Homemade Baby Food – Sweet Peas

I love starting solid foods with babies!  Our pediatrician tends to lean towards waiting until babies are 6 months old, but I have never been able to wait that long.

Both of our children seemed interested in them sooner.  Savannah would stare at us while we ate and Brady just flat out started crying when he was at the table with us!  So sad!  🙁  Secondly, I like to take things slow, so starting a little earlier allows me to take my time with it.  I’m probably weird, but it works for us!

In the hopes of saving some money, I made the majority of Savannah’s baby food.  I just have to be honest here and say that the economical reasons were my main motivation!  Kuddos to all you organic folks, but I simply wanted/needed to save money any way I could.

I used the store bought food as we were introducing new foods, and started making my own once we determined that there were no allergies present.  (I didn’t want to make a whole bunch of something only to find out she was allergic!)  I know I saved money overall by making her food, however, I’m keeping a better record of the actual savings this go round with Brady.  So, over the the next few months, you may see some posts about my adventures with making homemade baby food.

Today’s post is about green veggies – more specifically sweet peas! 

Let me start out by saying 2 things.

1.  I am no baby food making expert. 
If you want all sorts of info and recipes, then check out this site.  I have found it to be a great resource, however, remember to always consult your child’s pediatrician if you have questions along the way.

2.  I keep baby food making pretty simple.
I know some people who have done all sorts of flavor combinations and have even made entire dishes into purees for baby.  I think that is a fabulous idea, but I have not done it myself at this point.  So far, my baby food making has been kept to single foods.  I figured baby could experience more flavors/seasonings once eating table food.  I may do it differently this time around, but ultimately, I would encourage you to do what works for you and baby!

Now, onto sweet peas (although I handled green beans the exact same way)!

I used the steamable bags of frozen sweet peas from Walmart.  They are cheap and easy, which is a good combination in this house! 

 
If you’re like me and mostly looking to save some money, here’s the breakdown (I did not include the costs of the blender and freezer bags, as these are standards items in my kitchen).

• Cost of frozen sweet peas (2 bags @ $1.00) = $2.00 at Walmart
• (made approx. 36 ozs.)
• Cost of Gerber sweet peas (7.2 packs @ $.98 each) = $7.06 at Walmart
• (each pack has 2-2.5 oz. jars)
• Savings of $5.06 or 71.7%

If you have never made babyfood and are looking to try, I would highly recommend starting here.  This method takes less than 20 mins. and is super easy.  You can work your way up as you feel more confident.

photo source