Even though this is for baby number two, I have never made baby food before. This time around, I am a stay at home mom (not as easy as I assumed that it was going to be by the way) and decided that I would give it a try.
I did a little research and found that the cost of one 3.5 ounce jar of baby food is anywhere from $.53-1.50 depending on the brand and contents. Say every jar of food that you bought were $1.01 (average) and your baby was eating 5 jars every day (more or less depending on the babies age) that is almost $152 a MONTH! I don't know about ya'll but that's not a price I am willing to pay if I don't have to!
So far I have made spinach, yellow squash, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, and artichoke. I haven't mixed ingredients yet because baby is only four months old, and not quite ready for solid foods yet (I'm getting a head start).I already feel like I am saving a TON of money, the cauliflower alone made 34 ounces! I know, I know, how much cauliflower is she really going to eat...I don't know, but that ONE head of cauliflower only cost me $2.98. $2.98 for 34 ounces of baby food. Good luck finding that in the store.
Here is a little break down of what I have so far:
Spinach: I used half of a 16oz bag of fresh spinach which cost me $2.88. It made 10 ounces, I'm guessing if I used the entire bag I would have ended up with 20 ounces for only $2.88
Sweet Potato: One medium sized sweet potato (price varying per lb.) made 16 ounces
Cauliflower: Like I said one head costing $2.98 made 34 ounces
Broccoli: Two crowns (1.10 lbs) made 18 ounces of baby food and only cost me $1.96
Butternut Squash: One Med squash (1.25 lbs) cost me $2.29 and made 28 ounces of baby food...yes 28 ounces!
Banana: Two banana's made 13 ounces!
I won't bore you by listing every little thing I have bought, but I have a total of 148 ounces of baby food stored in the freezer and I spent (roughly) $18 dollars. If I were to buy 148 ounces of baby food at the local grocery store I would spend between $40-$45. Just by giving up a little of my time and processing these foods on my own, I saved my family around $27.
I don't know about you, but I think that this is great! I'm thinking about posting the process that I use to make these foods!
Here is what I found, just by searching Google for baby food cost:
