Delicious Homemade Plant-Based Baby Foods for Toddlers

For those interested in eating a Plant-Based diet, we’ve looked at what that means and noted 9 Key Nutrients for Toddlers in previous articles. Perhaps while shopping, you’ve also noticed how expensive buying continuous jars of baby food can be and wondered how to make your own plant-based baby food at home. Not to mention, making it at home you reduce so much packaging waste.

It’s easy and all you really need is a blender or food processor. A basic blender works as well as a high-speed one. If your blender is a specialty blender like the Thermomix, which was originally created by a mom in Germany who wanted to chop and cook baby food all in one go, the job is even easier and faster because it cooks and chops with the same countertop machine.

Either way, by making your own, you can customise the ingredients to what’s in-season and tastes good to your little one.

Keep the main ingredients simple, with one or two main items and perhaps a pinch or two of spice or flavouring. The colours are more appealing, and you can mix & match each of the ingredients by the spoonful at different meals.

Adding a spice like cinnamon is known to be good for easing gas in colicky babies and an herb like mint is known to ease digestion. Turmeric is anti-inflammatory. Pick spices that you use for your own food, this will help get your baby used to the flavours you like to use.

When cooking, steaming is healthier than boiling, since the nutrients stay in the food, rather than boiling into the water. So, steam the ingredients first, then just puree.

A couple ideas:

Fresh Avocado & Steamed Peas

Peas have just about all the vitamins and minerals you need, as well as antioxidants and fiber. They are also high in protein. The fat in the avocado helps the fat-soluble vitamins A & K in the peas be absorbed.

What you need:

• 2 cups of fresh (without their pods) or frozen peas
• 1 avocado
• Choose a seasoning - the leaves from a sprig of mint or parsley or even a spring onion pairs nicely.

What you do:

Wash the peas. Steam the peas until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Peel & roughly cut the avocado. Add both together and puree with the seasoning of your choice. Start with a small amount of spice and adjust as necessary. If your blender has a difficult time pureeing, add water a tablespoon at a time to make it easier.

Superfood Blueberry & Chickpea

Loaded with antioxidants and fiber as well as protein, iron and vitamins A and C.

What you need:

• A cup of blueberries
• A cup of chickpeas, without liquid
• Choose a seasoning - cardamom, cinnamon, lemon and lavender would pair well.

What you do:

Rinse your chickpeas and wash your blueberries. Blend all to desired consistency, depending on type of blender and degree of chunkiness you would like. Pulsing in a food processor will leave it chunkier. Pulse in 10 second intervals for a minute or two. A blender will make more of a puree. Adding a little water will help thin it as well.

About the Author

Michele Wisla is a Plant-Based Nutrition Coach and expert in making plant-based food taste delicious, who runs the company Our Conscious Kitchen Limited. Her passion is enabling women who are discouraged by their unhealthy food choices feel confident finding or preparing plant-based meals that make a difference to their future health as well as the health of the planet.