Homemade Baby Food Cheats

Alexis has posted a couple of times (here and here) about how easy it is to make your own baby food. Now that Love Bean has been on solids for a couple of months, I can attest to how easy it really is. But sometimes it's hard to find time to make it. Especially if I don't make enough on the weekend to last the entire week. I've found some time saving baby food *cheats* that have helped me stay on track. 

• Frozen vegtables - to save myself the time of peeling, de-stemming, and chopping veggies like green beans, carrots and peas, I purchase bags of frozen vegetables. It's so easy to dump them into the steamer for a few minutes and then puree them
• Foods that don't need to be cooked, like avocado, banana and kiwi are great to keep on hand. They're easy mash-up with a fork and serve to your little one. They also all mix together well, so if your little one gets bored with one flavor, you can add some variety with different combos
• Buy canned pumpkin (make sure it's not the pumpkin pie filling) I haven't actually introduced this yet, but I plan on it soon!
• All natural applesauce (make sure to read the ingredients. You want the only ingredient to be apples, no additives) I love having a jar of this on hand. I add it to her cereal in the mornings, or mix it in with veggies that Love Bean doesn't really like.
• I don't make my own cereal, but I like to spice up her breakfast a little bit. So I add fruit, cinnamon or both to her breakfast. Love Bean loves when I add the cinnamon, so we've been doing that a lot lately. 
• You could also add spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to your store bought foods. Check out this list on Momtastic's Wholesome Babyfood for other spice ideas

If you make your own baby food, do you have any other time saving tricks you use? Share in the comments or on our Facebook page!