Making Baby Food: First Sweet Potatoes

So, you want to make your own baby food, but that Wholesome Baby Food website looks like it’s from 1998. Also, it really doesn’t explain the process. In this post, I’m going to show you how to make your own baby food using the Baby Bullet. Today, we’re making sweet potatoes. Ingredients: organic sweet potatoes and purified water. One organic sweet potato makes six 4oz jars of baby food, and these jars keep in the fridge for 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the puree for 30 days. But, the truth? It’s better fresh.

First, you’re going to need to buy some organic sweet potatoes. Because if you’re going to be making your own baby food, it might as well be organic. If you’re super cheap and couldn’t care less about your child’s health, you can use regular sweet potatoes. But, honestly, a bag of 5 organic sweet potatoes costs $3.79. This makes each sweet potato cost approximately $0.76. With one organic sweet potato, you get six jars of baby food, making each jar cost a measly $0.13. Yeah. That’s cheap. If you really feel like you need to save even more money, go for regular sweet potatoes. But making organic baby food (assuming your baby eats at least three jars a day) will save you, on average, $952.65/year; in fact, it will only cost you $142.35/year to give your baby homemade baby food*.

Back to the potatoes.

Okay. So you bought your assumedly organic sweet potatoes. Now, you have to peel and cube the sweet potatoes.

Once you’ve peeled and cubed the sweet potatoes, put the potatoes and purified water into the pot. The water should be slightly higher than the potatoes. Next, turn your burner on high, and bring the water to a boil, then cover the pot for 20 minutes. If you’ve ever made mashed potatoes from scratch, the idea here is pretty similar. The sweet potatoes have to be soft enough to mush easily with a fork.

After the sweet potatoes have been adequately cooked, you need to strain the sweet potatoes, but keep the water.

Transfer the cooked sweet potatoes to the large baby bullet bowl. Add one cup of the sweet potato water. Blend.

When the sweet potatoes are done, pour into individual jars or store in a large, BPA free container. I like to store mine in the Baby Bullet’s jars.

The whole process should take 35-45 minutes. If you have a steamer or specific device for cooking sweet potatoes, the prep and cook time could be drastically reduced. However, I strongly object to microwaving the sweet potatoes. Seriously. Eat a baked sweet potato then compare it to a microwaved sweet potato. The microwaved sweet potato is weird. Stick with doing things the old fashioned way when it comes to making baby food. Less is more.

Last step, feed your baby! After the sweet potato puree has cooled, of course!

*Based on the calculation ($0.13 x 3) x 365 = $142.35/year homemade vs. ($1.00 x 3) x 365 = $1,095/year store bought.