Homemade Baby Food–Part One

When my son was born, we were pinching pennies, so it seemed natural that we make his baby food. It was a bit more work than opening a jar, but I felt good about what I was feeding him.

When my daughter was born, she was sick all the time, thanks to a big brother in preschool, so we fell into the easier route of feeding her baby food from the jar. Plus, unlike my son, who eats anything, my daughter is fickle. I tried a few times to make her food, and she just gagged.

We like to feed our babies organic food (I wish we all could eat that way, but it is definitely not in the budget right now!). Stage 2 organic baby food is .72 a jar, and that is after I shopped around to find the lowest price. I have fed my daughter jar baby food for two months now, and I am annoyed at the cost. Now that we are having the No Spending Month, baby food in the jar is not a feasible option.

So, this weekend, I pulled out my tattered copy of Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, which I used when making my son’s food when he was a baby (See the Amazon carousel on my side bar for more information about this book.) After a quick trip to the local Whole Foods, I made my daughter apples, nectarines, pears and carrots. A few days later I made peas and beans.

I only bought a little bit of each food to experiment and make sure she could handle the texture. I added extra water to the blender and made it as smooth as jar baby food. Yesterday, I gave it to her and she ate it right up. Yeah! Frugal Victory! I will be making a lot more baby food now.

Price Comparison

(based on a jar at .72 and 4 ice cubes of food = 1 jar)
Homemade Carrots = .58

Jar Equivalent = 2.16

Homemade Pears = 1.05
Jar Equivalent = 1.44

Homemade Nectarines = 2.31

Jar Equivalent = 1.08 (more expensive than the jar, but I haven’t been able to find jar nectarines)

Homemade Apples = 1.64

Jar Equivalent = 2.16

Homemade Green Beans = 2.19

Jar Equivalent = 4.68 (note—don’t buy frozen veggies & refreeze them in trays per the author. Instead, make them fresh as baby eats them.)

Homemade Peas = 2.19

Jar Equivalent = 4.68

Homemade Baby Food for 9 Days = 9.96

Jar Equivalent = 16.20

I saved 6.24 by making it fresh. That may not seem like a lot, but over the course of a month, that equals $25. Over the course of the remaining months when she will be eating baby food, that equals at least $100. (And that is not figuring how much more she will eat in the upcoming months than she is eating now.)

Your costs could be even lower if you don’t buy organic food or if you have your own garden.

Coming Up–Tomorrow’s post will be about the steps I take to make the baby food.