How Making Homemade Baby Food Affects Your Grocery Bill

It is shocking that some parents are using credit cards to purchase commercial brands of baby food.

Heather Tolbert, mom to 9-month old Justin, says "When I grocery shop for the family, I usually end up buying anywhere between 40-50 jars of baby food per month, averaging about .79 cents per jar. It adds around $30-40 to my grocery bill each month, and that doesn't include the formula that I buy, which is another $100 per month. So altogether, I'm spending about $130-140 per month extra on Justin's baby food and formula."


When you couple that price with the regular grocery bill, it's no wonder people are using credit, especially if they are on a fixed or reduced income. Moms like Heather Tolbert are using credit cards all the time to supplement the cost of buying food for their babies. Especially with the economy right now in Michigan. People are losing their jobs left and right.

Unless you have in interest free credit card, when you add on finance charges, you could almost buy another months supply of commercial baby food with what you pay in interest. When I asked Heather if she thought about making her own baby food, she said an astonishing, "No, it never even crossed my mind."

Many parents are convinced that they have to resort to store bought baby food to feed their babies. In fact, the term "baby food" has brought on its own meaning...Gerber, Beechnut, Del Monte, etc. Many parents don't think of simply using fruits and vegetables they may already have on their grocery list to feed their babies.

How much food do you waste every month because it spoiled from not getting consumed? Well, I asked Heather that too. Her response, "Sometimes, I may have a few potatoes, apples, or other fresh food that we don't use quick enough." Well guess what? The food that was left to spoil very well could've been the food for the baby. Two potatoes, cooked and pureed or mashed, could feed a baby for a couple of days. And there isn't a financial impact on the grocery bill.

If the food is going to spoil, why not use it to make and freeze baby food before it gets to that point? That would at least save the extra money spent on buying commercial baby food. Buying food for your baby doesn't have to put you in debt, and really doesn't add more money on the grocery bill if you plan ahead and purchase fresh or frozen foods that you can puree for your baby to eat.

About the Author

Visit www.SimplyBabyFoodRecipes.com and SimplyBabyFoodRecipes.Blogspot.com which provides an abundance of simple homemade baby food recipes, how to's, videos, and articles all for free! Find more ways to save money at pennypinchingmoms.blogspot.com

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by: babies Total views: 11 Word Count: 455 Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 Time: 11:48 AM 0 comments