how 'bout them apples?

I'm not the first parent I know who has tried making her own food. Sabrina did for Maddie, and she told me a lot about doing it. It's not a realistic thing if you're going to make food every day, but if you make a big batch and freeze it it's not too bad, in fact it's kind of fun. And, you can (a) make it with locally grown organic produce and (b) save $ over the cost of stuff you can buy in jars (especially when you compare the cost of the organic baby food at the grocery store, not the normal gerber stuff) and (c) have a little fun cooking stuff. My inner cheapskate is very happy about the whole thing.

As with most things I turned to the internet to get some instructions and tips for the whole process. There are lots of people who have written stuff about doing this, and one can buy books. I found the site wholesomebabyfood.com really informative.

My first attempt was to bake and puree one yam. It made a couple of servings for the frigand I was able to freeze 8 more servings in an ice cube tray. After they were frozen I popped them out of the tray and put them in a ziploc in the freezer. I just have to remember to take them out the night before I want to use them.

Today Amos went to the local food coop, the PCC, (Eddie Vedder is known to shop there from time to time) and picked up another batch of stuff for us to cook up for G. He got apples, butternut squash and more yams. Tonight I started on the apples, since the root vegetables should keep longer. I peeled and cut them up and put them in a steamer on the stove. I cooked them until they got soft and then pureed them smooth. 6 apples made 17 servings and cost $8.61, or about $.50/serving (Amos even bought expensive apples). We got 4 yams for $3.50, and I should get about 30 servings out of that or about $.12/serving. And the squash was $2.15, and I have no idea how much that will make. So for the apples and yams my average cost is .25/serving. Compare those costs to the cost of 6 jars of earth's best organic baby food, which online is $4.14 or $.69/serving.