babyfood math

During a recent shopping trip to Whole Foods* to buy organic produce to steam and puree into baby food I was questioning whether it was all worth it. It costs about $50 per month for Aubrey's foods including the cereal and yogurt and other snacks. I was looking at the huge pile of fruits and veggies on my counter thinking of all the work I was going to have to do to turn it into baby food. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just buy Gerber Organic? (I have "cheated" a few times and bought their prunes and green beans because I hadn't had much success trying to make those myself.) So out comes the calculator and I try to guess how many little tubs Aubrey would eat per day and multiplying the cost from there. The number I came up with astounded me. $130 per month! Whoa, an $80 difference. I had no idea that convenience came at such a high cost! And really making the food isn't that hard. Two or three afternoons of work a month isn't all that bad, and now that I know that it is saving us so much money I will be happier doing it. It really does provide a great sense of accomplishment seeing a freezer full of cubes of baby food knowing that I am not only doing the healthiest thing for my baby, but also the most cost effective.

*yes, Aubrey eats way better than Bill and I do.