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This blog is going to be all about how to save on baby food! I have learned that making homemade baby food for your little one can save you over $600 a year!
I have two children. My son is currently 2 (almost 3). My daughter is 9 months old. I spent a lot of time researching how to make baby food, what products I needed to do so, and which foods to start when.
At the end of the day, all you need is food, a blender, and a tray to freeze the food in. I recommend making it as simple of a process as possible. This way it is easier to maintain this routine for making baby food at home.
It has been shown that buying baby food at the grocery store can be expensive. Baby Center even shows that it can cost up to $100 a month!
Nuts…
Cost of Buying Baby Food From the Store
If you head over to Walmart, you will notice that one serving of Gerber Stage 1 Baby food is $1.36.
If your baby eats three of these containers a day the math is as follows:
$4.08 a day
$28.56 a week
$114.24 a month
That is $1,300+ a year in baby food.
I am telling you, once you realize how much money you are saving making your own baby food, you will want to put the time into it!
Cost of Making Your Own Baby Food
Here I want to break down how much buying vegetables and fruits and preparing your own baby food will cost [cost may vary from store to store but I purchase all of my food at Walmart].
$0.78 per sweet potato (2.34 for 3)(10 blocks of food)
$0.84 12 oz frozen pea (6 blocks)
$0.98 1lb bag of carrots (9 blocks)
$0.84 12 oz green beans (6 blocks)
$0.23 per banana (1.38 for 6) (6 blocks)
$2.48 2lb strawberries (9 blocks)
$3.48 pint blueberries (6 blocks)
$4.47 3lb bag of apples (10+ blocks)
$4.97 3 lb bag of pears (10+ blocks)
$3.94 bag of 4-6 avocados (9 blocks)
Total 24.57
81 blocks of food (81 servings if eating one block, 40 servings for 2)
$0.30 a serving
$1.80 a day
$12.60 a week
$655.20 a year
That is a total of $655 a year in baby food *if your baby eats two blocks a meal as mine does*
You save even more if your baby only consumes one block, obviously 🙂
Ideas for Baby Food Recipes
I usually make each vegetable or fruit separately but there is nothing holding you back from mixing foods for flavor! You can even add spices such as cinnamon to apples to make it tastier!
(I would discuss with your child’s pediatrician about introducing new foods and what they recommend prior to mixing or starting purees or solids, as I am not a pediatric healthcare professional)
Baby Food Puree Recipes
*An example of how I prepare the foods*
Banana +Strawberries
- Peel the whole banana and place it in a Vitamix Blender, or any blender you have available
- Pour puree bananas into the Nuk Freezer Tray
- Wash the strawberries really well or use a Fruit cleaning spray
- Cut the tops off of the strawberries and put them in the blender
- Once pureed, pour into Nuk Freezer Tray and place in freezer
- Once frozen solid, pop food blocks out and store in a labeled Ziplock Freezer bag
- I write the type of food and the date I made it on the bag then toss it in the freezer
Sweet Potato+ Carrots
- For most of the vegetables, I peel, cut, and then steam them in a steam pot or microwave steamer container, similar to this microwave steamer basket
- Once these veggies finish steaming- place them in the blender and blend
- Like the fruits, pour into the Nuk Freezer Tray and place in the freezer
*Tip*
You could also steam multiple vegetables at once if you have an instant pot!
Instant pot is great for many reasons and it even has a steam option to make prep even easier.
Conclusion
Besides the health benefits of providing babies with fresh (and sometimes organic) fruits and vegetables, I feel the amount of money saved each year is worth attempting to make your own food.
In a previous post, I discussed traveling with my 8-month-old daughter. This was the only time I purchased baby food as it was the only reasonable option.
Taking the time to make all of my children’s food from fresh produce not only save me from the anxiety of not knowing what was in store-bought food but also saved me money!
xoxo
Olivia