7 Ways to Use Up Those Extra Baby Food Purees with Your Toddler

Like many of you ladies, I made and froze all of James' baby food when he was little.  I'm obviously not making purees anymore, but I still have some sitting in my freezer begging to be used up.  I also happen to LOVE couponing and even now when I am able to find organic baby food purees for less than 20 cents, you better believe I'm picking it up for traveling and all-day outings.  These came in SUPER handy for our 10 day trek earlier this Spring to visit family.  Since James is a "big boy" now, we've gotten creative with how we use these purees.  Here's a list of a few ways we use purees in his "big boy" diet:

1) Vegetable baby foods over whole grain pasta or brown rice with chicken or beef

-This is the first way I started using up my purees.  Cook your pasta or rice and meat as usual and the puree becomes the sauce!

2) Use vegetable purees on deli sandwiches instead of mayo and mustard.  (Sneaking goodness in there!)

3) Substitute fruit purees for jelly in your PB&J's.

-Or do just the fruit puree w/o any peanut butter.  That's a favorite in our highchair.

4) Mix purees with a scrambled egg to up the nutritional ante.  

-When I'm scrambling an egg for James I usually smash up a banana with it, but if I'm out of bananas I'll take a puree from the pantry and mix it in instead.  He loves it!

5) Make a wrap with fruit puree as your spread and any fresh fruit you have on hand.

-Throw in a whole banana for a quick and yummy snack or add some sliced strawberries.  A swipe of peanut/nut butter adds some protein to make it a filling lunch.

6) Let them use purees to practice feeding themselves with a spoon. 

-James loves yogurt and applesauce and those have been our primary spoon foods for him to feed himself.  He's doing a great job lately!  There are also some really yummy (yes, I tried them) organic fruit and granola purees that are a little thicker that he does well feeding himself.

7) Make a smoothie!
    
- Our frozen ice cubes of pureed fruits and veggies have come in handy for throwing into smoothies!  Spinach is a favorite in our smoothies because it's so jam-packed with goodness.  Throw in some frozen fruit or purees and you're golden!

I'd love to hear how you use (or plan to use) your purees in the future!  We need more ideas :)  Leave a comment below!