Adventures in baby-food Making: Chicken

Making home-made pureed meat is probably the last thing I would ever see my self doing! It sounds gross and weird BUT I committed to attempting to make all of Sawyer's food and making meat should be no different. Of course I decided to start with chicken because I'll be honest I know NOTHING about cooking red meat or even ham so we are starting with what I know and then I will try to teach myself.

Usually we buy SmartChicken because it is hormone, antibiotics and preservative free. Dillon's now has a brand of chicken (Simple Truth Organic) that is exactly the same as SmartChicken but tons cheaper (like half). It worked great! We added some frozen carrots, half an onion and we had already made broccoli for dinner so threw a few florets in and it made a really nice Chicken Dinner for Sawyer.

Dillon's new SmartChicken- like chicken breasts

Steps

1. Add chicken and vegetables of your choice (we used frozen carrots & half an onion) to a pot covered in water

2. Cook on medium to high heat for 25-30 minutes covered until meat & veggies are very soft
3. Strain out stock in a separate container to use for processing.
4. shred or cut chicken into smaller pieces.

5. Put into a food processor, blender or Baby Bullet add some of the stock from cooking to the blender. I added about 1/2 cup. Puree. 

6. 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)

Made 38 oz. of food which is more than 9 servings for Sawyer

The Math

This turned out to be way cheaper than I anticipated. When I think about cooking meat, I expect it to cost a lot. With just 2 chicken breasts, half a bag of frozen carrots, half an onion and some already cooked broccoli, the total only came to $4.02. That's a whole chicken meal practically! It made a ton too!

HOME-MADE

2 chicken breasts at  $3.27 for 1.37 lbs, half a bag of frozen carrots for 50 cents and half an onion for 25 cents – made 38 oz of baby food = $4.02

Total cost per ounce = 11 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 3rd Food Chicken & Mixed Vegetable comes in 1 – 6 oz. jar for $1.25 each,
so 38 ounces = $6.33

Total cost per ounce = 17 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = 6 cents

1 day of Gerber 3rd Food Chicken & Mixed Veggie (1.5 containers or 9 ounces per day) = $1.63

1 day of Home-made Chicken & Veggies (9 ounces per day) = 99 cents

Total Savings per day = 64 cents

Total Savings per week (7 days) = $4.48

Total Savings per month (30 day month) = $19.20

Total Savings per year (365 days) = $233.60

Adventures in Baby-food Making: Carrots

I am equal parts a frugal person as I am healthy eater, so it only felt fitting to explore how to make my own baby food. It didn’t take much research for me to learn it was pretty simple. My mom and I went to the Farmer’s Market Saturday and picked up some fresh carrots and green beans for our first couple batches. Sawyer’s Pediatrican told me to go through the orange/yellow veggies first, then the greens, then beats and then introduce fruits. I decided to start with the carrots I bought and I plan to make the green beans and freeze them for when he gets to those colors. Sawyer loves the carrots, so I'm curious to see how he does with the rest of the veggies. Here’s what I did:

BABY FOOD CARROTS

TOOLS/INGREDIENTS

Food Processor/Blender

Steamer (I used my Pampered Chef MicroCooker)

Peeler

Containers (I got the Munchkin Freeze & Serve)

Carrots

Breast Milk/Water

STEPS

1. Clean your carrots really well with water, peel all the skin off and cut into small chunks
2. Steam until they are soft – discard the water you use to steam and do not pour into the processed carrots because it might contain the extracted nitrates.
3. Put in a food processor/blender and mix into a puree. I added a small amount of breast milk to get it softer but you could also use a small amount of water.
4. Pour into individual serving cups and store in a refrigerator or freezer

Munchkin Freeze & Serve Containers

I did not add any salt, butter or seasoning because I want to keep it as close to the real thing as possible but there are sites that say you can. I also found it is best to serve the carrots in a separate bowl than the freezer/refrigertor container. That way if they don’t finish the whole container  you don’t have to throw away the extra due the germs from the spoon. The puree in the containers will last 48-72 hours in the refrigerator and 1-3 months in the freezer. 

I'm serious about eating,....well, sort of