Making Baby Food

Last week I noticed we were running low on Embry's two favorite purees; squash and sweet potato. She also had loved jarred peas she tried in Austin, but I had never made them. And lastly, we were out of apple puree. When we got home I saved the receipt to do some price comparison  Is it really worth it to make the baby food?

Last Thursday we ran out to buy the ingredients to make these four purees. I went out on a whim, didn't check for sales at Whole Foods, Central Market, or Sprouts, but just went to our Natural Grocer's that's less than two miles from the house. (My point being, I could have probably gotten better prices, but we went on a whim). 

Also, in the cost breakdown I compare the homemade to Gerber Organic at Walmart. I know you can also find deals and sales on jarred baby food, but for the sake of comparison I compared them all four to Gerber Organics at Walmart.com. 

Lastly, I use this website for anything and everything I need to know about making her food!

Cost Breakdown

Apples
After making apples the last time and having five organic apples yield NOT much apple puree, I decided to buy organic applesauce that ONLY had apples in the ingredients. The store I shop at had a few options, some having "juice concentrate" in the apple sauce. 

I bought one 24 oz. jar of organic applesauce for $3.85. 

Five 5 oz servings "homemade" = $3.85
Five 5 oz servings of Gerber = $5.49

This is not the greatest savings, by far. BUT, how easy is buying a big jar of applesauce and scooping out what you need? 

Peas
I bought two bags of organic frozen peas at $1.79 per bag, making my total $3.58. I steamed the peas and saved the water I steamed them with to thin the puree. It made 12 5 oz servings (60 cubes). 

Twelve 5 oz servings of homemade = 3.58

Twelve 5 oz servings of Gerber = $15.36

Sweet Potatoes
I bought three large organic sweet potatoes, peeled and steamed them and then lastly pureed. I saved the water I used steaming them and thinned the puree with that water. I did recently find and save a poster with the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen fruits and veggies. Sweet potatoes are one on the "Clean Fifteen" list, so I think after this batch I may buy non-organic if there's a big price difference.

Sixteen 5 oz servings of homemade= $7.45
Sixteen 5 oz servings of Gerber= $20.48

Squash

I am pretty sure winter squash is Embry's all time favorite and we were down to her last cubes. I was STRESSED to find there were no squash in the produce area at our Natural Grocers. I thought about darting over to Whole Foods, but while I was getting frozen peas I saw bags of organic winter squash. I don't think I will ever buy a winter squash again. With it's thick skin, it's very hard to cut it up and peel it. This was already diced up pieces of just the "meat" of the squash. I bought the store out of it! I purchased five bags at $1.75 each for a total of $8.75. It was very easy to steam and puree. 

Sixteen 5 oz servings of homemade= $8.75

Sixteen 5 oz servings of Gerber= $20.48

Overall, I think it makes a ton of sense to make baby food!! It does take some work, but I did all my steaming one night and then pureed all the food the next day. There are some downsides that when you need to feed the baby, you have to thaw the food. When we're home it's no biggie, I'll set out the cubes of frozen food a few hours early. And each night I plan her breakfast and let it thaw in the fridge. I do keep jars of food on hand for quick meals to grab and go.

Anyway, I was interested to finally see the numbers breakdown for some of the staples in our fridge and thought it may be of interest to someone else! =)

Can't sign off without a few Embry pictures, right? To go along with the theme, here are a few meal time pictures!