Here’s how to make a cheap and easy homemade baby food. And you’ll never guess what the baby food is….
Refried beans!
What are the ingredients? Pinto beans!!!
We discovered this cheap homemade baby food idea by accident when we were eating at a Mexican restaurant. Our son is an extremely picky eater and was getting upset when we were eating at a Mexican restaurant when he was about one year old. My husband (“da-da”) decided to give him a taste of refried beans. And he’s been hooked on refried beans since! He loves refried beans so much that he wants to eat them almost every single day!
It’s easy to make your own refried beans for your baby. Buy some pinto beans and select one of the thousands of recipes already floating around on the internet. Or experiment a little to find out what ingredients your baby likes best in the refried beans. You can even choose to just smash up pinto beans and start with that. Pinto beans are cheap, and that is what makes this a great and easy way to make cheap homemade baby food!
Even if you decide not to make your own refried beans, they are super cheap in the grocery store, especially when compared to the price for the same amount of jarred baby food. I know many people are concerned about the lard in refried beans, and there are plenty of lard-free varieties of refried beans available in the stores. If you are buying refried beans in the store, watch the labels for salt (sodium). Some brands have a lot, but you can also find brands with lower amounts of sodium.
If you need to, you can also thin the store bought refried beans down by adding water and mixing it up. (This is a good idea for younger babies who are newer to solid food.) The thing we love about refried beans right now is our 17 month old son can eat them on his own very easily, with a spoon. They stick well to the spoon and don’t fall off when he turns the spoon upside down. They are loaded with fiber (bye bye constipation!) and nutrients, such as iron, which many babies are already lacking. In my opinion, refried beans are almost the ideal baby food.