Having an infant means we are continually entering some new phase/activity/etc... The past couple weeks we have started on solids. We've been doing rice cereal for a while and we kind of took our time on the other stuff. I am attempting to make my own baby food, but I do have some thoughts on it that I will share with you.
I can't remember if the doctor or the book I mostly use told me to start with the yellow veggies, so that's what we did. First we began with butternut squash that I bought from the store b/c I wasn't sure about cooking the squash or which ones to buy, etc... Then we went to carrots and we are currently on green beans. She likes the first two but isn't digging the beans yet. The next two coming up are peas and then sweet potatoes. I purposely saved the sweet potatoes b/c I know so many babies love them and I wanted her to have the others first before figuring out that some things are sweet!
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| Above are the green beans, carrots, and peas. The shiny stuff is the condensation from the hot food. |
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| Ready for the freezer! |
Let's discuss making baby food. I decided that I was going to make most all of AR's food with the exception of when we travel or are out and it's easier to use store bought jars. So while at Aldi's I bought sweet potatoes, frozen green beans, and frozen peas. I bought carrots from Bilo too. I set aside a morning and got to work! I found my recipes using Pinterest and have shared them to the right under a new page if you are interested. The beans and peas were super easy! The potatoes were a bit more work but not bad. Except when I used my *wooden* spoon to push down the potatoes while the blender was on and it got knicked by the blade and therefore had to throw them away! :(
I have since made butternut squash and remade the sweet potatoes. I didn't take any pictures of those, but I did have to use the ice tray method for a few of them b/c I didn't have enough containers.
Here are my thoughts on baby food:
1)
Costs:
-Peas - $0.99 yielded 14oz = $.07 per oz
-Green beans - $1.49 yielded 14oz = $.11 per oz
-Carrots - $1.99 yielded 20oz = $.10 per oz
-Sweet potatoes (from bilo) - $2.90 yielded 25oz = $.12 per oz
-Squash - $1.57 yielded appx 26oz = $.06 per oz
While at Bilo today I saw that the baby food jars
on sale were about 12.5 cents an ounce, so buying it isn't that more expensive if you get it on sale. May be worth it for potatoes and squash as they were more work. I also have to consider that only the squash was "on sale" when I bought it and as you can see the cost was much cheaper per ounce. Had I used the potatoes from Aldi's my cost would have probably cut in half. I also could have bought the green beans for a buck today which would have made them .07 per oz. If you prefer organic or certain brands then the factors may change for you.
2)
Effort
When considering the effort of making baby food and buying it, I must consider both the time and labor it took me to make it as well as trying to get it on sale at it's cheapest and beating out all the other moms from getting it first! I don't coupon quite like I did before AR but I will def. be on the look out for cheap jars of baby food and stock up when I can. I will also continue to make most of her baby food with veggies and fruits when they go on sale.
3)
Nutrition
It really doesn't make a difference to me which my baby takes, store bought or homemade, but I guess it is nice knowing what exactly went into the food. I do make sure to get veggies/fruit that don't have anything else added to it... just straight from the farm, either fresh or frozen.
4)
Tools
I just used my basic $25 blender to make the food. I think one of those
handheld blenders may work better, but I'm not going to go buy one. Other than that you just need some pots, an oven, and other standard kitchen tools.
5)
Accomplishment
I won't lie, it does make you feel as if you have accomplished something to have made the baby food by hand. At the same time it's a little time consuming and you have to weigh in your labor when comparing costs to store bought.
6)
Summed Up
To sum it up, I'd say that if you don't coupon and are willing to make the food then it's by far the best choice for you. It's def. cheaper to make it yourself if you get the veggies/fruit when they are at their lowest sale price. For me, I will buy it when I find it the same price or cheaper than I can make it. Otherwise I will continue to make most of it myself. I may try to do another posts on more food such as fruits later.
That's all I can think of at the moment. If you have any tips or recipes, I love to hear them. Once we make the basics, I want to start trying some blended recipes.
