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Is it worth the money savings to make your own baby food?
Is it actually worth the time?
Is it worth the effort?
These are the questions many busy parents ask themselves.
Let’s take a look at a real-life breakdown.
Today we are going to look at sweet potatoes purchased from Kroger. Just your typical grocery store. To keep it simple we are only going to focus on one store. You can always shop around for better prices! I strongly encourage you do!
We are going to keep it simple though a stick with one store and one type of food. That being sweet potato purees all purchased from Kroger.
The comparison will be between three premade purees to making our homemade batch of pureed sweet potatoes.
The three pre-made include:
a glass jar
a plastic container
a squeeze pouch
I went to Kroger and purchased sweet potatoes in the raw. They weighed in at 3.13 pounds and cost $.99 per pound. My total spent on the sweet potatoes was $3.10.
The 3.13 pounds in weight is equal to 1420 grams.
Also, just a side note, I will be rounding numbers at times for simplicity.
After going through the process of making my puree, which at this point was purely sweet potatoes, my homemade mash came out to 891 grams. It seems like I lost a lot of weight. This happens via peelings, cutting out any bad parts, and also by losing some of the puree when transferring from pot to bowl.
A second side note, I am based in the US so we typically use pounds and ounces. I threw grams in at times as well. Sorry if it is not in your typical weight units. Remember the main thing is the comparison, not the actual weight.
Price and Weight
| Sweet Potato Puree | Price | Ounces | Grams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade Puree | $3.10 | 31.429 | 891 |
| Glass Jar | $1.00 | 4 | 113 |
| Plastic Container | $1.39 | 8 | 226 |
| Squeeze Pouch | $1.39 | 3.5 | 99 |
This first chart here shows you what you can get at the store along with what I was able to make at home. based on whatever form of puree you purchase it will come in various containers, sizes and prices. The next chart will break them down so we can better compare.
Price Per Ounce
| Sweet Potato | Cost | Ounces | Price Per Ounce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade | $3.10 | 31.429 | $0.0986 |
| Glass Jar | $1.00 | 4 | $0.25 |
| Plastic Container | $1.39 | 8 | $0.1738 |
| Squeeze Pouch | $1.39 | 3.5 | $0.3971 |
The first chart shows the price paid and for what amount of ounces. Using those numbers it is then broken down to the price per ounce. This makes for easy comparison between the four options.
As seen above the homemade sweet potatoes cost almost $.10 per ounce whereas the pouch puree costs nearly $.40 per ounce. The glass jar and plastic contain fall in between.
This may not seem like a big difference in the short-term. When you do the math though on just how many ounces of food your baby is consuming it really starts to add up. Let’s take a look at the long-term savings.
Long-Term Savings
| Sweet Potato | Price Per Ounce | 8 Ounces a Day | 1 Month | 6 Months | 1 Year | 2 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade | $0.0986 | $0.79 | $23.66 | $142 | $284 | $568 |
| Glass Jar | $0.25 | $2.00 | $60.00 | $360 | $720 | $1440 |
| Plastic Container | $0.1738 | $1.39 | $41.71 | $250 | $500 | $1000 |
| Squeeze Pouch | $0.3971 | $3.18 | $95.30 | $572 | $1144 | $2288 |
This chart shows the price per ounce we found earlier. We then take that number and multiple it by 8 ounces. This is just a general average. In the early months, your baby will probably not be eating 8 ounces. But then in later months, they will be exceeding 8 ounces. Therefore we are using it as the middle ground.
When you take the price per ounce and multiple it by 8 ounces in a day you get the amount of money you are spending in a single day on baby food. We range from $.79 to $3.18.
This doesn’t seem expensive to feed a member of the family. But at the end of the day, you are always going to recognize the lower price is better.
As you follow the chart it becomes clear the longer you feed your baby purees the more money you can save by making your own.
Keep in mind you may plan to have multiple children too. Then the savings will add up.
Let’s jump to the section with 2 years of purees. This could be one child or spread out over multiple children over multiple years. It just depends on your situation.
If you buy two years’ worth of purees you could spend as much as $2288. If you make them yourself you could spend as little as $568! That is a huge difference. I don’t know about you but $1720 in my wallet sounds pretty nice.
What I am saying here is, think about the long term. Think about how much money you could save by making baby food.
How Much Work
How much work is it really to make baby food?
It isn’t difficult at all.
You can easily find a recipe online or just wing it.
Based on the food you could just squish it as it comes, for example, bananas, or you may need to soften it, such as with sweet potatoes.
If needed you peel, chop and throw it in a pot of boiling water. Strain and transfer to a bowl.
Then you use whatever you have to squish it. A mixer, food processer, blender, hand masher, or even just a fork!
You can add water or breastmilk as needed to get the right consistency.
Then throw it in some kind of mold or form. You can purchase rubber forms or get yourself some extremely cheap ice trays!
Freeze the baby food then later transfer the frozen cubes to a freezer bag. Label it and store it! Then as needed you can grab a cube or two out of the freezer bag.
Do it in a huge batch! Make the most of your time and do a huge batch of one type of food at a time.
This process is not difficult or very time-consuming.
Benefits
Our main benefit discussed today was cost savings. Homemade baby food is the clear winner.
There are other benefits to making your own baby food though. You have complete knowledge and control of what your baby is consuming.
You could buy local or organic produce or even grow it yourself.
You know there are no preservatives or added ingredients you don’t like. You can keep it simple or add in whatever you like.
Get creative with it! You could sneak vegetables in with your baby’s favorite fruit. You could add breastmilk to make it more liquid in consistency. You can make foods that are in season at the time.
You have complete and total control!
Conclusion
I strongly suggest you make your own baby food.
All it takes is a little bit of prep work and organization. Knock it out in an afternoon.
If you are a busy working parent maybe you don’t think it is worth it. I challenge you to give it a try though. Take one weekend and see how much food you can make.
If you are a stay-at-home parent you can definitely find the time to save your family money in this way.
Do you want to put your money towards baby food that half of the time will end up on the floor?
I doubt it.
How many of you mommas are going to make your own baby food???
Comment down below!
Check Out My Articles
Everything You Need to Know About Introducing Solid Food to Your Baby
7 Smart Ways to Cut Costs and Save Money when having a Baby
How to Pack the Diaper Bag for Your Growing Baby (Solids)
Get Your Cooking Game On: 5 Easy Foods You Can Make from Scratch Today
How to Easily Pack a Week’s Worth of Lunches for Your 15 Month Old