Adventures in baby-food Making: Apples

Apples to me are the perfect fall fruit! I have been sort putting off starting Sawyer on the fruits because I just know he is going to love them more than veggies but as soon as the weather started to cool down, I starting thinking about apples. I picked up a huge bag of gala apples at Sam’s Club and decided to try to make some for little man. The best part, my friend Hugo & Wendy decided to give me their brand new, never been used Baby Bullet. They received it as a gift and knew they would never use it. Thank you guys sooooo much, it was so easy to use and made the best puree!! You guys are the best!

The very helpful Baby Bullet instruction guide

My mom did a little research on adding spices to baby food and found a really interesting article on the myths of baby food and why they don’t always have to be bland. The article raises some interesting & valid points and after reading it we decided to add Cinnamon to the apples in our recipe. You can read the article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/#.UD5CCo5438s

Cinnamon actually has a lot of health benefits associated with it and tastes delicious, to me it was a win win for Saywer. Here you can find the 11 health benefits of Cinnamon: http://www.organicauthority.com/health/11-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html

Steps

1. Rinse and scrub Apples

2. Peel apples of all their skin

3. Core (we used a Pampered Chef apple corer)

4. Place in a large pot with ¼ cup water per apple used (add cinnamon sticks if desired)

5. Cook on medium/high heat until they boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until apples are very soft

6. Put Beets in Baby Bullet or processor (discard cinnamon sticks) and Puree.

7. Put in storage containers, freeze or refrigerator depending on when you plan to use them. (Here are some rules of thumb – 3 days in refrigerator or 30 days in freezer)

The adorable storage containers even have a date stamp

The Math

You can really choose any type of apple that suits your fancy...I choose Gala and they were $2.57 a pound and I used 6 (they were about a half a pound each)

HOME-MADE

6 – Gala Apples made 27 oz. of baby food = $7.71

Total cost per ounce = 29 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 1st Foods SmartNourish Organic baby food (apples) comes in 2 – 2.5 containers for $1.59 each, so 27 ounces = $8.59

Total cost per ounce = 31 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = 0.028 cents

*While this isn't a huge savings it tastes fantastic and John and I actually said we would eat it. It comes out just like applesauce. **