Organic Baby Food on a Budget- Getting started

I am asked all the time from friends, first time moms, second time moms etc. 

“Do you feed your baby all organic baby food?” 

“Do you make your own baby food?” 

My answer, yes and yes. 

The follow-up is always “how do you find the time?” and “how do you afford it?”.

If done in the right way you CAN feed your baby all organic, home-made baby food. While on a budget and WITHOUT spending hours a day in the kitchen. 

Let me begin by saying that it wasn’t always this way. With my first daughter I was knee-deep in my last semester as a nursing student and I had NO time to even think about making our own baby food. 

All I knew at the time was 

1. the baby had to eat and 
2. we wanted to feed her organic.

So I bought the organic baby food, mostly the pouches. 

Then baby A came along, and I began to add up the expenses of adding another mouth to feed. Those pouches I fed E, they cost $1.25-2.50 EACH! 

How did I not notice this before? 

E would eat three or more of them a day, thats $105 - $210 a month!!! On baby food alone!! Hello?!?!?

Let’s be honest, looking back it still makes me want to puke. 

We had to cut back. 

So while baby A was still in utero (no joke) I began to stock pile and make my own baby food. I would buy extra carrots from the organic stand at the farmers market, take them home and make them in to food for my unborn child. 

Maybe I am crazy, maybe it was my own form of nesting, whatever, it worked. 

I don’t think that we spend more than $15 a month on A’s food. And she eats three square meals a day. 

Let me teach you about the things you will need to get started-

1. some form of steamer- (most of the recipes I use steam the food before pureeing) 
2. a food processor. (you can use a blender but I have found that a food processor works best) 
3. a small spatula 
4. a tray to freeze made food in (it can be as inexpensive as an ice cube tray) I use the beaba freezer trays.
5. some form of container to defrost the pre-made food in. I love wean-green containers. They are heavy-duty glass and I have recently discovered you can write on the glass with a dry-erase marker to label the food and it comes right off in the dishwasher. 

This is the minimalistic list, and it will get you started. 

Here are a few more items that I use and love (but you really don’t HAVE to have)

1. I love my Cuisinart baby food maker. It makes it super easy because it steams and purees right in the same container. Which makes clean up super easy, and allows me to make food without hanging around the kitchen. 
2. I loved the convenience of traveling with the pouches with Ella. I discovered the Little Green Pouch, these are made for storing your homemade baby food and traveling- which is great once the kiddos are older- you hand them a pouch and they feed themselves. The best part? They are reusable, and dishwasher safe! And they have been road-tested by my two year old and they really do stay closed!

I will post next week on how exactly I make my own baby food, and how you can too- with very little money and time.