by Thriving Mama

Created on: August 22, 2009

It is no secret that most people like to save money and often saving money is weighed heavily against saving time. While preparing homemade baby food for a child will take a bit of time, it can save you a significant amount of money at the grocery store. With a little bit of work and by avoiding specialty items, a child can be fed healthily without maxing out the grocery budget.

Specialty and convenience items at the grocery store usually carry the highest price-tags. Baby food falls into both categories. It is definitely quicker to toss the small jars into your shopping basket and twist the tops off at meal time. The cost for this convenience can range from fifty cents to $2.00 a jar, depending on your choice of baby food.

Making baby food for an infant who is just beginning to explore foods requires the most work. First you must peel and microwave the apple, sweet potato or pear that your child is going to eat. Then puree the cooked produce. This process will take about ten minutes. The final puree will provide you with about a half a cup of pureed food, or the equivalent of about two jars of baby food. Given that apples, sweet potatoes and pears are not specialty or convenience items, premium prices should not apply. Bananas are easily mashed up with a fork and fed directly to a child.

As a child grows and adds more foods to their palette, simply puree what the family is having for dinner. If the child has reached an age where chicken, potatoes and carrots are ok, and that's what you're having for dinner, simply take a small amount of each, put it in your blender and chop it up. The puree process simply allows a child without teeth to eat these foods more easily.

Once a child's teeth are present, there's no need for specialty infant or toddler meals. While it's tempting to grab the puffs and microwave meals that are designed especially for children, consider other options found in the grocer store that will serve the purpose just as well for a fraction of the cost. Serve toddlers small pieces of whatever is on the family's dinner menu. Take care to chop foods into very small pieces and avoid hard foods like raw carrots. Convenient snacks like puffy cereal type finger foods. These cost about $2.50 for a cute container and one and a half ounces of snacks. For a couple dollars more you can get a full size box of cereal, like a variety of Cheerios that will work just as well.

Feeding an infant does not have to cost a fortune. With a little bit of work and will power to avoid the specialty and convenience items, a child can be fed with a minimal impact on a family's grocery budget.

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