Adventures in baby-food Making: Plums, Pumpkin & Oatmeal

This week we tried a few new things in our baby-food making adventures. Plums, Pumpkin and Oatmeal. Here is what we did….

PLUMS

I can honestly say I had never had never had a plum so this was a new experience for the both of us.

Steps

1. Scrub & Clean Plums

2. Peal plums so there is no skin remaining

3. Remove Pit from center of plum

4. Cut into smaller cubes

4. put into a food processor, blender or Baby Bullet with about a ¼ cup of water and puree .

5. 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 Math

I couldn’t find a Gerber or other Brand baby food in just plums. They were all mixtures (Apples/Plums, Banana/Plums, etc). So I couldn’t do a straight comparision but this is close. While it didn’t end up saving any money it is nice to have a straight plum mix since you can’t find it at the store. 6 plums made 16 oz. of food. That is about 4.5 servings for Sawyer

HOME-MADE

6 pears at $1.48 a pound – made 16 oz of baby food = $2.37

Total cost per ounce = .148 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 2nd Foods Nature Select Banana Plum comes in 2 – 3.5 containers for $1 each, so 16 ounces = $2.29

Total cost per ounce = .143 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = none

PUMPKIN

My mom had a great idea to pick up some of the canned pumpkin at the store for Sawyer to try. Since it is the Fall Season, it’s easy to find. Pumpkin is a squash and since Sawyer has already had squash it was okay for him to have. It is a really easy vegetable to make, you literally just open the can and put it in containers for your portions. You can even mix it with different veggies or add some fresh cinnamon. Such a great idea mom! I use the Libby brand because there is nothing added, it’s just plain pumpkin.

The Math

I couldn’t find just plain pumpkin baby food either. Closest thing I found was Healthy Times Pumpkin Pie.

HOME-MADE

1 can 15 oz. pumpkin at $1.74 – made 15 oz of baby food = $1.74

Total cost per ounce = .116 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Healthy Times Pumpkin Pie 4 oz container for $1, so 16 ounces = $4

Total cost per ounce = .25 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = 0.134 cents

1 day of Healthy Times Pumpkin Pie (2 containers or 8 ounces per day) =$2

1 day of Home-made Pumpkin (8 ounces per day) =  $.91

Total Savings per day = $1.09

OATMEAL

Recently on the Today Show there was a story about the dangers of eating Rice because of high levels of arsenic. The story was mainly targeted at moms who feed their babies rice cereal, I am one of those moms and the story frightened me to say the least. CLICK HERE to see the story

That night my mom and I decided to try making our own oatmeal to give Sawyer instead and John and I tossed the rice cereal we had been feeding him.

For our first batch we just used 1 cup of Quaker Oatmeal. It made 9.5 oz but once you had water to serve it is about 3-4 servings.

Steps

1. Boil 1 ¾ cups water

2. Add 1 cup Oats, cook for 5 minutes

3. Put Oats nto a food processor, blender or Baby Bullet with about a ¼ cup of water and puree. May need to add more water if it is thick

5. 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)

6. When you are ready to serve, add a little milk or water to make it less thick and serve plain or with fruit. You can also warm it up if desired.

The Math

We already had the Oats but the savings are significant.

You can get a Quaker Oats 42 oz. Cylinder for $4 versus nn 8 oz. box of Gerber Organic Single Grain Oatmeal is $3. That’s huge!