Homemade Baby Food Essentials: Freezer and Pantry

Homemade baby food freezer pantry essentials is a guide to some easy, healthy foods to keep on hand for making homemade baby food!

Making your own homemade baby food can be so quick and easy, particularly when you keep your freezer, fridge and pantry stocked with some of these healthy basics. You'll always have a few foods you can whip up in a matter of minutes for your little one.

(If you need some help getting started, my homemade baby food peas, green beans, applesauce, butternut squash and oatmeal round of batch cooking are some great first foods for your baby. I have lots more beginner baby foods here and also a homemade baby foods introducing solids schedule.

And for more info on all things baby food, check out my main homemade baby food page. You'll find tons of resources and information for getting started, along with my cooking combo ideas, which take advantage of all these on-hand essentials.

So let's get to it - check out these lists of some homemade baby food freezer pantry essentials to keep on hand!

Freezer foods:
Frozen peas
Frozen green beans
Frozen broccoli
Frozen okra
Frozen butternut (or winter) squash
Frozen California mix (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots)
Frozen edamame
Frozen blueberries
Frozen peaches
Other frozen fruit: blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, pineapple, mango, mixed berry

Refrigerator foods:
Cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, goat, cream cheese, cottage cheese, etc.) - go with full fat varities because growing babies need those healthy fats!
Yogurt (I use plain Greek yogurt and add my own mix-ins) - again, go with the highest fat content you can find. Cabot, pictured here, makes a 10% fat Greek yogurt variety.
Eggs

Pantry foods:
Brown rice (start them with healthy whole grains!)
Oats (I use old-fashioned or rolled oats)
Quinoa
Barley
Applesauce (choose organic and 1-ingredient applesauce)
Bananas
Sweet potatoes
Canned pumpkin
Dried apricots
Prunes
Black beans, cannellini beans, chick peas, pinto beans, etc.
Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter
Whole wheat bread (for toast when they’re a bit older)
Jars or cans of peaches and pears (packed in water or juice, not heavy syrup, and not sugar-free because that means artificial sweeteners have been added)