do you make or buy your own food

my little ones arent ready for solids yet but my mother plans on buying me the baby food maker. (this one - http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/e203/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cbaby&cm%5Fsrc=SCH).

is it cheaper or more expensive to make your own food? i plan on staying home from work for a few months and that means PB and J for me, LOL and we need to save anyway possible.

 

I would think it would be cheaper especially since you don't have to buy the baby food maker yourself. I never tried making it myself, but it sounds like a great idea!

 

I made my own food for the twins. I don't know how much I saved(or didn't!), but I really enjoyed doing it! I just used a steam basket and blender for most things. GL!

 

Making your own food is definitely cheaper. I just made 6 meals a piece with one sweet potato. And it tastes really good too! Some things are hard to make yourself, and sometimes it's just more convenient to buy the jars, but so far I'm enjoying making my own.

 

that seems like a lot of $$ for a glorified blender... especially when they will only really be eating purees for 5-6 months.

when i make my own food i just steam it in a steamer basket on the stove or bake it in the oven, then puree in a blender or mash it up with a potato masher/fork.

 

I did both. I used bought food for traveling or when we were out, but made my food for home. It was really easy and since I had trouble BFing it made me feel like I was doing something good for my babies. It helped ease my guilt (which I know I shouldn't have had). That baby food maker from WS looks AMAZING!!! If she is willing to buy it for you, I so go for it! On the other hand, it's easy to do in a pot or in the oven with just a blender. Maybe the money would be better spent on supplies to make the food. <---Sorry, that's my DH's influence! He's such a penny pincher!

 

im a mess at BFing myself. i pump for them so they get about 75% BM and 25% formula, sometimes more formula during the day. when i BF they go for an hour and are still screaming afterwards bc they are hungry. i love having that time with them but it totally makes DH and myself nuts.
thanks for the advice. dont feel guilty!

i thought the maker looked pretty cool, lol.

 

i make all of our babyfood, with the exception of a few emergency jars in the pantry. oh, and i use commercial babyfood for meats while we're still in this puree phase because i just can't get the consistency right.

it's so much cheaper. incredibly cheaper. like PP said, you get a lot of mileage out of a single sweet potato. here's an example: 1 lb of carrots makes about 24 1-oz cubes. if a jar of babyfood is 4 ounces, that's like making 6 jars of carrot babyfood. since we buy organic and commercial organic babyfood is about 0.77 per jar, that means buying it jarred would cost me $4.62 for the same amount. 1 lb of organic carrots is, what, a couple bucks?

but definitely don't convince yourself you need the william sonoma product. a steamer basket in a pot of water and a blender is all you need. additionally some of the components of the willam sonoma babyfood maker contain BPA and those components will be exposed to heat. from a product safety standpoint i wouldn't buy it until they change their plastics.

oh, and lastly, if you have a crockpot you should definitely make your own whole milk yogurt. so much cheaper than buying yobaby!

 

I make all their food - but I just bake or boil foods then use a regular blender. I think it saves money. I too, am staying home and will be living on rice and beans until I go back part-time. I make big batches on days DH is home and freeze them in 3oz plastic cups (which are disposable but we reuse)

 

I am currently buying our baby food. But once we are more used to doing solids i am planning on making our own. I like the idea of it but since i haven't tried it yet, im not much help. But i am very interested in it...

 

I have the beaba babycook and I make all of our purees. It's so easy and fulfilling. I have emergency jars in the diaper bag. I've only ever had to use a jar once!

I do buy teething biscuits and puffs tho.

 

Making my own here, with the exception of a few items - I think making applesauce is a pain, so I buy the larger jars of organic/natural applesauce. I do buy the jars of baby food for traveling. I had a small baby food mill (similar to this) from BRU with my DS, which was great about pureeing while we were out and about too. A great help is http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

 

We make ours also with just a steamer basket and a processor. Making your own food is definitely cheaper and it's really much easier than it seems. A few hours in the kitchen will stock your freezer for a few months and it's fun! I agree with pp, wholesamebabyfood.com is very helpful!

 

We use a blender and it works great. I haven't had to use a jar of commercial food yet. Would mom be willing to buy you something nice instead of the the baby food maker?

 

The Williams Sonoma appliance is great but it's just a glorified steamer/blender. If you ever choose to boil/cook anything you have
to use a regular pot anyway. I cook most of their food and use a little blender. I used jarred food for a recent overnight trip and the girls sure knew the difference, they weren't impressed. I also keep jarred food on hand in case I'm desperate, too tired, or they are really refusing something I've made.
I was told that babies who are introduced to fresh, home cooked foods, especially in the first year, aquire a taste for that type of food versus anything processed, it's better for their future. I tend to buy organic food only too, so either way it's expensive. But I would rather spend less elsewhere and give them the best in this first year especially.
Plus, my babies were born premature so I have that ex-NICU Mama complex where I am probably overcompensating on everything!!!

Happy cooking!