Baby Food

I mentioned a few posts back that I have been making my own baby food (I guess in two ways), but I am going to share how I have been making solids for Ellison. I have mostly referenced http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ when choosing foods to prepare and if I am unsure of how to prepare a certain food.  That site provides when to introduce certain foods and all kinds of tips, so I would definitely check it out if you are interested.  I know that I am not the only one who has done this, but honestly before I had Ellison, I just assumed you have to buy the baby jars in the store.  Soooo I thought I would share with all my soon to be moms or future moms out there that there is another method besides the pink banana jar.  Why is it pink by the way if the only ingredients listed are banana and water?  Because I will tell you my banana food is slightly brown.  Just wondering.  

Anyways...1.  Cut/Peel/Dice food.

 2. Boil food or roast food with a little water in the pan.  Most veggies take about 5-8 minutes to boil. 

 

3. Puree until smooth or desired consistency.  Add water or milk to make it smoother as needed.

Whala.

 4. Scoop mixture in ice cube trays to freeze.

5. Wrap in Plastic Wrap and freeze.  I normally let it freeze over night..

 6. Place in freezer bags. Every night I pull out her food for the next day and place it in containers in the fridge.  It is completely defrosted by the next day ready to go.  If we plan to eat out or be out for a while, I will take a frozen cube.  By lunch/dinner, it is defrosted and ready to serve. 

 7. Clean kitchen.  I make a mess, but good news is that I usually only make food once every 2 weeks.  It usually takes me about one nap time.

So is it worth it to make your own foods or am I just one of those hippy/organic peep.  Well, I would like to say that I am a hippy/organic peep but usually I tend to be more of a penny pincher, but when I realized that I could feed my baby healthy food and save money...well I smiled :).

Financial breakdown for carrots.

Cost of Whole Bag of Carrots - $1.98 (I used half and saved the rest for myself with hummus for snack) so basically $0.99.
This made 16 large ice cubes or about 16 ounces of food.
Total for 1 ounce of carrots = $0.06.

Gerber comparison - A 2 ounce jar of carrots is $0.68.

Homemade Carrots (2 oz) - $0.12

Which means I am saving $0.56 per "jar" or $4.48 for 8 jars of baby food.  I would say that this is fairly comparable between different foods.  Some are more and some are less, so this is a good average.

Each week.  Currently she eats 2 "jars" a day.  In one week, we are saving $0.56*2*7=$7.84.  Plus that is for stage one foods, it only increases the older they get.

Personally, that is worth it for me.  Plus, I get to pick all the ingredients and foods that I want her to eat. I know how watered down it is and how much actual food is in a serving.  Plus, I will say making things mini is always fun.   Hope you enjoy