Making your own baby food is great for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that you can save money. I prefer organic food for myself and my child, but we all know that organic food is not cheap. Here is a quick example and tutorial of how you can make sure you are getting the most baby food for the least money.

At our food co-op, I could purchase a 4oz jar of organic baby puree for 75 cents. That means that a pound of pre-made puree costs $3. In the frozen aisle, 10oz of frozen organic veggies are $1.75, which is $2.80 per pound. Thus, if I buy frozen veggies, steam them, and stick them in the blender I save 20 cents per pound. Not a huge margin. Probably not worth my efforts.

The real savings instead comes from fresh seasonal produce. For instance, I right now I can buy organic butternut squash for 50 cents a pound. Given that the seeds and skin are fed to my chickens and not my son, I will hazard a guess that the usable portion might be only 2/3 of the squashes weight, so it is more like I’m paying 75 cents a pound for the edible parts. Thus, I save about $2.25 per pound if I buy the squash whole and cook and puree it myself.

I’m taking you through this math so you can do your own comparisons. Just figure out what you need to beat (in my case, I need to beat 4oz at 75 cents times 4 which equals $3 a pound) price-wise and then shop accordingly. Remember that 16 ounces is one pound, and that most frozen veggies are in 10oz, not 16oz, packages. With some quick computations you’ll probably save money in the long run- and you’ll be able to spot situations where you actually might be losing money with the fresh stuff.

- Leigh G.