New moms are bombarded with all sorts of information about their baby.

But one of the most important choices to make is what to feed your bouncing bundle of joy.

After the first six months it is time, for most babies, to start introducing more solid foods into their diet, like fruits and vegetables. And even with so many choices on the baby food aisle, it might be simpler to make your own baby food — and easier on your pocketbook as well.

"I have a 9-month-old, so I have been making baby food galore and it is simple as pie to do," said Sharon McLeod, dietician with district 2 public health department. "We have done carrots, squash and sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, green beans, bananas, pears. You can use any use any fruit or vegetable or even meats; you can use about any food to do baby food."

McLeod takes time on Friday nights or the weekends to create frozen pureed baby food.

"I do big amounts at one time and I freeze it," she said. "I pop them out of the ice cube trays and then I put them into freezer bags and as I need them I thaw out as many cubes as I need."

Most any fruit or vegetable can be used for your homemade creations, but McLeod said corn is about the only vegetable that doesn't puree well.

"What you do is boil it until it is really tender - no butter, salt, pepper or anything like that," she said. "Just boil it (the vegetable or fruit) and put it in the blender and add some of the water you used to cook it with and you blend it to the consistency that you want."

For younger babies — say, 6 months — try to make the food as thin as you can. Older babies can eat more chunks, she said.

Tina Roberts said her two children feasted on fresh pureed vegetables - like sweet potatoes, green beans and beets — made by her husband, chef Tim Roberts at 2 Dog Cafe in Gainesville.

"He blended up a bunch of stuff and it is really very simple," she said. "A great way to get them to eat - once again, this is making it and feeding it to them immediately — is pureeing and adding a little bit of cream or formula milk when they are first starting out."

Depending on how old the child is, she said, you can add some cow's milk to sweeten the mixture a bit.

Whether adding just the water used for cooking to thin the veggies or formula milk, homemade baby food does offer a savings compared with store-bought food. McLeod said she bought three normal sized sweet potatoes and made the equivalent of about 16 jars of baby food for $2 to $3.

"A Stage Two baby food jar, which is 4 ounces, is going to be roughly 50 cents apiece and if you have ... (an) almost 9-month-old and he's going through four or five (4-ounce jars) a day," she said.

That adds up to about $50 to $60 a month in jars of baby food.

"I think I spent $2 or $3 and I made four ice cube trays (of baby food)."

McLeod added that she likes to introduce a new food to her 9-month-old every few days, so he can experience different flavors.

"When you are starting out with baby foods you want to do one new baby food, I say, every three to four days. Some people recommend a little bit longer," she said. "Sometimes it is easier if you start a new food every Sunday or every Monday just so you don't forget when you introduce a new food for any kind of allergies or rashes or anything like that

"But once you've introduced those new foods you can have a couple of different cubes of different things."

But usually in the early stages of solid foods babies tend to go for fruits.

"Mostly the sweets, the applesauce, the fruits, the bananas - they really love bananas," said Phyllis Jackson, who works with the babies at First Presbyterian Church's Child Development Center in Gainesville.

Jackson has worked in the child care field for 24 years and said "the key (to feeding babies solid food) is patience."

And adding a variety of flavors to entice their little taste buds, McLeod added.

"I think when you are introduced to a variety of foods you learn to have a variety palate," she said. "I think with infants they are learning those new tastes and everything tastes different ... when you add solids it gives them a whole world of different flavors."