Homemade vs store-bought baby food

Both are fine

There’s no wrong answer here. The AAP says making your own baby food is a great option, but you shouldn’t feel badly if you need to use store-bought food as well: family size, budget and schedule all play a part. What matters more than where the food comes from is that your baby gets a variety of foods, including iron-rich ones, and moves on to thicker, lumpier textures over time.

Many families do both: homemade at home, a jar or pouch in the bag for days out.

Homemade food

What’s good about it

• It can cost less. The AAP says homemade food can be less expensive than store-bought. Cooking a batch and freezing small portions makes it go further: see feeding on a budget.
• Your baby eats what the family eats. You don’t need special recipes: the AAP suggests starting with foods already on your menu. Cook without salt (NHS) and take your baby’s portion out before you season the rest. See family meals with your baby.
• You choose the ingredients and the texture. The AAP adds that homemade food avoids possible contaminants from processing and packaging. It’s easy to make food lumpier as your baby grows.
• You don’t need much kit. A blender, food processor or hand blender works, and soft food can be mashed with a fork (AAP).

What to watch

• It takes time. Batch cooking helps: see batch cooking and freezing.
• No salt or sugar. Don’t add salt or sugar to your baby’s food or cooking water, and don’t use stock cubes or gravy (NHS). See salt and sugar for babies.
• Variety still matters. Small amounts of metals are in many foods, homemade ones included, so offering a range of foods matters just as much when you cook (AAP). Rotate rice with other grains: see rice and arsenic.
• Safe storage takes a little care (see below).

For the how-to, see making purées at home.

Store-bought food

What’s good about it

• It’s convenient. The NHS says shop-bought jars, pouches, pots and trays can be a convenient way to feed your baby, which helps when you’re traveling or short on time.

What to watch

• Lead. In January 2025, the FDA set action levels for lead in packaged food for babies and young children under 2. These are guidance for manufacturers, not a promise that a product is lead-free, and the FDA says they aren’t meant to direct what you buy. Some brands have still been recalled for lead: see baby food recalls and heavy metals in baby food. Offering a variety of foods helps (AAP).
• Texture. Most food from pouches and jars has the same soft texture (NHS). Move on to mashed and finger foods as soon as your baby can manage them.
• Sugar from fruit. The NHS suggests avoiding jars and pouches with lots of puréed fruit or sweet vegetables, and choosing the option with the least sugar.
• Sameness. Many blends share the same first or second ingredient, often sweet potato, even when the names differ (AAP).
• Snacks. The NHS suggests skipping shop-bought biscuits, rusks, melty snacks and other packaged baby snacks, which can contain a lot of sugar. Babies under 12 months don’t need snacks at all (NHS).
• Pouches on a spoon. Squeeze the food onto a spoon rather than letting your baby suck from the spout, which the NHS says can increase the risk of tooth decay.
• Use them now and then. The NHS advice is to use jars and pouches once in a while, not as everyday food.

For pouches in particular (spouts, teeth and texture), see baby food pouches.

Cost and time

Prices vary a lot by brand, store and food, so we don’t give figures. A few things help either way:

• Babies don’t need special or expensive food. Simple family staples, cooked soft without salt, work well: see feeding on a budget for lower-cost iron and protein foods.
• Cooking once and freezing small portions saves both money and time. The AAP suggests an ice cube tray: each cube is about 1 oz of food.
• Store-bought food saves time, and on busy days that counts too.

Reading the label

Turn the jar or pouch around and check:

1. The age. The NHS says to wait until your baby is around 6 months before starting solid food, even if the label says “from 4 months”.
2. The ingredients list. Ingredients are listed by weight, largest first (NHS). A pouch called “kale and pear” may be mostly another fruit or sweet potato (AAP).
3. Added sugar. In the US, the Nutrition Facts label shows “added sugars” on its own line. These include syrups, honey, and concentrated fruit or vegetable juice (FDA). No honey in any form before 12 months (NHS). US and UK advice is to avoid added sugar up to age 4: see salt and sugar for babies.
4. Salt. UK labels show salt and US labels show sodium. Babies shouldn’t eat much salt, because it isn’t good for their kidneys (NHS). Choose foods with no added salt.
5. The seal. Check that the safety button on a jar lid is down, and don’t use a jar if the lid doesn’t pop when you open it, or if the glass is chipped or the lid is rusty (FDA).

Storing both kinds safely

Homemade food

• Cool cooked food quickly and get it into the fridge or freezer within 2 hours (USDA FSIS).
• Fridge: use within 3 to 4 days (USDA FSIS). The NHS is stricter: 2 days.
• Freezer: use fruit and vegetable purées within 3 months (AAP), and meat, fish or egg purées within 1 to 2 months (FDA). Label each bag with the food and the date (AAP).
• Thaw in the fridge and eat within 24 hours of thawing (NHS).
• Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, 165°F (74°C), then let it cool and test the temperature before serving. Reheat only once (NHS).

Opened jars and pouches

• Spoon a portion into a bowl instead of feeding from the jar, and put the rest in the fridge (FDA). Throw away what’s left in the bowl.
• Follow the label for how long it keeps once opened. The FDA’s guide is 2 to 3 days in the fridge for opened fruit and vegetable baby food, and 1 day for meats and eggs.

Both: throw away any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it’s hotter than 90°F / 32°C) (USDA FSIS). The FDA gives the same 2-hour limit for baby food.

Where US and UK advice differs

• Fridge time. USDA FSIS gives 3 to 4 days for cooked leftovers. The NHS says to use batch-cooked baby food kept in the fridge within 2 days.
• Labels. US labels list sodium and show added sugars on their own line (FDA). UK labels list salt, and some front-of-pack labels use red, amber and green colors for fat, sugars and salt (NHS).
• Lead limits. The FDA’s 2025 lead action levels apply to packaged baby food sold in the US. The NHS advice on jars and pouches focuses on texture and sugar.
• Snacks. The NHS says babies under 12 months don’t need snacks, and to offer extra milk feeds if they seem hungry between meals. The CDC describes about 3 meals and 2 to 3 snacks a day as solid foods become a bigger part of your baby’s diet. Either way, skip packaged baby snacks.