Inexpensive jarred baby food?

[bodey]

We just started feeding our twins solid food. I have made a couple of our own purees, but working full time outside our house does not leave me with alot of free time to do this all of the time. I have bought some jars of baby food, and have realized that at about 75 cents each, the costs of feeding two babies is going to add up very fast. Any good recommendations for buying baby food for less/saving money?

[HonoluluMom]

I make all of DD's food (I'm a single mom and I work) and I find that it doesn't take a lot of time. I usually dedicate several hours on Sunday and make a lot and freeze it.

As far as deals for jarred food, I understand that every once in a while Babies R Us / Toys R Us will have a sale on Earth's Best where you can get 10 jars for $5. In addition, you can print a $1 off 7 jars coupon from the Earth's Best website.

HTH!

[Pepper]

Well, if you are one of those lucky people who has friends who are always asking "what can I do to help you?" you could ask THEM to make some purees for you. (Since you have twins, I am hoping that there are at least one or two people like this in your life). You could buy the veggies and whatnot and ask them to cook, puree, and freeze it for you.

I made all my purees for DS1 and agree, it was not too bad - I would just devote one or two evenings a week to cooking for him. But I didn't WOTH so I had the time. DS2 arrived already eating solid food, so I didn't have to try & fit extra cooking into my schedule!

[llama8]

I love Earth's Best organic baby jars. Although they are very usually expensive, you can get them dirt cheap throughout the year at certain Babies r us sales.

Beech nut is also very inexpensive. I have stocked up on many of their fruits and veggies for 30 cents a jar at Pathmark or other supermarkets. Just watch for sales.

Gerber also frequently is on sale.

[Andi98989]

I would make some myself and buy some. Things that I would make myself and freeze were sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, and banana. I would cook everything (minus the banana) and then use my stick blender to quick puree it. I have a silicone freezer tray that I would freeze it into. I would only make one thing a night. If we were having sweet potatoes, I would make an extra one for DS and puree it, etc.... But, it still takes time and there are still dishes to wash, and time is a valuable commodity!

Now I'm chopping up meats or pasta, mixing them with gravy, and freezing them so that I've got cubes of that ready to go for him.

When I did buy food, I generally bought BeechNut as it was pretty inexpensive. I bought a lot of things that I wouldn't make myself - carrots, squash, pears, fruit/cereal (easy breakfast for DH to give him while I got to sleep in!). I actually didn't have to purchase too much of it; DS mainly eats table food now.

One other thing - he would eat a full 4 oz jar of purchased green beans, but 2 oz of homemade because it doesn't have the added water in it. So, even though they might be eating a ton of jars, they will likely eat less of a homemade puree.

[catsnkid]

I got Beechnut in bulk from either BJ's or the grocery store- big box of a variety pack. I also would look for sales, buy at walmart/target, etc. Beechnut also has coupons online sometimes. Also a few months ago I saw saw select Gerber jars 4/1.00 at the Dollar tree. Mostly just apple/rice mix and green beans.

[AshleyAnn]

WIC provides 30+ jars a month if you haven't already looked into that I would.

Beechnut and Gerber have coupons you can sign up for and BN has a program if you
send them X (30? 50?) number of labels they send you back a coupon for $5 off. Gerber's two packs are a bit cheaper - $1.25 for two containers (each 4oz). I get coupons from them for 75 cents off if I buy 3 and my local grocery store doubles coupons if I am a member.

You can always use baby cereal and mix it with the purees so they aren't each eating a whole jar at every meal. DD LOVES her fruits mixed with cereal.

[BabbyO]

I skipped purees altogether and went straight to solid food. Ok, DS showed me that's what he wanted anyway, but it sure saved a lot of time and money. If you're interested in learning more about how to go about this, I'd check out Gill Rapley's book Baby Led Weaning.

[AnnieW625]

Amazon has Earths Best on Subscribe & Save, and its pretty comparably priced to Gerber. Also BRUS has pretty good deals on it too.