Ways We Save: Making Baby Food

One of the things I have enjoyed about nursing is that it is FREE!  I know that it’s not an option for everyone, but I make sure to enjoy the money savings for as long as I can.  While moving to solids does mean an increase in costs for feeding baby, switching over to solids doesn’t have to necessarily break the bank.  Making baby food is one of those ways to keep costs down.

Now that our littlest one is eating solid foods, I thought it made sense to include this way we save for today’s post.  Let me start off saying that I do not make all of our baby food all of the time.  As much as I’d like to, there are just some times when it’s not possible, and I’m totally okay with that.  Making baby food does not make you super mom.

There are at least 2 times when I refrain from making baby food.

Introducing a new food
I do not make my own baby food when introducing a new food.  I use store bought so that I can determine if there are any allergies first.  I’d hate to make a batch of it and then find out there was some allergic reaction.

On vacation or out of town
I do not make my own baby food when we are on vacation or when we are travelling out of town.  Even though it does save money, there are some times when the convenience of store bought is worth it to me.

I always keep a little bit of store bought food on hand just in case life gets busy and I run out of homemade food before I can make more.  With two older children, I’m already fairly certain I won’t have as much time to spend on this, but we will see.

Here’s the basic rundown of what I do and do not make homemade.

Foods that I do not make
– rice cereal {we don’t use this much except for when we are just starting out}
– applesauce {we buy this for the older kids anyway}
– bananas {we just mush these up}
– meats

Foods that I sometimes make
– pears
– peaches

It’s not hard to make fruit purees, but it is more time consuming because you have to peel everything and you need a lot of fruit to make a substantial amount.  It also depends on what is in season and how expensive the fruits are when you are making your food.

Foods that I usually make
– sweet peas/green beans
– carrots {can follow the same method as for green veggies}
– sweet potatoes/squash
– prunes

I have read that it is important to use organic carrots when making purees – to avoid any nitrates that might come from the soil – so please consider doing your research before starting out.

Overall, we keep things pretty simple when it comes to baby food.  We typically just go for single ingredient foods.  I think about the way I eat my foods and then mimic that for baby.  I have never eaten squash mixed with fruit, so I have never felt inclined to feed that to our babies, for example.  There’s nothing wrong with it, but I just don’t do it that way. Maybe I should?  And I can’t bring myself to feed our babies pureed meats…just can’t do it.  🙁

Also, I think of purees as a bridge food, so I don’t go crazy with this.  We start working on the pincer grasp and then begin moving towards soft table foods. {Our pediatrician has always said if we can mush it with our fingers, then baby can gum it and should be fine, but check with your doctor}.

I was really surprised at how easy it is to make your own baby food.  The costs of diapers and {possibly} formula are high enough as it is, so I really love saving a little money on baby food when I can.

Do you make your own baby food? 

 

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