Cheap Mama Homemade Baby Food

One of the things I was excited about trying with Baby #2, Sidekick, was homemade baby food.  When I was pregnant with my first child I had purchased a simple recipe book of baby foods but due to the demands of being a working mommy I never did get around to using it.  So around the time Sidekick turned 4 months old I blew the dust off the cookbook and started reading the recipes and making my shopping list.  People make their own baby food for various reason but my main two reasons were 1) Cost and 2) Health.  In that order.  I have to be honest, I know that health should have been first and foremost but I was already nursing exclusively so I wasn't as worried about the health aspect as much as I was about seeing how much money I could save by making my own baby food.  I figured if child #1, Superman, had eaten store bought baby food and survived to tell the tale, it couldn't be all bad.  I just wanted to figure out a way to make it conducive to my new Cheap Mama lifestyle.

Here are some of the prices of fruits and vegetables in my area compared to the most inexpensive store baby food I have been able to find.









I have discovered that you can find most store baby food at around $1.60/lb or $0.10/oz.  If the produce costs more than $1.60/lb then you're losing money by making it yourself and if the store baby food costs more than $0.10/oz you are losing money by not making your own.  I usually have my phone calculator handy when trying to figure out the price of a new food I'm going to make.  In general, these are my big money makers, items where it is much cheaper to make my own.


Money Makers: Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Bananas, Butternut Squash, Yellow Squash.  Frozen Vegetables are also good as long as I check the price per pound.

I don't have any fancy culinary equipment to make my own baby food.  All I use is a peeler, knife, cutting board, saucepan, plastic icecube trays and possibly the world's smallest food processor.





I can't stress the importance of using proper freezer quality plastic bags.  After going through the time and effort of making your own baby food you're not going to want it to go bad because of freezer burn.  I just about jumped for joy when I found freezer bags for cheap at my local Dollar General.  (Look for the DG brand.  The price per bag kicks the pants off the price of brand name or even store brands.)
Label and date each bag so that you know when you cooked it and what it was (is that carrots? butternut squash? sweet potatoes?) to ensure that you're using the FIFO method for your little sweet pea.  Use as many cubes as necessary to satisfy your little hungry hippo and smile knowing you're saving money and feeding your baby foods fresh from the produce section.