Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Cheap Baby Food

My little Boy is old enough now to eat baby food--and that can take a lot of our weekly budget if I am not careful! He seems to be eating more than his sister is :-) Thankfully, I learned with Girl how to make my own baby food and save tons of money in the process!

Packaged baby food is expensive--even the generic brand at Target is $0.87 for two containers of 4 ounces of food (considered "Stage 2" baby food), or 10.9 cents per ounce. I recently purchased 1 lb. of organic carrots for $0.99 at Target. After cooking the carrots and pureeing them, I filled an ice cube tray PLUS had enough for three of the small baby food containers. I am not certain of the exact amount in ounces, but let's guess on the small side, and say that each ice cube is 1 oz., and the containers were only 2 ounces. My 16 ounce ice cube tray, plus 3 two ounce containers, totals 22 ounces of baby food. At $0.99 for the carrots, I paid 4.5 cents per ounce. When you realize that the carrots were organic, and that organic baby food costs even more than 'regular' baby food, the savings are enormous!




Of course, there is time involved in the cooking and preparing your own baby food. The savings, however, are worth it! I love knowing exactly what my little boy is eating, and that I am saving money in the process. I would highly recommend Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron--though some of the information is dated, the book is an encyclopedia of information about baby food, with a guide in the back that tells you when you can introduce certain foods as well as how to prepare them. It was out of print, but I found a barely used copy for a great price online. I also love my Oxo Good Grips Ice Cube Tray. It has a lid that keeps the baby food from being contaminated in the freezer. Saving money and providing healthy food for my children Works for Me!

5 comments:

  1. ohhhh...I am going to have to look into getting some ice cube trays like yours. Once we move I am going to be able to start making my own baby food for Sam and I am unhealthily way too excited about it. I have tried to figure out how to do it in our closet kitchen right now and haven't been able to. The only thing I make right now is his rice cereal and I got that "recipe" straight out of that Super Baby Food book, too! I love it! I am pretty much clueless about what to feed and when and this book has been a lifesaver. Our new fridge has an "ice cream" shelf in the freezer that I plan on using to hold ice cube trays of Sam's food but, I don't want to stack my current ones on top of each other or they will get food all over the place- so your trays solve my problem. Do you know of a place I can purchase in person in WF? Thanks for the idea!!

    I also have a sewing idea for you- paste this link in a window and check it out. I saw it and immediately thought of you.

    http://www.chicaandjo.com/2009/05/14/make-a-trash-bag-for-the-car/

    I don't think you are "trashy" just thought it was cute. :)


    Steph

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  2. I just made carrots today for my son before I saw this post! Just getting into making my own foods for him as he is just getting to the eating stage, and I love it. Love knowing how much cheaper and healthier it is going to be to feed him. It didn't take me long at all and is well worth it, like you said. I also do the ice cube trays, and I am even looking into getting a deep freezer so I can do more for him this way.

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  3. I also make my daughter's baby food. I am still working on perfecting the consistency though, I never can get it like the jarred stuff, but I will figure it out soon!
    I am going to have to look into those ice trays with the covers because I have left my cubes in the freezer once and forgot to put them in bags and the cubes got really gross sitting in the trays so I had to throw them out.

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  4. ice cube trays are approx. one ounce, youre right! wholesomebabyfood.com has some greattips on there as well. I have found making baby food at home to be WAY cheaper than the store bought stuff, and especially organice. The only one that is about the same cost is apples, and they are so time consuming! Cool to see someone else making baby food too!

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  5. I made baby food for my 1st and am now making it for my second. I did bananas, peaches, pears, green beans, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Share any others. I need to read some more and get some more ideas.

    Mariah

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Thanks for commenting! I always enjoy hearing from those who read this blog.