Are you worried about feeding your baby store bought baby food? Making your own baby food is so easy, cheap, and healthy! Find out how to make your own banana baby food here!
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Banana Baby Food
When it comes to our children, we as moms want to give them the best! We want them to be healthy and we want them to have the best start at life possible!
A great way to give your baby the best optimal start is to make your own baby food! Unfortunately store bought baby food can be laden with chemicals and other nasty ingredients.
Making your own baby food fresh is a great way to not only avoid these nasty ingredients, but to give your baby the freshest, most nutritious food possible!
When all four of my children were babies I made my own baby food for them. If you have never done it before, then don’t worry, it’s very easy! I’ll walk you step by step through the entire process:)
And I know it sounds time consuming, but it’s really not. You can make up a whole months worth of baby food in just a few hours!
How to Make Banana Baby Food
Banana baby food is one of the best options when it comes to feeding your baby in a hurry!
Don’t have time to thaw out baby food? Have to feed baby in the car or out somewhere? Worried about your baby food spoiling while out? No worries, banana baby food is the solution!
Between four kids bananas have saved my sanity more times than I can remember! Banana baby food is the easiest baby food to prepare!
The only ingredients that you will need for this recipe are bananas, and possibly a little filtered or reverse osmosis water.
So let’s get started and go make some banana baby food!
Choosing Bananas for Baby
When making banana baby food you need to consider the ripeness of the banana.
As adults, we all like our bananas at different stages. I personally like my bananas a little green, my husband can eat them once they have black spots on them (I totally can not do this! lol)
But when it comes to feeding your baby bananas you want to feed them bananas that are very ripe. It should be yellow with some black flecks.
When the banana is at this stage it is not only easier for baby to digest, but it’s easier to prepare as well! Plus, the banana is at it’s nutritional peak at this time.
Banana Puree Baby Food
Now, how do we get from whole banana to banana baby food?
This is honestly so incredibly easy!
Start by peeling the banana.
The next step can be done one of two ways. You can either fork mash the banana, or you can puree it.
If your baby is younger or if it’s the baby’s first time eating bananas I recommend pureeing it as it will give it a smoother texture.
If you baby is an experienced eater then fork mashing should be ok. If you’re mashing it be sure to mash all the chunks so that baby doesn’t gag or choke.
Also if the banana is too thick for baby then add a little filtered or RO water and mix or mash it into the bananas.
To puree the bananas I highly recommend purchasing a Vitamix Blender to make your baby food with. It is one of the best blenders and will blend baby food to a super smooth consistency to insure that you do not end up with chunks in the baby food that baby can gag on.
This is the only blender that I will use when pureeing not only baby food, but other recipes such as Sweet Potato Pie or Apple Butter as well! It is the best! And it lasts FOREVER! I have had my Vitamix for over a decade and it’s still going strong and purees foods just as good as the day I got it! Definitely worth investing in!
So add the bananas to the blender. You can either blend just the amount that you need, or you can batch blend and save some for later. Below I share the best way to freeze banana puree.
When blending you might need to also add a little water. If the banana seems really thick you might need to add a little water until it reaches the right consistency.
Start with a few tablespoons as you can always add more. If the bananas get too thick they will not blend well. So keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the blender as needed and adding water until all the bananas are smooth and blended well.
You want it to be somewhat thick and not runny, so don’t add too much water. You basically only want to add as much water as is needed to help the blender out. Otherwise the bananas will just stick to the sides and won’t fall down to the blades.
Once all the banana is blended to a super smooth consistency you have baby food! Yep, it’s that easy!
How to Store Homemade Baby Food
But wait, we’re not done yet!
What are you supposed to do with this large batch of banana baby food?
Like I mentioned above you can make a LOT of baby food in a short amount of time. The key is to freeze the bananas that you won’t be using in the next couple of days for later.
However, you don’t want to freeze it all together. You want to be able to freeze it in serving sizes so that you can easily thaw out and use a small amount at a time. This way you can have baby food for a month or more!
How to Freeze Baby Food
To freeze baby food efficiently you really need to get these baby food cube trays. They’re kind of like ice cube trays that have lids.
Simply scoop the pureed banana into the trays, place the lid on, and put it in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen you can pop them out and store them in freezer bags that are labeled with the date made. Bananas will keep in the freezer for up to three months.
Now, bananas do tend to turn dark when refrigerated or frozen. This doesn’t mean that they are bad! They are perfectly safe to eat. However if you want to prevent this darkening you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice for each cup of banana puree.
However, only do this if your baby is old enough to eat citrus!
Now you have a large supply of ready made, single serving, banana baby food cubes! How easy is that?!
How to Thaw Frozen Baby Food
When it comes time to use your frozen banana cubes you need to be sure that they are thawed in advance.
There are a couple of different ways to thaw out banana baby food.
The easiest is to put it in a bowl with a lid the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. That way the next day it will be soft and ready to use.
However, I know from experience, that this isn’t always an option! There were many times that I forgot to lay my baby food out and had to do it just before serving it.
I really don’t recommend thawing baby food in the microwave. Not only does it leave hot spots in the baby food that can burn your baby, but it also is bad for the baby food! You can read here about the dangers of microwaves and why I don’t have one.
So, the best way to thaw frozen baby food cubes quickly is the fill a bowl that is a little larger than the bowl holding the baby food with hot water. Sit the bowl with the cubes in the hot water. The heat will be enough to cause the cubes to melt.
You might have to change the water a few times and add fresh hot water as it gets cold. Also occasionally turn the cube and break it up as it gets softer to help speed up thawing.
I know this might seem like a pain, but it’s the best way to thaw the cubes so that they don’t get too hot for baby and the best way to preserve the nutrients in the food that you worked hard to make!
Be sure to test the thawed banana to be sure that it is not hot before feeding it to your baby.
How to Store Bananas
Also, if you run out of time and aren’t able to puree and freeze bananas that are very ripe, you can also freeze bananas whole!
Whole bananas can be frozen for up to six months.
I will warn you though, when a whole banana is placed in the fridge or freezer, the peel will turn black! Do not let this scare you, it is still perfectly safe to eat!
Also, frozen bananas will be mushy when thawed out. But hey, that’s ok because you’re going to mash or puree them anyways! So now you can easily mash them with a fork to serve to baby.
Banana Puree
And that’s how you make homemade banana baby food!
Now the only thing left to do is to serve it to your little one:) I hope they enjoy it as much as you enjoy giving your baby the healthiest food possible!
For additional baby food recipes be sure to read:
How to Make Green Bean Baby Food
How to Make Sweet Potato Baby Food
How to Make Butternut Squash Baby Food
Banana Baby Food Recipe
Banana Baby Food
Make your own baby food! This sweet fruity banana baby food is an excellent homemade baby food choice!
Ingredients
- Organic Bananas
- Filtered or RO Water (possibly)
- Lemon Juice (If baby is old enough for citrus)
Instructions
- Start by peeling the banana.
- The next step can be done one of two ways. You can either fork mash the banana, or you can puree it.
- If you're mashing it be sure to mash all the chunks so that baby doesn't gag or choke.
- Also if the banana is too thick for baby then add a little filtered or RO water and mix or mash it into the bananas.
- To puree add the bananas to the blender.
- When blending you might need to also add a little water. If the banana seems really thick you might need to add a little water until it reaches the right consistency.
- Start with a few tablespoons as you can always add more. If the bananas get too thick they will not blend well. So keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the blender as needed and adding water until all the bananas are smooth and blended well.
- You want it to be somewhat thick and not runny, so don't add too much water. You basically only want to add as much water as is needed to help the blender out. Otherwise the bananas will just stick to the sides and won't fall down to the blades.
- Once all the banana is blended to a super smooth consistency you have baby food! Yep, it's that easy!
- If you are batch blending and your baby is old enough for citrus, you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup of banana puree to prevent darkening in the freezer.
