I never made Gabriel's baby food, mostly because I was lazy and partly because I didn't realize how easy it was. With Jonas, I decided that I would give a shot, see how I liked it and go from there. Turns out, it is one of the easiest things to do! Not only that, but I love it because I know exactly what is in the foods I'm giving to him - no preservatives and he gets real-tasting food. Shocker...broccoli actually tastes like broccoli!
Here are my weapons of choice:
It's really tricky to make the food so let me explain.
Wash veggies. Place in steamer (or oven if you're doing potato or squash). Push buttons. Let steam (or roast). Open contraption. Place in immersion blender. Push more buttons. Blend. Place in ice cube tray. Freeze.
It takes about 1.3456 minutes to put the veggie in the steamer (or oven). Then it takes about 3.6934 minutes to blend and place in the freezer. So...all in all I spend about 4.98 minutes, once a week, to make Jonas' meals for the next 40 days.
To the untrained eye, this may look like science-experiment-turned-moldy-mushy-mess, but to a 5-month old, this is green bean bliss.
So far, I've made sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, asparagus, broccoli and green beans. I'd estimate that the veggies have costed me approximately $8.50. I've made about 40 servings, meaning it costs me around 0.21 cents per feeding. This means I've already saved $11.50 at the very minimum, if baby food costs .50 cents per jar. The organic jars are more like .80 - $1.00 so the savings only increase since all of the veggies have been organic. I'd say that the 5 minutes spent per bag is well worth that extra dough!
So what do you think, would it be worth it to you to make your own baby food? Am I nuts for doing it?
I don't think you are nuts at all. I make my own food for my 6 month old son, and I did it for his older brother as well. So easy, and quite the money saver.
ReplyDeleteAnother bonus- transitioning to chunky foods is so much easier. At about 7-8 months old, start making the food much less chunky. You'll be surprised how fast you are feeding your litte one straight from the table!
By the way, I found your blog from Money Saving Mom!
Lots of my friends made their own baby food, and love doing it! We skipped purees and did Baby Led Weaning, so never needed to make any. But I'm glad you're having so much fun with it! I can't wait to see what you share at Momma Mar's Activity Corner next week :)
ReplyDeleteMar