Working moms: cooking for 7 month-olds

I have started my boys on solids and they eat a lot already: 2 stage 1 jars of veggies + 2 jars of fruits a day. I buy baby food at Sam's club, but I still think this is gonna get very expensive pretty soon. However, I am already struggling with work and taking care of the three children. So I am afraid I won't have time to cook for them and that it will be complicated. Plus I'm not sure I can select fruits and vegetables that compete with the selected ingredients of baby food in terms of qualityand also of price.

What do you guys do (especially working moms)? What works for you?

I'd be thankful for any advice.

 

I bought one of those baby food press things at target for pretty cheap. It's good for bananas or baked sweet potatos and it mashes any soft fruits/veggies fairly easily. Maybe try using that and buying whatever is easy to mash and then buy the rest that you can't make yourself. I also would buy some of the regular all natural applesauce for my girls instead of the "gerbers" kind because it has the exact same ingredients but is a whole lot cheaper. Good luck to you!

MJ

 

We did a mix of both. I made and froze some things (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots to name a few) because I could make a really big batch in a short period of time. Then I bought other things because it was easier, like applesauce (just the large jar of regular, unsweetened applesauce that DH and I normally eat). Having a small food processor to quickly puree foods like avocado, banana, and tofu was extremely helpful. You can't get some of those things in a jar, and they are super fast do whip up last minute!

 

I SAH, but I do tend to be both very busy and somewhat lazy, so we focus on things that I can do as an afterthought-if the oven's on, throw in a baked potato or a sweet potato (they mash up really easily). Bananas, ripe melon, ripe peaches and avocados they can eat with a little mashing. If we're having peas I squash them up to feed them. Also, all of my kids love congee (cook a half cup rice with 4 cups water or chicken broth for an hour or so until it's like oatmeal) so a couple of times a week that's what I make everyone for lunch.

 

I work full time and make all my own baby food. What I do is about once or twice a week, while cooking dinner I will cook up a large batch of baby food and freeze it in ice cube trays. Sweet Potatoes, Peas, squash, prunes, peaches, etc. Like PP's have said, I buy the unsweetened applesauce and use that. I did make one batch of home made apples, but it was a lot of work peeling all the apples, and in my opinion not worth it. It really does not take that long, and I figure I'm in the kitchen anyways doing other things, so may as well get some baby food going also.

 

I made all of mine - we only used jars sometimes when we went out. I would make huge batches only every 3 or 4 weeks, and freeze it all in cubes, then put in ziploc bags in the freezer. Then all you have to do is pull out a couple cubes, microwave them, and serve. Or you can set out the cubes in the morning and let them thaw. It's an investment of a couple hours once or twice a month, and then it's super easy.

 

I work FT and we have an early bedtime so I know where you're coming from. I'll be honest from 6-9 months I bought a lot of jar food (mostly beechnut and earth's best). We also buy our applesauce and such in the regular aisle. DH and I haven't been great about making meals for ourselves since the babies, and I don't want to give up my weekends cooking. My mom kept telling me that it would be such a short time to just go with it and so I did.

We started introducing finger foods around 8 months and it was only a short time before we moved them to cut up fruits and veggies, toast, cheese, chicken, turkey and sippie cups. IMHO it is so much easier to cook for them on the spot (warm up some peas or green beans *cut up small*, carrots and fruit. I do potatoes in the microwave. I get the meat cutlets that are precooked. It is working out so much better grocery budget-wise and dinner is so much easier bc they help feed themselves! We still spoon feed lots of stuff like the potatoes and applesauce and yogurt (a HUGE hit at our house), but not everything now.

GL!

 

It's store bought all the way in our house. I barely cook for the adults! I think making your own baby food is great if you have time to devote to finding the best ingredients and making it the right way. I don't. And I don't think that homemade baby food is necessarily "better" for them than Gerber. It may be cheaper, but right now, my time is worth a lot of money!

 

Thank you all for your responses! They will be very helpful. I think I will try a combination of buying/cooking and hopefully save money without stressing out too much over the issue

 

I work FT and bought most baby food (in bulk at BJs Wholesale). I thought it would be pretty expensive, but it wasn't too bad. GL. Now that they are on all table food I plan my meals ahead and makes lots at one time so we can live off leftovers too.

 

QUOTE(twoin2005 @ Aug 14 2008, 11:44 PM) [snapback]931288[/snapback]
We did a mix of both. I made and froze some things (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots to name a few) because I could make a really big batch in a short period of time. Then I bought other things because it was easier, like applesauce (just the large jar of regular, unsweetened applesauce that DH and I normally eat). Having a small food processor to quickly puree foods like avocado, banana, and tofu was extremely helpful. You can't get some of those things in a jar, and they are super fast do whip up last minute!


This is pretty much what I'm planning on doing. I go back to work on Mon. (boo hoo) and they will be starting veggies soon. I am doing all organic, so I did buy some Earth's Best baby food, but they don't have a large selection of flavors so I will make some of my own. I refuse to do difficult things like apples though!