Baby Dinner on a Dime

$1.98 for jar of unsweetened applesauce.......46 oz
$3.38 for 8 sweet potatoes....................made 54 oz
$2.19 for a bag of pears........................made 16 oz
$1.09 for a bag of carrots......................made 18 oz

That's $8.64 for 134 oz of baby food (or 33.5 4-oz jars). 
That's roughly 26¢ per jar if I were to buy them as packaged baby food at the store.  Good luck finding jars of baby food for that price.  It's great being able to combine my love of cooking, healthy eating, and saving money!

Feeding Schedule-6 Months Old

9 am- 6 oz bottle (breastmilk)
10 a.m.--split 8 oz of baby food

1 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
1:30 p.m.-split 4 oz of baby food

5 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)
6 p.m.--split 4-8 oz of food

9 p.m.--6 oz bottle (breastmilk/formula)

5 a.m.--5 oz bottle (breastmilk)

Solids We Introduced (in order)

• rice cereal
• oatmeal
• banana
• apple
• sweet potato
• avocado
• peas
• carrots
• pears
• squash
• any "Stage 2" jars

S is for...

Spaced out: Jackson was in his own bubble this morning.  He spent hours laying on the couch watching TV.  I was able to do a couple loads of laundry, feed the babies, clean the kitchen, and bake.  Every time I checked on him, he was in oblivion.  I finally just turned the TV off. 

Spoon War: James won.  Or maybe the carrots won.  I swear I'm going to handcuff him one of these days.

Smart aleck: Jack refused to get dressed or even get up to use the bathroom.  He was still wearing his nighttime pull up so I forcibly stripped him down.  I asked him to at least put on underwear.  He came downstairs wearing Jesse's.  Ugh...this kid!

Spring Fever/Seventy degree weather: Jackson finally got out of his funk when I started loading the babies up in the van and informed him that I was taking the babies to the park.  That news perked him right up.  It was so warm and sunny.

Swinging Sisters: Sweet Maddie was alert and happy, which meant she was able to share a swing with Amelia.

Soaking Wet: Jackson was quite upset when he landed in a huge puddle at the bottom of a spiraling slide.  Thankfully, I always carry a change of clothes in the diaper bag in case he has an accident.  We were the only people at the park so he changed behind the stroller.  All was well again.

Speed Sliding: Jackson loves climbing and going down the tallest slides, but he either holds onto the rails or uses his shoes to control his speed.  I convinced him to put his arms up like on a roller coaster to see how fast he could slide.  He was so excited afterwards!

Scaredy Squirrel: After the park we headed to the library.  We no longer frequent weekly story time because it interferes with the babies' morning nap.  Instead, we have our own hour of reading and activities.  One of the books Jackson checked out was Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping.  It's one of my favorite series.  The writing is seriously funny.

 
Spinach Stuffed Chicken: I followed this recipe for dinner and was pleased with the results, though Jesse complained that it was too bland.  We had a nice, big salad to go with it.  Yum.

Sleep: My alarm is set for 3:30 a.m. because I volunteered to cook and serve breakfast through the homeless ministry again. I'd better try to get some shut-eye.

Baby Food Making 101

The only baby food I ever made for Jackson was mashing up a banana.  I assumed it would be a mindless task, especially since I'm no stranger in the kitchen.  I should have known better!  I attempted to make homemade applesauce by boiling apples in a pot with about an in inch of water.  Ten minutes later and the water had evaporated, natural sugars had crystalized, and I almost ruined the pot.  After a bit of web surfing, I found this website to be the most helpful resource.  I used a Target gift card we had generously been gifted to purchase a food processor and some really cheap 4 oz Gladware containers.  I spent most of the day in and out of the kitchen.  Here's what I made:

Homemade Applesauce

Slice and core a bag of apples.  (Clearly, I had not cored them yet.)

Place apples in a shallow baking dish with an inch of water.  Bake at 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Once tender, place the baked apples in a bowl of ice water. This allows the peel to be easily removed using a paring knife.  (An alternative to baking would be to core and peel the apples, then steam them.)

Place apples in food processor. Use the water from the pan to thin out the apple puree to your desired consistency.
 

Pour puree into small, freezer-safe containers.

Sweet Potato Puree

Place bag of washed sweet potatoes into a roasting pan.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for an hour.

Slice baked sweet potatoes.  Scoop out flesh and place sweet potato in food processor.

Use liquid (water, formula, breastmilk, or homemade vegetable stock) to thin out puree to desired consistency.

Spoon puree into freezer-safe containers, ice cube trays, or muffin tins.  Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper.

If using ice trays or muffin tins, freeze for a few hours, then empty puree into a freezer-safe bag.

Pureed Carrots

Peel carrots and cut ends off.  In all my reading, carrots are questionable because of the excessive level of nitrates.  You should not use carrots that have roots or and hairs sprouting as that indicates higher levels of nitrates.  It was also not recommended to use baby carrots as they are often washed in a chlorine solution prior to packaging. 

Steam carrots for 5-10 minutes.

Place in food processor and pour puree into ice cube trays, muffin tins, or freezer safe containers.


Pureed Peas

I just used a 1 lb bag of frozen peas,

steamed them for 5-10 minutes,

tossed them in a food processor with a fair amount of liquid, and froze them in ice trays.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



I included a similar version of this handy dandy chart in my previous post, but I wanted to include it here as well so I could easily search for it. 

Amount	Price of Produce	Total Oz of Baby Food	# of 4 oz Jars Produced	Price per jar
1 lb bag of carrots	$0.99	20 oz	5 jars	$0.20
1 bag of sweet potatoes	$1.69	24 oz	6 jars	$0.28
1 bag of small apples	$3.29	28 oz	7 jars	$0.47
1 bunch of 8 bananas	$2.68	32 oz	8 jars	$0.34
1 lb bag of frozen peas	$1.25	18 oz	4.5 jars	$0.28

Next items for the baby test kitchen are avocado and squash. 

More Math Facts: Baby Food Edition

If you recall from a previous post, I am all about calculating savings.  Many of the parenting choices I've made are aligned with a more natural parenting style (breastfeeding, cloth diapering, making baby food).  While I truly do believe those things are beneficial to infants, the truth is, I do it because I can't afford not to.  Triplets are not cheap, so I'll do anything I can to save a buck.

When it came time to introduce solids, I decided to experiment with making my own baby food.  I had to do a lot of research to determine how to cook and store the food, which foods should be introduced at what ages, etc.  I couldn't find any information on how much pureed food typical bags of produce would yield.  Here's what I ended up buying at the grocery store and creating:

Amount	Cost	Total Oz of Baby Food	# of 4 oz Jars Produced
1 lb bag of carrots	$0.99	20 oz	5 jars
2 bags of sweet potatoes	$3.38 ($1.69 x 2)	48 oz	12 jars
1 bag of small apples	$3.29	28 oz	7 jars
1 bunch of 8 bananas	$2.68	32 oz	8 jars
1 lb bag of frozen peas	$1.25	18 oz	4.5 jars
Total	$11.59	146 oz	36.5 jars

I compared prices for Gerber, Beech Nut, and Earth’s Best.  The cheapest price I found for a 4 oz jar of Stage 1 baby food was $0.89 per jar. I calculated my savings based on that price:

$0.89 x 36.5 jars = $32.49

$32.49 (store bought) - $11.59 (homemade) = $20.90 savings

Therefore, making my own baby food costs one-third of the price as store-bought baby food.

Since we only introduced solids three weeks ago, the babies are still eating a small amount.  However, they have already progressed from nibbling a few teaspoons of food to devouring small bowls of food.  They currently split a banana in the morning, a few ounces of rice or oatmeal cereal in the afternoon, and either sweet potatoes or apples in the evening. 

According to other triplet moms, the norm is to go through 12 jars per day.  If that’s the case, I spent my afternoon making enough food for three days.  Clearly, I’ll need to be making much larger batches!  I’m certainly not opposed to buying jars of food if I find a great deal.  I looked back through the blog and read that we bought dozens of 4 oz jars of Stage 2 baby food at Big Lots for $0.30 each. 

In another month or two, we'll be able to introduce table food.  I'll be more likely to toss our own meals into the food processor for a few quick pulses so the babies will eat the same thing we eat. Hopefully, that will eliminate additional expenses and will motivate Jesse and I to make healthy meals.

Introducing Solids

Since the babies received lots of food for Christmas, I decided to try rice cereal for the first time tonight.  We introduced solids for Jackson when he turned 4 months old.  Knowing that James, Amelia, and Maddie are my last babies, I've been in no rush this time around.  Still, all three have shown signs of readiness and they are a mere two weeks away from 6 months old.

I refuse to discard any breastmilk if it wasn't consumed, so I mixed the rice cereal with formula.  The babies were in good moods and it was in between feedings, which made me think we would have a successful first attempt at solids. I lined our new high chairs up in a row.

James proved to tire very quickly.  He wanted nothing to do with sitting in the high chair or eating.  He just cried and let the cereal dribble down out of his mouth.

Amelia loved every part of feeding.  She wanted to grab the spoon and feed herself.  She opened her mouth each time and happily consumed everything she was given.

Maddie wasn't the most comfortable in the stiff high chair, but she enjoyed her meal in the comfort of her daddy's lap.

I don't know how I'm supposed to balance feeding all three at the same time!  We've all mastered bottle propping so all three are fed in under 15 minutes.  Our first attempt with rice cereal involved lots of fussy, attention-seeking babies, and that was with two adults.  I'm certain it will get easier when they are able to feed themselves finger foods, but until then, this is just another challenge I'll have to figure out. 

Update: Just since posting this, I've received advice from fellow triplet moms.  It was suggested to use one bowl/one spoon and go down the line.  Babies can sit in bumbos, bouncers, high chairs, etc, as long as they are upright enough to eat and comfortable.  If one baby takes too long, skip him/her and keep going to the next baby.  Keep alternating until the bowl is empty.