After making three batches of baby food the other night, I got to thinking about whether or not it was worth my time and if it actually saved money. I have an analytical brain, so naturally I had to figure it out for myself. As our son’s diet switches more to solids and less bottles we’ve been trying to introduce everything we can. He’s been a little fussy though as he teethes as well, and won’t go for every food we give him. In a bout of frustration trying to get more vegetables intake we bought pouches that were mixtures of fruit and vegetables. For every successful pouch (which he totally sucked down on his own) I wrote down the approximate ingredient measurements from the back. Thank you to whomever thought it was a good idea to include that on baby pouches 😊
In total, I made 17 pouches at 5 ounces each (my son can eat, so the bigger size works well for us). I was able to make the flavors pretty quickly by simmering the ingredients together for about 10 minutes, then putting it all in our ninja to purée, all in all it took me about an hour from start to finish. There were some up front costs to get the Kiinde Foodii kit, but we’ve been pleased with how it’s worked out so far. Here are the three flavors I made and used to price it all out:
- Sweet potato, cranberry, and apple
- Spinach, peas, and pears
- Sweet potato, corn, and apple
I’ll be honest, I didn’t measure a thing. I used about 1.5 sweet potatoes in each flavor, and poured the frozen veggies and applesauce in until it looked like a good mix. The best part is, I know there are absolutely no additives or preservatives in his food, and I know I made it fresh myself 😍 without further ado…my costs:
- Bartlett Pears (2) – $1.49
- Cranberries – $0.99
- Spinach (5 oz) – $3.69
- Sweet Potatoes (3) – $1.47
- Apple Sauce (48 oz) – $2.59
- Frozen Corn (16 oz) – $0.99
- Frozen Peas (16 oz) – $0.99
- Average sales tax – $1.04
Total Cost – $13.25
Since the standard pouch is only 4 ounces, I did my calculations at that size (which would have made 21), which works out to $0.63 per regular size pouch! Considering they cost on average about $1.10 per pouch after tax, I’d say it was worth it! Now in case you were wondering, I know there are costs associated with the Kiinde pouches themselves, I thought about that too. It’s $45.99 for a 160 count box of them, so $0.29 per pouch. Our total cost came to $0.92, which wasn’t as great as I thought, but is still cheaper than buying them and like I said before at least I know exactly what he’s eating! Plus, if you’re looking at the big picture, if he’s eating about four pouches per day we’re saving close to $1 per day and over $350 in a year.
There is one way we could keep our costs down even more, we could be using reusable pouches. I’ve looked into them, but we haven’t made that jump just yet. We had a ton of the Kiinde pouches left over from the breastfeeding and pumping days so it made sense not to let them go to waste. Once we’re low on the pouches we have I’ll start testing the reusable ones. I would love to hear from other mommas what they like best!
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