Homemade Baby Food

When Paton moved into eating solid-ish foods, I had no problem with buying the jarred baby food. This time around with Charlotte, I still don't have a problem with jarred baby food but my mom bought me a Baby Bullet months ago...so now I have options.

The instructional booklet had a paragraph that made me laugh. This paragraph's heading is "The Darker Side of Jar Food"--as if there's some government agenda to control our children mentally through their baby food.  Obviously this book is trying to encourage me to prepare my own baby food, but I thought this was a little extreme. Here goes-"Plus, did you know there is a certain level of acceptable "non-food" ingredients that can turn up in your jarred baby food? Guess what kinds of things these "non-foods" include? Bug parts, rodent hairs, rodent droppings and more. DISGUSTING! These non-food ingredients are an acceptable standard in the food processing industry, but it's quite a bit different when you think about them being fed to YOUR tiny baby." I can see it now--an FDA employee inspecting a jar of peas. What? What's that? A bit of rat feces? It's only a little bit, so it shouldn't matter. It's perfectly acceptable. Like I said, a little extreme but it did make me laugh.

I was a little apprehensive that this "make it yourself" baby food idea would really save me time and money. Money, yes, but my time is also money. So does it really save me both time and money? Is the prep time worth the financial savings? YES! Short example--one bunch of bananas cost me 1.27 this week, and this particular bunch had 6 bananas in it. I used 1 1/2 bananas to make six jars of baby food. 1.5 bananas times .21 comes out to .31 for six jars. That's 5 cents per jar of baby food. Most stores would charge me around .48 or so per jar! That's 24 jars of baby food for $1.27 from one bunch of bananas instead of $11.52 for store food.

I was surprised to discover that the Baby Bullet's small blender really wasn't a mess to work with. Veggie/fruit prep time really isn't that bad. Fruit cost worried me. But the fruit it has suggested hasn't been expensive at all. Provided in the kit is perfect serving-sized containers as well as a freezer tray and spatula.

So, all that to say to young mothers considering whether or not to make their own baby food. It's not the hassle you make think. It will save you money. You're still a great mom if you choose to buy the jarred food. Don't let anyone tell you that you're less of a mother if you go the way of the jar! Below is a healthy toddler who grew up on jarred, store-bought baby food.