I did the math and it's WAY cheaper to make my own baby food than it is to buy it. For example, I can get 4 ice cube trays worth of sweet potatoes out of $2.40 worth of sweet potatoes. Which is about 21 servings, bringing my total cost to about 11 cents a serving. Target is selling a two pack of sweet potatoes for 87 cents. That's 44 cents EACH! The stores are charging FOUR TIMES more than what I can make it for. CRAZY! Of course I don't buy organic or anything, but I also have peace of mind knowing that I don't have any extra fillers in the baby food too.
It's pretty easy to make most baby foods. For the sweet potatoes and yams I just peel them, steam them and then puree them in the blender. Then I put them in ice cube trays or these individual serving containers I got from my sister-in-law awhile ago and freeze them. Once they are frozen I can put them in gallon freezer bags to make more room in the freezer.
A little caveat ... there are some foods that are cheaper bought than made. I made applesauce once for Jackson when he was a baby and it turned out to be WAY cheaper to buy a large $2.00 jar of unsweetened applesauce from the store. AND there are some veggies that I haven't gotten the hang of making yet, like peas ... the shells always seem to make the texture a bit hard for a baby to eat. I think I'll give it another try with Micah, but I may end up buying the peas from the store too.
As Jackson got older and started having more and more food (particularly meats) and could handle more textures, I started feeding him a bland version of what we were having for dinner and used a food mill to grind it up (you can find them at Target or Walmart for pretty cheap). I loved the food mill because I could take it with me anywhere and Jackson had a meal.
Anyway, that's all I've got! I'd love to hear of any other ideas or things that other moms have tried concerning baby food.
2 comments:
www.wearethatfamily.com is having a link party today..this post would be a good addition to their party :)
This will be very helpful in a few months. Thanks!
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