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With my first baby I was all about the homemade baby food. I spent hours and days cooking different foods and pureeing them into baby food. My baby had a wonderful and healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables. With my second I was flabberghasted when she wouldn’t eat ANYTHING with a mushy texture! I thought for a bit that she just wasn’t ready, but after we passed the 7 month mark I started trying some new things and figured out that she loved finger foods, she just wouldn’t eat anything mushy. With my first I didn’t do table food until much closer to one and so I really had to think to figure out what finger foods would be appropriate for a new eater.
When you browse down the aisle at the store they offer a multitude of baby finger foods in a can, but I just couldn’t justify feeding my baby a diet of puffs and the equivalent of baby cheetos. Some of the other issues I had besides health was that I needed something that was equally healthy and easy, and since we are constantly on the go I have to have something I can grab quickly and take with me just like you can a jar of baby food. After some trial and error we have found some great alternatives for for me to feed her that were 1. Healthy 2. Easy and 3. Portable. That made us both happy! So whether you are trying out baby led weaning or you are at the stage where you are moving from puree to more table food this is a great list to keep handy to keep it healthy and keep it easy.
Everything on the list below is EASY! Also, most of it can be prepped ahead of time and frozen so when you are on the go all you have to do pop a container out of the freezer and jet out the door. Freezer cooking baby style! I try to introduce a variety of healthy foods to help form a well rounded eater. Also, as we mentioned in our Easy and Healthy Toddler Snacks post, it can take up to 10 introductions for a kid to try a food, so don’t give up on healthy foods if they don’t like it on the first couple of trys! Also, Check out our post on Spicing up Your Baby Food to see how to incorporate new flavors for your little one! Remember that you should only offer your baby foods that are cool, soft, easily mashed and age appropriate. Also, babies should always be supervised while eating any food.
Freezer Friendly Foods:
- Cooked Carrots- I microwave baby carrots in a bowl covered with water and chop into small bites (16oz for 6-8 min)
- Cooked Peas- I use canned, no salt added because they are the most mushy
- Cooked Green Beans- I use canned, no salt added because they are the most mushy, diced
- Cooked Black Beans- I use canned, no salt added because they are the most mushy
- Other Cooked Beans- Anything soft, although if they are larger you might need to dice them as well
- Cooked Corn- I use canned, no salt added
- Cooked Broccoli- diced
- Whole Wheat Bread- diced
- Cooked Sweet Potato- Wash and leave in produce bag, microwave in bag for 4-6 min, diced
- Avocado diced
- Soft Cheeses- cheddar, mozzarella, colby jack, provolone etc diced
- Cooked Pasta- diced
- Cooked Butternut or Acorn Squash- Cut in half and microwave until soft, diced
- Eggs- scrambled and cut into bits
- Brown rice- cooked
- Very Ripe Pears- diced
- Very Ripe Mango- diced
Other Great Healthy Finger Foods:
- Banana- diced
- Blueberries cut in half or slightly mashed
- Kiwi- soft and ripe, diced
- Peaches- soft and ripe, diced
- Very ripe tomatoes, diced without skin
- Cheerios
- Baby Mum Mum
- Watermelon- diced with no seeds
- Other very ripe Melons- Cantelope, Honey Dew etc. Diced
- Graham crackers-very small pieces
- Organic Puffs
Since these finger foods are our main source of nutrition (outside of breast feeding), I like to fix myself ready to go packages of freezer foods. I can prepare a lot at once by freezing them in meal sized containers. I have quite a few of the plastic Gerber baby food containers saved that are perfect to use. Also, Glad and Zip Lock both make 4-8 oz reuseable containers which I used when I made baby food with my first and are also perfect for this. I prep all of my food then fill the containers with it so I can have a variety at each meal. I will put veggies mixed together in a container but obviously things like bread and cheese should be packaged by themselves. I use snack sized zip lock bags for this. If you need more ideas the Wholesome Baby Food website is a great additional resource on what to feed baby and your preparation options.
See… That was easy! Now to make it even better, here is a free printable sheet to stick to your fridge to remind you of all the healthy meal options available for baby. For more great posts on food for little ones and printables, check out Easy and Healthy Toddler Snacks and Spice Up Your Baby Food!
***UPDATE- This post has been SO popular I did a whole new post with even more ideas specifically for veggies you can use for baby finger foods! See the update here!
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Alisha Cook says
I love this post I’m on my 3rd and still can’t remember what to do to start with finger foods! It must be a mom thing! lol So do you cook all the food before freezing it? By the way I love your name! My daughter is 9 months old and her name is KIMBER too! Thanks again for such a helpful post! 🙂
Kat Withers says
I just came across this on Pinterest and it is amazing!! My 7 month old loves finger foods, too, but I am uncomfortable with only giving him the mum-mums, puffs, and graham crackers. He gummed a peach with me yesterday, and after reading this list, I’m going to start preparing him a healthier variety of finger foods. He’s going to be a happy little pumpkin!! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before, although my first was like yours – content to eat smooth foods. Thank you for sharing!
Kimber says
So glad I could help! We are all in this crazy mothering thing together!
Nicki says
This is an awesome post I found on Pinterest. My baby is formula fed and then moved on to purees. She is currently 10 months and I want to start moving her into solid whole foods. I, like you am constantly on the go. When freezing your foods, do you keep them packaged in the freezer or Gerber containers while on the go and how do you go about reheating when a microwave is unavailable?
Bryn says
My eight-month-old get frustrated if the pieces are so small that you can’t pick them up leaving me to giving her pretty large pieces and then getting super nervous about her choking. She’s pretty good with puffs but it’s is the slippery stuff like avocado and sweet potato etc. that I think would be really hard for her. Did you find it to be a problem for your LO?
Kimber says
All of my kids were so different! It is crazy how one does something and another won’t. You might try crushing up cheerios or crackers into a fine crumb and shaking the “slimy” foods in it so that it is coated. This will make it much less slippery and it might be easier for your little one to grab onto it!
Margaret Mullinary says
These are all fantastic. But I have to mention I was shocked to see that you wash a sweet potato then microwave it in a produce bag. If you are microwaving any food I wouldn’t suggest doing so in any type of bag. Especially if you’re feeding that food to a baby!!!
Elma J. Law says
This is exactly what I was looking for. I was doing this out of necessity, my daughter (1yr old), wouldn’t eat baby food or cereal so I started sharing my food with her, its less stress for us both. Thankfully she loves nursing and is still getting most of her nutrients from breast milk.
Ashley says
Did you cook the vegetables that were in the cans before freezing them? Or did you just put them straight from the van into containers to freeze? Also did you freeze your cheese and bread snack bags for baby as well or just put those in the refrigerator to have as you need them ready? First time mom here trying to transition into table foods as smoothly as possible!