organic home made baby food for $13.58 a month?!

[AnnieW625]

It can't be done, right?

I work full time outside the home and as much as I really want to make purees for DD2 I can't see it being this easy and or as economical as just ordering the jars of food from Amazon. Earth's Best's price with the Amazon Mom special and subscribe and save works out to being $6.79 per 12, 2.5 oz jars, so I figure for the first month or two I'll just need 24 per jars per month because she'll be eating one jar per day (hence the $13.58 per month).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BM368E/ref=pd_luc_mri?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

If you think I can make 24 to 30 days of food for less than that, let me know your tips, tricks, favorite storage containers, and favorite books/baby food making websites.

I have the following kitchen appliances:
7 cup Cuisinart
Cuisinart Mini Prep
Bruan hand blender
Waring Bar Blender
Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer
Kitchen Aid Hand mixer
Kid Co Food Grinder (used this a lot for DD1 once she was about 8 to 9 mos. old)

[Andi98989]

I made banana, avocado, and sweet potato for DS. I also did some blueberries and peaches; I mix those into pancake batter or yogurt now.

The banana and avocado I would just blend with my stick blender and the sweet potato, blueberries, and peaches I would bake (boiled the blueberries) and then blend with the stick blender. I used this tray to freeze things:
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Sprouts-Eco-friendly-Silicone-Freezer/dp/B002F9MUM0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1285176738&sr=8-2

I fully anticipated that I would be making DS's baby food purees, but it didn't really happen. Outside of those things above, I didn't really make too much. I also WOTH full time and the time just wasn't there for it. Also, he progressed fairly quickly from purees to finger foods. I don't imagine that I spent more than $30 on baby food for him in total. He's been on "table food" for a good month now. I do use that try to freeze up food for him for dinner - I'll make an extra chicken breast or two, dice it up, mix it with gravy, and freeze it into cubes. Then I can quick thaw a cube or two for him so that I can have some supper for him.

I did use a KidCo mill a few times for peas and green beans, but he preferred the jarred for that.

[BabyBearsMom]

So far, I have made all my own stuff. I've done sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, and banana. For the sweet potatoes, I was making them for dinner for DH and I, so I just made a few extras. Then I pureed them in my food processor and mixed ina little BM to make it smooth. It took literally 5 extra minutes. The banana, I just pureed with some BM in the food processer. That was just a few minutes as well. The apples and carrots, I steamed, pureed and then added the steaming water to thin it out. It took about 15 minutes to steam and then 5 minutes to puree and store. I freeze it in regular old ice cube trays. I WOHM, so I usually do this on Sunday evenings while I am making our Sunday dinner. I get all the produce from a local farmers market. Sure opening a jar is easier, but I actually think this is fun (yes, I am a weirdo). But you have 2 kids, and even less time than I do. I don't know if I could do this if I had 2 kids.

[larig]

Smitten Kitchen will make you want to no matter what the cost. http://smittenkitchen.com/baby/

And of course, the very popular and thorough
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
was my resource.

here is some math from one batch of baby food I made. (this is only local organic produce from our local coop grocery).
6 enormous apples made 17 servings and cost $8.61, or about $.50/serving (DH even bought expensive apples--I usually use golden delicious). We got 4 yams for $3.50, and I should get about 30 servings out of that or about $.12/serving. And the squash was $2.15, and I have no idea how much that will make. So for the apples and yams my average cost is .25/serving.

I still make pearsauce for DS. I make it about every 3 weeks. (he eats it almost every day). I buy about 9-10 pears (about 1.50-2.50/lb of pears), core, chunk, and put in a crock pot with a splash of water and an inch (sliced open) of a vanilla bean (sold for $1.20/bean at the coop). I let that cook a long time, and then use the immersion blender to puree it. (after pouring off some extra liquid). then I freeze it in ice cube trays (covered with waxed paper), and then after freezing put them in ziplocks.

I don't know if I saved money or not, but I enjoyed making him his first foods. I'd sure make the sweet potato myself. That's just a matter of baking for a long time, and pureeing, not as much work as others.

[daisymommy]

I really wanted to be "Mom of the Year" and make homemade organic baby food. I tried. I really did. But it just wasn't worth it to me for the expense (hardly saved anything) and the mess and time I had to put into it. Maybe if we had a farmers market near us that sold organic produce--but we don't. It's Whole Foods or Trader Joes only.

I didn't just buy a couple things, as I wanted him to have the variety and vitamins that he would have gotten from all the types of store bought baby food.
So I did about 6 different fruits and 6 different veggies.

But I calculated this based on when DS was eating 3 Stage2 jars per day. Even then I figured by making my own I would save $5 a week, so about $20 per month making my own. I took me all day, and my kitchen was trashed. Just not worth it for me.

P.S. The cheapest price I have found is through Babies-R-Us, when you wait for a sale (pretty often), combined with internet or magazine coupon, and in-store coupons. I figure I paid about $6 for a 12 pack of Stage 2 jars. It would be even cheaper for Stage 1.

[infocrazy]

I made a bunch for DS1 and the kid would not eat purees...

DS2 ate purees ok but with 2 under 2 and working FT, it just wasn't happening.

I'm not even going to try with DD. That said, we do the stuff that makes sense, like mashing up banana v buying banana baby food etc.

I never even thought of getting the baby food off Amazon...I <3 Amazon!

[pb&j]

I made some of DS's baby food, but he was such a voracious eater I could never keep up.

I made hardly any of DD's, which is fine, because she never liked purees anyway. She went to table food pretty quickly because it was easier for everyone. I had bought a couple cases of EB and ended up using a lot of them in recipes, b/c she wouldn't eat them.

I'd do the easy stuff that makes sense - mash bananas, sweet potato, and avocado, and do jarred if you have any other puree needs. But I'd start putting finger foods on her tray and see how she does with those. It's just SO much easier when they feed themselves, IMO.

[brittone2]

We don't really do purees. DS1 wasn't a fan (ate one small jar in its entirety ever, other than that it was just tastes here and there and he hated it) and didn't really eat much until he was 8+ months. He much preferred finger foods. Went that route with DD and will repeat it with DS2.

We sort of follow the "baby lead weaning" approach to solids intro which pretty much involves skipping purees.

[peanut520]

i did both, bought and made dd 's food. i just wanted to share our favorite food was avacado, no prep necessary... just cut in half and scrap in think layers.

[Katigre]

Ditto Brittone that I wouldn't necessarily invest that much in purees. DD has never eaten a jar of baby food in her life and DS has probably had one or two jars total in his.

I am a much bigger fan of BLW where they go straight to finger foods (and it is more economical too IMO).

[Sweetum]

Hmmm, let's see, a jar a day, would be 1/3 or a big banana, 1/2 of an avocado (or less), or 1/2 a baked apple, 1 medium sized carrot...and so on. Does it sound right? If so, in other words,

1 big banana - 3 jars
1 avocado - 2 jars
1 apple - 2 jars
1 carrot - 1 jar

that's slightly more than a week. So multiply by 4 and you have a month's supply.

1 big banana - $0.30
1 avocado - $1.99 (if it's organic)
1 apple - $1 (organic)
1 carrot - 0.40 (assuming a bag of organic carrots has 10 carrots on an average and the bag costs $4 at most)

total for a week = $3.69
for a month = $14.76

All this is approx but just to get you (and me!) thinking...

And this is only cost of materials, not counting effort+time spent in shopping and preparing. And I've not included the price of equipment.

But making it and seeing your baby relish "food cooked/made by mommy" - pricele$$ :)

[AnnieW625]

But I calculated this based on when DS was eating 3 Stage2 jars per day. Even then I figured by making my own I would save $5 a week, so about $20 per month making my own. I took me all day, and my kitchen was trashed. Just not worth it for me.

P.S. The cheapest price I have found is through Babies-R-Us, when you wait for a sale (pretty often), combined with internet or magazine coupon, and in-store coupons. I figure I paid about $6 for a 12 pack of Stage 2 jars. It would be even cheaper for Stage 1.

This would be me too :rotflmao:. I'd finish but I bet I would be super tired, my kitchen would be a mess, and DH would be mad because he'd have to clean everything. We have a farmers market, but the prices aren't all that great because stuff travels about 250 to 300 miles to get here. Our best choices for organics are also Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. We are getting a farmers market style market 3/4 of a mile from my house but it's still being built. I went ahead and ordered a box of the first stage veggies so we'll see how that goes, and I might try some sweet potatoes, carrots, or spinach first on my own with the hand blender and see how it goes.

[HonoluluMom]

I make all of DD's food, the great majority, 95%+, organic. I've never really calculated the cost to make her food. I do most of my shopping at WholeFoods.

I work outside the house, am a single mom, and more often than not, I'm up until well after midnight making her food and packing it for the next day for her babysitters (grandparents) to feed her. I want to continue making her her own food because the stuff I eat isn't the healthiest. Why do I do it and plan to continue doing it?




But making it and seeing your baby relish "food cooked/made by mommy" - pricele$$ :)

:yeahthat:

[AnnieW625]

Hmmm, let's see, a jar a day, would be 1/3 or a big banana, 1/2 of an avocado (or less), or 1/2 a baked apple, 1 medium sized carrot...and so on. Does it sound right? If so, in other words,

1 big banana - 3 jars
1 avocado - 2 jars
1 apple - 2 jars
1 carrot - 1 jar

that's slightly more than a week. So multiply by 4 and you have a month's supply.

1 big banana - $0.30
1 avocado - $1.99 (if it's organic)
1 apple - $1 (organic)
1 carrot - 0.40 (assuming a bag of organic carrots has 10 carrots on an average and the bag costs $4 at most)

total for a week = $3.69
for a month = $14.76

All this is approx but just to get you (and me!) thinking...

And this is only cost of materials, not counting effort+time spent in shopping and preparing. And I've not included the price of equipment.

But making it and seeing your baby relish "food cooked/made by mommy" - pricele$$ :)

We must have posted right at the same time. I pay $2 for a bag of organic carrots at Trader Joe's. I guess like I said before I can always try it. I did try it with DD1 but I could never get the consistency right. I never thought to try avocados either and we always have those in our house.

HonoluluMom you are my hero!:)

[michellerw]

DD has been on solids for three weeks, so I'm hardly a pro, but I've made everything but the sweet potatoes. Those were Earth's Best (purchased through Subscribe and Save!).

The peas were frozen organic.
The squash was conventional.
The avocado was conventional.
The bananas were conventional.
The green beans were frozen organic.

We eat a mix of organic and conventional at home and so DD will too. A lot of it depends on what's available, what the food is, and what looks better. Also, thick skinned items are always conventional.

Anyhow, it didn't take me much time to make the purees at all. Stick blender or blender + breastmilk or water and steamed veg (except with the avocado and banana) and then put into ice cube trays or small gladware and freeze. I usually do it while cooking dinner or on a weekend afternoon or morning.

I've used a combination of wholesomebabyfood.com and a book called Feed Me, I'm Yours (http://www.amazon.com/Feed-Me-Im-Yours-Revised/dp/B002E9VV2Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1285207018&sr=8-3), that my mom used to make my brother's and my baby food.

Honestly, I'm excited to get to the next foods! This is kind of fun and her reactions are the most fun of all.

[Sweetum]

I would make all food after DS was in bed for the night. I'm a late owl, so it's no biggie for me to stay awake past 12 on a week day. But since DS was in bed y 9pm, I would have plenty of time to prep, make, store and cleanup. Also, I would do one food per night, and also it didn't have to be done every night - only the week I did produce shopping, and that would typically last me for a month. eg. Sweet potato - always baked. Wash, poke roll in foil, put in pre heated oven to bake for an hour or so. So, I have an hour and a half of doing whatever I would do on a week night staying awake :D and once it's cooled, mash, put in ice tray/baby food tray freeze, cleanup. A lot of times, I would use a fork to mash things since I wasn't too enthusiastic about giving him completely pureed food, and he could handle the texture. So, I didn't even have a blender container to wash. I would typically do one food at a time since I had only 2 trays and didn't want to make food that I couldn't freeze immediately. If you have more trays, you could bake apples in one section of the oven and sweet potatoes in another. And if you have even more trays, you could put peas or beans on the stove in a steamer basket. I sometimes used a pressure cooker to speed things up. HTH

[AnnieW625]

Smitten Kitchen will make you want to no matter what the cost. http://smittenkitchen.com/baby/

And of course, the very popular and thorough
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
was my resource.



I started poking around Smitten Kitchen Baby. At first I thought oh my word that's going to be too much, but then I did a search and found first food carrots; not to bad if you ask me. I think I will try those first. Maybe a sweet potato too.

It's interesting though that her pediatrician said to start with fruits, and then go to veggies. Our ped. said the opposite.

I haven't checked out Wholesomebabyfood.com yet.




I've used a combination of wholesomebabyfood.com and a book called Feed Me, I'm Yours (http://www.amazon.com/Feed-Me-Im-Yours-Revised/dp/B002E9VV2Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1285207018&sr=8-3), that my mom used to make my brother's and my baby food.

Honestly, I'm excited to get to the next foods! This is kind of fun and her reactions are the most fun of all.

I put the Feed Me I'm Yours book on hold through the library so hopefully I'll get that soon. I love the title of the book.

[fedoragirl]

I tried making homemade baby purees and I am a SAHM. However, it didn't turn out to be cost effective for me. I probably didn't do it right, but all the produce I bought for DD was exclusively for DD (as in organic). I would steam/bake etc. and freeze but I never had enough containers (BPA free) to freeze everything and I hated the way the food tasted after thawing. DD has never liked warm food or warm bottles so it took a lot more time to thaw it, warm it, and then, allow it to reach room temp. I always ended up tossing the frozen stuff. Such a waste. :(
I ended up buying EB. I do give her tons of finger foods, but she does have 2 jars of EB everyday.

[essnce629]

DS2 never ate purees and went right to solids at 8 months old.

DS1 did eat purees and was a BIG eater. I made all my own baby food for him, but when we were out of the house I'd take the organic jarred food. DS1 would eat 2 regular jars a meal, so 6 jars a day total if we were doing jarred food, which would end up being REALLY expensive ($80-$90 a month) if I had to buy 180 jars a month!

When I'd make his food I'd shop at a local organic co-op and buy everything individually (one sweet potato, two apples, 3 carrots, etc). I'd spend $24 on organic produce a month for him and spend about 2 hours one day steaming and pureeing foods and freezing in ice cube trays. That would last the entire month and he ate purees for a total of 3 months. If he wasn't such a big eater it would have cost even less. The difference in taste compared to the jarred food is tremendous. The jarred food was always too soupy and watery in taste. The homemade food was so good I would find myself eating it-- especially my favorite combo of blueberries and bananas! It was super fun making all his food and really easy. The only "equipement" I used was a mini food processor, double broiler and pyrex bowl to steam stuff in, and about 10 ice cube trays.

[sunshine873]

Make it even easier on yourself. Like Brittone and Katigre said, skip it. We went right to finger foods & it worked fabulously. We followed Baby Led Weaning and now have a happy girl who will eat just about anything (give or take, we're still working on raw veggies.) It's nice to know that they're just going to eat whatever you're eating. It did take a little adjustment in our own eating habits (especially in the beginning) but that was a healthy adjustment that we all needed. :)

Bottom line, you need to do what works for you. Whatever you decide, good luck!

[AnnieW625]

Make it even easier on yourself. Like Brittone and Katigre said, skip it. We went right to finger foods & it worked fabulously. We followed Baby Led Weaning and now have a happy girl who will eat just about anything (give or take, we're still working on raw veggies.) It's nice to know that they're just going to eat whatever you're eating. It did take a little adjustment in our own eating habits (especially in the beginning) but that was a healthy adjustment that we all needed. :)

Bottom line, you need to do what works for you. Whatever you decide, good luck!

With DD1 we introduced non spoon fed foods at about 6 mos. old, we started with bananas in a mesh feeder because she had no teeth yet. We'll most likely do the same with DD2. Not exactly baby led weaning but it worked for us.

Well it's been about three weeks since we started solids and boy was DD2 ready for them. She picked it up very quickly. I remember with DD1 (we started at the same time) she took much longer to get into them. By the end of the second week of veggies we started fruit, and now she is eating like a champ, and can probably do a 4 oz. jar in one sitting. Sweet Potatoes are by far her favorite. I made from mixed veggies from a bag of frozen veggies (green beans, corn, peas, and carrots) and those are definitely going to be second foods as they didn't puree as nicely as the single ingredient foods. Worst case scenario with those she doesn't like them and I only wasted $1 on the bag.