Questions Answered

Hello out there!
So life has been a little on the hectic/crazy side, with the holiday, and getting back to work, and getting ready for summer (yay!)

So I figured I'd take the time to answer some frequent questions I get.

Q: What kinds of baby food have you made?
A: All kinds! So far, I've done the following,(in order)
Avocados
Sweet Potatoes
Bananas
Apples
Squash
Pears
Peaches
Peas
Mango
Blueberry Pear
Ground Brown Rice

Q: How do you know what is good for the baby?
A: I read a lot! But I also realized I could just go to the baby food shelf of my local grocery store, and see what they have there! It's getting interesting now that baby is turning 6 months - All kinds of great combinations I can start playing with!

Q: Where do you find the time to make baby food??
A: It really doesn't take very long, usually a couple minutes to get the fruit/veggie on the steamer (if needed). Then maybe 10 minutes to puree, strain and pour the mixture into the freezer trays. The time in between when the food is steaming to when I can puree, I do the dishes, or make our meal, or feed baby.

Q: Where do you find the energy to do all this?
A: My husband Andy takes Avery over to a friend's house on Wednesdays, and sometimes on Saturday afternoons, so I have some time to focus on getting a sewing project done. The baby food, per the previous question just gets made on the fly, when I have a couple minutes.

Q: Why do you make your own baby food?
A: I like knowing what's going in Avery's mouth. I hate how many preservatives are in baby food, and the older she gets the scarier it gets (what exactly is in a "Chicken Dinner and vegetables?" (yikes). So I did some research, and found some recipes, and instructions on how to prepare baby food. An added bonus is that we are seeing some cost savings too by preparing her food at home and freezing it.

Q: How much money are you really saving?
A: Well, it depends. I think the best example so far is with the Mango I made. The cheapest I've found "NameBrand" Mango is $0.98 for 2 small containers of mango which holds approx 4 feedings total. I found Mango on sale for $1/lb at City Fresh Market. I bought a mango for $1.19. After making the mango (and I did not have to add water for it to puree - it has enough juices to do that on it's own) I ended up with 8 serving. So, what is that ? just under 80% savings? Not bad.

Another example - Pears. Now here once again "NameBrand" Pears $0.98 for 2 containers or approximately 4 feedings. I bought 1 can of pears on sale for $1.00. One can gave me about 7 servings, PLUS I saved and strained the juice to serve later as 1/2 juice and 1/2 water. Each can has about 1 cup (8oz) of juice. And each "NameBrand" concentrated juice comes in 4, 4 oz bottles for $3.59.

SO, if I dedicate $0.50 or $0.25 to the juice, and take 1/2 of of a "NameBrand" Juice pack - $1.79, or $0.89 a serving. So, I get about 70% savings.
And for the Pear baby food, I'm getting $0.14 per serving as opposed to $0.49 a serving. Not Bad. Especially since she's eating 4-5 times a day!


I hope this answers some of your questions! And keep them coming!  :-)