9
Jan
Jan
Is making baby food worth it financially?
Miscellaneous Info:
- one ice cube=1 oz
- 3.5 oz = one individual pack of Gerber baby food
- one individual pack = $ 0.55
- Abby eats about 3 packs a day, which is 90 packs a month.
About a month ago at Walmart, I spent:
$3.11 on one butternut squash. It yielded 40 oz, which is equal to 11.5 individual packs. Would’ve spent $6.33 on Gerber. Let’s see how much it’d cost for a month. Homemade= $24.34; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.04 times as much as homemade.
$1.68 on one bag of fresh carrots (you could also get a pack of frozen carrots). It yielded 24 oz, which is equal to 6.8 individual packs. We would’ve spent $3.74 on Gerber. Homemade= $22.26; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.23 times as much.
$0.70 on one sweet potato. It yielded 12 oz, which is equal to almost 3.5 individual packs. We would’ve spent $1.93 on Gerber. Homemade= $18; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.75 times as much.
$1.61 on 2 pears. It yielded 10 oz, which equals 3 individual packs. We would’ve spent $1.65 on Gerber. Homemade= $48.30; Gerber= $49.50. Not worth it.
Note: this was my first attempt at making baby food, so I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing and may not have added enough water. I know I didn’t add enough to the squash.
Come back for “Tipster Tuesday” to get tips on making baby food.
Related posts:
Jess
January 9, 2009 at 7:52 pmYeah for you making your own baby food!I loved making baby food. One bonus was the cost, but the health benefit was even better. Fresh food steamed and pureed by you with no additives is SO much better than very processed and then canned (cooking out so many nutrients) stuff. You don’t know where their products came from or what they looked like(for example a lot of times the meat used in typical baby food is the stuff that is “turning” or bad quality that adults would be able to taste. Babies can’t, so they use it for them. Gross.) I liked having control over what went in my baby’s mouth. I can’t wait to hear more about what you try to make!
Lori
January 9, 2009 at 10:09 pmYeah; I want to make sure she gets the best. So far, I’ve only tried squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, and green beans. I think I might try peas and mangoes. I haven’t read up much about the meats, yet. What all did you puree/make?
Ashley
January 10, 2009 at 11:38 amWe are wanting to make Kate’s food once she gets old enough for solids. You’ll have to give us some pointers!!
Sorry we didn’t make it to the meeting on Thursday. Wednesday night was really long, but it’s getting better.
Lori
January 10, 2009 at 11:58 amAshley, feel free to ask me any questions.
Yeah, we missed you in BF group. I understand. We’re still praying for your adjustment to Kate. Can’t wait to see her again.
Alissa
January 12, 2009 at 10:36 amLori, you are amazing. Not only did you go to the work of learning about, buying, and doing the food, but you sat down and figured out how financially viable it was, and THEN shared it with everyone you know. I love and admire you, cousin!
Lori
January 12, 2009 at 10:55 amAww, thanks Lis. You are super sweet!
Sharlez
January 18, 2009 at 5:35 pmChecking out cost of making my own and wanted to say that actually, a Gerber jar is 2.5 ounces and not 3.5 ounces! You actually saved more!
Check out the wholesomebabyfood.com site and their chart. It’s at http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/cost.htm I’m going to write and ask for an update in pricing because it seems like some of the produce is low. Then again, it could be due to the location but we seem to be close by.
Lori
January 18, 2009 at 9:43 pmSharlez, thanks for stopping by my site.
When I mentioned the Gerber packs, I was meaning the 2nd foods 2 pack ones, the ones in plastic containers, and those are 3.5 oz. You must be talking about the glass jars.
And thank you for that extra info. I had not seen that chart, so I will check it out.
Carole
October 13, 2009 at 10:23 amLori – Just want to say THANK YOU!! I’m going to research making my own baby food. Thank you so much for the free codes and freebies. I thought I was frugal, girl! We make a good team – please keep me up to date on anything you find and I will do the same. Just found this today. Can you recommend any other blogs or websites to visit. And how do I set up something like this to give out free information.
lori
October 13, 2009 at 2:57 pm@ Carol- You’re welcome! Thanks for thanking me
. Making baby food is great, healthy, and saves money!
I used to always do a “freebie friday” post, but since getting pregnant again, I’m sick again, and it’s been too time consuming for me to do that. But I’ll try to post really, really good finds.
My blog is self hosted, and I have to pay about $10 a year for this domain name. I love it because I can customize it down to the nitty gritty. If you don’t know much about coding/programing, and would prefer to use a free platform, you could use something like blogger (https://www.blogger.com/start) to set up a blog.