I am thinking of making my own baby food and baby wipes. They are not ready for the food, but I wanted to get my research done so I can prep for what I will need. Can anyone give me an idea of how time consuming it is and is it worth it? Also does anyone have a babywipe "recipe"? Thanks!

Paige
Blessed everyday to be the mom to my 3 boys

Hi Paige,

I made most of my dd's first foods, and it was pretty simple. I'd think with triplets it would save even more money and make a lot of sense. Basically you just need a food processor and a new set of ice cube trays. You cook the veggies until very soft, then puree (**edited to add that you may need to add some water to get a good consistency) and freeze in the ice cube trays. Then you can pop them out and store the cubes in freezer bags (be sure to mark what they are and when you made them!). When you need to prepare a meal, you just thaw however many cubes you need. If you're going out you can put them in a ziplock and just let them thaw on their own. Very convenient. The most important thing is to just be sure you are careful to keep all surfaces and equipment very clean. I got the book "Super Baby Food", but found it to be a little overwhelming. Just use common sense. Baby food is just pureed regular food. If you make your own you can avoid serving your kids added sugar and preservatives.

Have fun!

Lauren
3yo dd
30w3d w/bgg triplets

I made the Trio's baby food as well. I didn't do the ice-cube tray thing as I would have needed alomst the whole tray for 1 meal! LOL!! So, instead I bought the small glad/ziploc feezer storage contaniers and filled those up. I would buy large bags of frozen veggies, cook, puree and then put in the containers and freeze. I would do about a months worth at a time and then every couple days pull a bunch out. For bannana's just let them get good and ripe and mash them up, no need to freeze. Also, I added fresh avacodo to alot of things and they LOVED it! For applesauce I would buy a large jar at the store and just take what I needed from there. It is just the same as pureeed (is that a word??) applesauce-but no work, and less $$. It is definalty worth it without a doubt. I did buy some cases at BJ's of food to have to travel, but for the most part it was all homemade!

Liz
Proud mom to:
Stevie-age 10-my sports nut!
Shawn-age 6.5-the hockey star-big 1st grader!!!
Erin-age 3.5-the mother hen!
Katie-age 3.5-the snuggler!
Samantha-age 3.5-the pistol!

You've gotten great advice so far. I just wanted to add in that if you don't have a food processor you can use a blender. It works just as well and you'll only be pureeing their food for a few months so you can save some $ if you already have a blender.

As for the babywipe recipe, I think there is a current thread going about money saving tips where someone posted how to make them. HTH

Michelle
ggg born March 15, 2005
35.2 wks

I made all of our baby food. Baby food is .69 a jar x 3 x 3 times a day. One can of no salt green beans is .69 on sale. You can make at least two meals x 3 from a can. I used our blender and froze 3 oz meal portions in snack size baggies.

We made our own baby wipes and saved TONS of money. Here is your shopping list:

White Bounty paper towels (not the select-a-size)
Snapware plastic container (in the Rubbermaid aisle at Target)
electric knife (we bought ours at a thrift store)
baby bath wash (any kind)
baby oil

Use the electric knife to cut the roll of paper towels in half (so you have two short rolls, each the size of a roll of toilet paper). Pull the cardboard core out of the center. Pour 1.5 cups warm water in the Snapware container, and 2T each baby wash and baby oil (you can eyeball this, just a quick squirt of each). Shake it up to mix, then remove the cover entirely so you can squeeze the roll of towels in there. (I preferred putting the cut side down, but it doesn't really matter.) Let sit for an hour or so, until the towels soak up all the liquid. I like the Snapware container because it's easy to open/close with one hand.

We have two Snapware containers, so we always have a new batch of wipes ready to go. It takes just a minute to make the wipes, and we've saved SO much money. Plus you know exactly what's on your wipes - many of them have alcohol, fragrance, etc. that can irritate baby's bottom.

Naomi
gbb 7-12-02

Here is my recipe for the wipes (it is a little different than above so try both and see which is better)

Take a large roll of paper towels and cut in half (as mentioned above). Put it into a tupperware container (I bought an ice cream storage container at Meijer). Heat 1 2/3 cup water to boiling then add 1 tablespoon baby wash and 1 tablespoon baby lotion. Stir it up and then pour over paper towels. Let this sit for an hour and then pull the cardboard out of the middle (just slides right out). To use the wipes just pull them from the middle.

Marie
Proud momma of Madigan, Autumn, & Casey born 12/2/04 at 35w2d and Asher born 4/17/08.

The recipes are good, except we don't use baby oil as it is hard to wash out, and we use micro fleece for the wipes. I use calendula or olive oil. I just wash the wipes along with the diapers.

~Erika

Mom to:
Matt (1991) Megan (1994) and ^Eric Jr^ Levi and Vivian (2003) at 26 weeks

thank you everyone! I am going to try doing both!

Paige
Blessed everyday to be the mom to my 3 boys