Adventures in baby-food Making: Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes; John hates them, so I was anxious to see what team Sawyer was on. Looks like I won! My mom and I had another fun baby-food making party Sunday and Sweet Potatoes were on the menu. They might be my favorite to make so far because of how easy they are. They blend to a really nice, smooth consistency. I gave Sawyer a small spoonful after I was done and he attacked it (see pic!), I’m already winning him over with my cooking.

Sawyer approved!

My mom has had this book since she got married. It is super helpful for cooking times & temps for veggies. 

Steps

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Clean and scrub potatoes very well.
3. Cut off hard ends and discard
4. Place on non-stick cooking sheet, bake for 40 minutes (they should be very soft and skin should start to separate from insides.
5. Remove the skins (ours just peeled right off), also cut off any dark/bad spots if you see them.
6. Put in blender and mix until pureed.
7. Put in storage containers, freeze or refrigerator depending on when you plan to use them.

The finished product

The Math

I was pretty shocked with the figures this time. Honesty, I would be making food even if it didn’t save me much but it sure does feel good to see the numbers and see how much it really does save. I used a couple different containers when I stored the food this time so I will do my totals by ounces versus containers made.

HOME-MADE

5 large sweet potatoes (98 cents per pound) made 22 oz. of baby food = $2.21

Total cost per ounce = 10 cents

STORE BOUGHT 

Gerber 1^st Foods SmartNourish Organic baby food (sweet potatoes) comes in 2 – 2.5 containers for $1.59 each, so 22 ounces = $6.99

Total cost per ounce = 32 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE =  22 cents

1 day of Gerber’s Sweet Potatoes (2 containers or 5 ounces per day) = $1.59

1 day of Home-made Sweet Potatoes (5 ounces per day) =  $0.50

Total Savings per day = $1.09

Total Savings per week (7 days) = $7.63

Total Savings per month (30 day month) = $32.70

Total Savings per year (365 days) = $397.85

WOWSERS!!! That is huge.

Lets put a “diaper” figure to that to make it more real. Our favorite fancy Pampers with the wetness indicator right now are running at $34.94 for 160, size 2 diapers at Walmart. So with your savings from Baby food you could buy 11.39 boxes at Walmart’s price or 1,822.4 diapers!!!

I think it is worth it, don’t you say? Let’s take it another step further to better seal the deal, they say most babies use about 10 diapers per day, so 1,822.4 diapers would last you approximately 182 days or  HALF A YEAR. Are you a believer now?

Yay, my head is spinning a little.