Adventures in baby-food Making: Turnips, Egg Yolks, Mangoes, Lima Beans

Should last us a while!

We are now in the “what has Sawyer not tried” phase so we are having fun brainstorming fruits and veggies that aren’t so typical. My mom is great at this, she knows way more about foods than I do so I have leaned on her for help (love you mom!). Sunday we decided to have a food making party while the boys watched football. After two hours, we had made 97 oz. of baby food, a huge success! I have actually been thinking about offering my services to other moms who want home-made food but don’t have time or equipment. So if you need baby food, let’s talk.

So patient as we cooked! You can see the excitement in his eyes!

With out further delay, here is a heaping dose of baby food instructions? This is the longest list I’ve compiled thus far.

We made: Turnips, Peaches (frozen), egg yolks, bananas and lima beans (frozen).

Bananas & Peaches are super simple, you just throw them in a blender with a little water and they’re done. The other foods have more steps, so instructions are below.

A couple weekends back, we also made mangoes that were a little tricky to make so I included direction on them as well.

Adventures in baby-food Making: Pears

I love Pears. I actually like them better than peaches, so I was excited for Sawyer to get to try them.  I am already salivating thinking of Christmas deliveries at work when those amazing pears arrive from Harry and David!
We have been mixing pears (or whatever fruit he is trying at the time) with his rice cereal in the morning and he just devours them! But like I have said before there really isn't anything this boy doesn't like.

Steps

1. Scrub & clean pears

2. Peal pears so there is no skin remaining

3. cut into small 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)

4 pears made 22 oz. of food. That is about 5.5 servings for Sawyer

The Math 

The math came out the extremely close (less than a cent different) to the same on the pears as it did with the peaches. So once again, it's worth it to make your own.

HOME-MADE

4 pears at $1.89 a pound – made 22 oz of baby food = $2.97

Total cost per ounce = 13.5 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 1st Foods SmartNourish Organic baby food (pears) comes in 2 – 3.5 containers for $1.49 each, so 16.5 ounces = $3.47

Total cost per ounce = 21 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = 8 cents

1 day of Gerber’s Peaches (2 containers or 7 ounces per day) =$1.49

1 day of Home-made Peaches (7 ounces per day) =  $.91

Total Savings per day = $.58

Total Savings per week (7 days) = $4.06

Total Savings per month (30 day month) = $17.40

Total Savings per year (365 days) = $211.70

Adventures in baby-food Making: Peaches

The peaches right now are delicious! Lucky for Sawyer that was the next fruit on his list to try.  Once again, he loved them! There are a couple more steps but still pretty simple.

Steps

1. Scrub & clean peaches

2. Peal peaches so there is no skin remaining

3. remove pits from center of the peach

4. cut into small cubes

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

3. 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)

Sawyer had to crawl in to see what we were doing

we used 2 oz, 3.5 oz and 4 oz containers

The Math 

After making home-made baby food for the past 3 months I have found that you are most likely going to save money making your own. Even if it is less than a dollar a day, over time it’s still a savings and to me (being the frugal mom I am) it is worth it.

HOME-MADE

4 peaches at $1.49 a pound – made 23.5 oz of baby food = $3.00

Total cost per ounce = 13 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 1st Foods SmartNourish Organic baby food (peaches) comes in 2 – 3.5 containers for $1.49 each, so 16.5 ounces = $3.47

Total cost per ounce = 21 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = 8 cents

1 day of Gerber’s Peaches (2 containers or 7 ounces per day) =$1.49

1 day of Home-made Peaches (7 ounces per day) =  $.91

Total Savings per day = $.58

Total Savings per week (7 days) = $4.06

Total Savings per month (30 day month) = $17.40

Total Savings per year (365 days) = $211.70