BLW Grocery List: A Simple Shopping Workflow for Starting Solids

A helpful BLW grocery list is short and flexible: check what you already have, add a few optional foods, read labels, and note how you'll prepare each item.

Readiness is a separate question: the CDC points to about 6 months plus developmental signs such as head and neck control and sitting alone or with support, not age alone. See signs your baby is ready for solids or ask your pediatrician.

Step 1: Check what you already have

Start with the fridge, freezer, and pantry. Vegetables, plain yogurt, or canned beans you already have may work with the right preparation, so add only what's missing.

Step 2: Pick a few foods by group

The CDC encourages variety across food groups, but this isn't a must-buy list; you don't need every group on every trip.

• Vegetables your family already eats
• Soft, ripe fruit, or firmer fruit you'll cook
• Plain canned beans or another protein from our food guides
• A fortified infant cereal, such as oat, barley, or multigrain; see iron-rich first foods
• Plain, unsweetened, pasteurized full-fat yogurt

Step 3: Read labels and check packaging

On the Nutrition Facts label, look for no added sugars and less sodium; for canned foods, CDC guidance suggests low sodium or no salt added. Skip unpasteurized foods and drinks, and skip honey before 12 months.

The FDA advises against buying open, torn, or damaged packages or cans that leak or bulge. Package age claims don't prove readiness.

Step 4: Plan the prep for each item

Groceries aren't ready-to-serve food. Beside each item, write what it needs first, such as:

• Vegetables and firm fruit: cook until easily mashed with a fork.
• Canned beans: drain, rinse, check softness, and mash (see canned beans for babies).
• Anything heated: cool before serving.

Offer mash or suitable finger foods, matching size, shape, and texture to your baby's development. Keep your baby seated upright with close supervision, and let them set the pace with hands or a spoon and decide how much to eat.

Quick shopping checklist

• Fridge, freezer, and pantry checked
• Only missing foods added
• Labels read for added sugars and sodium
• Cans low sodium or no salt added
• No open, damaged, leaking, or bulging packaging
• A prep note beside each item