocado: Organic blueberries, avocado, and  ripe bananas are mashed and blended together.

Edie’s verdict: She was okay with it. Didn’t love it. So many healthy nutrients here though. We’ll be trying this one again. Maybe with a tad of agave for sweetness next time.

Stored them in a Beaba multiportion freezer tray. The frozen portions just pop out and you can warm them up quickly in single portion size. I added some labels with washi tape on top.

Next I tried a mixed vegetable and brown rice puree. I have bad memories of eating frozen mixed vegetables growing up. Hoping I could make a better version packed full of nutrients.

I picked up some organic veggies and chopped them into small pieces. I remember my son loving green beans, so I put a lot of those in. Then I put them all on the stove with some water. It took a while to cook everything down until it was soft enough (I started wondering too about losing those nutrients from cooking them down too much and not steaming them?). I added them to the blender with some microwavable organic brown rice. It made a ton, more than would fit in my Beaba freezer tray (that I used above). So I grabbed my breast milk storage bags instead. HA! It worked okay, I labeled them and lay them flat in the freezer so they would be easy to thaw when needed. Let’s just hope Jared doesn’t think it’s breast milk gone sour and throws them out when he sees them in the freezer…

Here’s my final verdict on making my own baby food: It felt good knowing what exactly was in her food. Making all the decisions myself is great. It’s very economical. It also made a TON! And I could freeze it too so I think this batch will last a while. But, it took a lot of time. I was taking photos along the way, but it still took the good part of the morning. And the consistency wasn’t as good- I still found chunks of mangos which isn’t safe. It kind of reminded me of canning- messy, requires a lot of planning, you commit to a morning every few weeks and you have food for a while.

It certainly is easier to just grab the organic pouches (and good to know that they’re good for baby), and definitely on the go they’re the easiest. Bottom line: it’s great have both options of easy on the go food that you know is good for your baby and also homemade stuff that’s economical and in bulk in your freezer (hopefully pureed better than mine). The Plum Organic pouches really were the first food she’s started to eat consistently.

I’d love to hear what you think: have you made homemade baby food before? If so, do you make it on a regular basis? What do you feed your baby?