The Truth About Making Baby Food VS Buying It

If you're breastfeeding, I don't really think making baby food will help you SAVE money unless you already have the tools. Over the course of however many babies you choose to have (the more you have, the more you'll save), you may end up saving money but the start-up costs are quite hefty.

This is what you'll need, in order of importance.

1) Baby (they are expensive - haha, it's a joke.. if you didn't get that, stop now)

2) Vitamix (yeah, you can get a baby food maker but that's useless after your baby grows up, the Vitamix has a useful life of 7 years and cost about $400 at Costco and acts as a food processor, smoothie maker, ice cream maker, bread dough mixer, shake maker, baby food maker, peanut butter maker, hummus maker, sauce maker, and apparently I learned it also grinds wheat. It is truly amazing and the one kitchen appliance I use almost daily. It's also easy to wash and makes baby food making a cinch!)

3) Steamer - I use my old school Chinese rice cooker because all I have to do is add some water on the outside of the bowl, put the veggies on turn it on.. don't have to watch for it as it will just turn to warm when done. I say old school because the new kinds out there make it easy to steam rice but useless for anything else besides rice. The brand I use is the Tatung rice cooker which runs for about $75 on Amazon but don't cheap out and get the tiny one (which my mom gave me in college and is too small for anything except a prop on your shelf to indicate you are Chinese)

4) Ice cube trays - These run for about $2.99 at Target

5) Ziploc bags -$7 for about 52 per Amazon

6) Saran wrap - $6.25 for a roll of Kirkland Stretch-Tite

7) Permanent marker - $3 for 2 markers

8) Pam or equivalent spray - $2.99

9) Tupperware containers - bite sized baby ones work the best, I got Nuk ones with caps but any small Tupperware will do, or you can save the glass or plastic containers from store bought baby food and reuse those. These cost me $5.99

Estimating about $5,550 for all costs in, minus the baby you're looking at $550 which is conservative because the Vitamix, rice cooker, saran wrap ziploc bags and ice trays can be used for non-baby stuff too! Baby food costs about $1.99 for a pack of 2 which can last my 6 month old baby about 1-2 days. Assuming he eats at the current amount for 3 months, that is about 45 days at $2 or about $90 to buy.

To make, I calculated the following: Food costs of $6 bucks a week (for veggies and fruits I'd make into baby food) over the course of 12 weeks or 3 months which is $72 bucks plus an amortized $15 / month if I assume my start-up costs can be spread over 36 months which would be $45 for three months which turns out to be a total of $117 to make my baby food.

So $90 to buy versus $117 to make... equals a difference of $27 bucks for three months or $9 more per month. Why in the world would I make my baby food, right?

I started to think about how weird it was that unopened baby food can just sit out unrefrigerated until opened. What are they putting in it that enables them to let it sit out at room temperature? Who knows?! But it can't be good! The whole point of homemade cooking for the family is so we know what we're putting into our body and why we only eat out once a week. So why in the world would I give my son baby food that is $9 cheaper per month and not really know what is in there? Why not just feed him what I know are real vegetables plus water (decided not to use my frozen breastmilk because then the food made might not last as long in the fridge)? So that is why I decided to start making baby food. Truth be told, the stuff above makes it very easy to do. And I feel good knowing my son is eating what I made versus something labeled as peas but probably filled with who knows what!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake!

I made some pumpkin alfredo and unfortunately for me, the pumpkin in a cans come so large... I had to make some pumpkin pie milkshake with the leftovers!

2 cups milk

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1T brown sugar

1/4 cup whip cream

3/4 cup pumpkin from a can

Add a few dollups of whip cream on top and...perfection.

Cafe Rio Salad and Dressing!

This is the recipe I got from my sister-in-law, Tammy to imitate the barbacoa pork salad from Cafe Rio!

Meat:

3.5-4 lb pork roast

2 t cumin

1 and 1/2 t Kanye (cayenne) pepper

1 t salt

Mix spices together and rub onto pork and cook on low overnight in crock pot.

In the morning, add the following:

1 cup of chicken stock or broth

2 cups of chopped white onions or 1 small white onion chopped

16 oz or 2 cups of Coke

2 cloves of garlic

Cook all day on low and one hour before serving, shred the meat and add in 1 cup of brown sugar and cook for another hour on low.

Creamy Cilantro Cafe Rio Imitation Dressing:

1 1/3 cup of LIGHT sour cream

3/4 cup of LIGHT mayo

1 bunch of cilantro

1 whole pack of Hidden Valley dry Ranch dressing

4 T green salsa verde

2-3 crushed garlics

1/8 tsp of Tabasco (or a couple of dabs)

Juice of 1 lime

Mix in food processor or VitaMix until all blended, and ready to eat!

Tortilla Soup

Ever notice that any healthy soup you try to make requires purchasing more ingredients you don't have on hand? Since I made bread (not so healthy) last night, I wanted to pair it with a healthier soup. In my mind, I kept thinking black bean or lentil... maybe even a good tomato basil without too much cream in it. But everything required a lot of work soaking beans overnight or going to the store to buy some more stuff I would only use once.

It's as if I forgot about my favorite trusty compliance, the Vitamix. So I quickly googled the Vitamix Tortilla Soup recipe and granted I was without some items.. I had enough - and I changed it up a bit - so here's MY tortilla soup Vitamix recipe!

Tortilla Soup via Vita Mix
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cooked chicken diced
1/4 cup cooked corn (from can or frozen corn defrosted)
1/4 cup of tortilla chips

3 cups boiling water
4 sticks of celery
1 tomato
1 slice of onion (as if you were slicing onion for a burger - with all the layers in it)
1 slice of red pepper (about 7 little slices that one would use with hummus .... mmmmm)
1 garlic clove without skin
1 cut of a lettuce head (as if you were slicing for a burger)
1 chicken bouillon block for flavoring
1 T Season-All seasoning

Put above ingredients into Vitamix on Variable 1, speed 1 and immediately go to speed 10 and then immediately to Variable 2 and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.

Drop to Variable 1, down from speed 10 to 2 and drop in the chicken, corn and tortilla chips and let it mix for about 10 seconds and ....

DINNER IS SERVED!

With the bread from last night of course. And some cheese - we need our dairy.

Strawberry Peach Smoothie

We got 4 servings of fruit this morning all from one easy to make smoothie!

I always keep our freezer stocked with Costco's frozen blueberries and strawberries, for the sole purpose of making smoothies!

One peeled (with as much white stuff left as humanly possible) orange
3/4 banana
10 frozen blueberries
6 frozen strawberries
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 Yoplait light peach yogurt
*Add water depending on how frozen the mixture is while mixing

Blend until smooth and it becomes like a liquid.

I call this the strawberry peach smoothie because the taste of the banana and blueberries are very subtle, mostly you get strawberries and peaches! Pair it up with a piece of toasted wheat bread (no butter please) and you got yourself a well rounded breakfast. Miam!

Vitamix How I Love Thee

Apparently, for the last 6 months, Andy and I have not been using the Vitamix correctly! We went to Costco (where we often fill up on lunch by eating the samples) and talked to the Vitamix rep about why our machine made funny sounds. It's supposed to make that sound! And in fact, you're supposed to use the high variable speed for liquefying anything, whereas we had only used it correctly for our green spinach drink, hummus, Cafe Rio salad dressing and soup. Armed with that knowledge, I started my quest re-engaging in smoothies using my wonderful Vitamix, and anything else I need to blend (like salad dressing!)

I have made the most delicious drinks from simple items!

Orange Julius (recommended by our Vitamix dude but modified by us)
1) 1 orange peeled with white stuff (cuz it's healthier)
2) 2 cups vanilla soy milk
3) 1 cup orange concentrate
4) 2 tablespoons of honey
5) 1 teaspoon of vanilla
6) 5 frozen strawberries with stem (healthy!)

Just for Sophie (my niece and I always make smoothies with whatever is in the house, she loves helping but loves the whipped cream more!)
1) 1 mango
2) 1 orange peeled with white stuff
3) 2 slices of pineapple
4) 1 cup of frozen blueberries
5) 8 frozen strawberries with stems (protein)
6) 2 cups soymilk
7) 1 teaspoon of honey
*If you don't have frozen fruit, just use 1-1 and 1/2 cups of ice, but if you have frozen fruit, you don't need ice. We also have done it with water instead of milk, but you may have to add more fruit for flavor. You can also add a dab of whip cream for the kiddos, and when Andy isn't looking, I put 3-4 carrots which when blended with all that fruit, have no flavor!

Cafe Rio salad dressing (given to me by my sister in law, Tammy!)
1) 1 lime (roll it on the counter before squeezing it in for more juice)
2) 1 bunch of cilantro
3) 1 1/3 cup of light sour cream
4) 1 whole pack of Hidden Valley Ranch powder mix
5) 3/4 cup of light mayo
6) 4 tablespoons of green salsa verde
7) 2-3 crushed garlics
8) 1/8 teaspoon of tabasco (or more if your heart desires)

Fresh Watermelon Juice

I like juice. What I don't like is the sugar content in most store bought juices.

Luckily for me, I have learned the art of buying sweet watermelon!

Tap on it with four fingers together (like when you're burping a baby but lightly as if for the first time).... if it sounds hollow (like nothing is in there) it is ready and most likely, sweet!

Take it home.... refrigerate it and then cut it up. If you only have one fridge like us, chop it up, put in some ice (just water, zero calories), and nosh it up in your blender (or if superior like us, your Vita Mix!).

Fruit juice WITHOUT any sugar besides what's already in the watermelon. Miam!

Green Smoothie

1 1/2 cups of Spinach
1 1/2 cups of white grape juice
1 Orange (cut off orange part, leave white healthy stuff)
1/2 Banana peeled
2 cups of ice
Teaspoon of Honey

Blend until liquidish.

I Heart My Vita Mix

My mom gave my husband and me an early wedding present called the "Vita Mix" which has since then, but an absolute staple in my cooking routine.

The Vita Mix makes delicious smoothies, hummus, soups, and even bread dough! It has an amazing level of destruction power and will destroy anything you put in it to pieces so small in order to liquidize it. And then, to clean it, you simply put a bit of soap and water and mix it again and wa-la, it's clean! The plastic it is made out of is nearly indestructible by usage means as it is the same plastic the windows from a plane are made out of! That's neat!

I've been experimenting with the Vita Mix and the various ways I can use it to sneak healthy vegetables into it for my husband and myself. Most recently, I put some carrots into a mix of orange juice, frozen strawberries and blueberries, and banana and you couldn't even tell there were carrots in it (except for the texture which was a bit different), I then tried the same mix but added celery too. That was a bad idea as the celery texture and taste were both so strong, it made the drink taste "too healthy." My most recent creation was inspired from the Costco man advertising the Vita Mix while I was there to pick up fruit and a rotisserie chicken. I couldn't remember everything he put in it so I improvised, but the important thing was only HALF a banana - which would account for why it did not come out in this weird quickly solidifying liquid wanna be form. I put in a couple handfuls of spinach, green grapes, white grape juice, half a banana, an orange (with the orange part cut off but the white stuff still on as that is where the nutrients lay!), and some ice. In a mere seconds, I had created a fun green healthy smoothie with enough fiber that it kept me full until about 11:45 AM (drank it around 8 AM) which is pretty good considering I didn't have any wheat toast to supplement it with.

In the past, I've also made hummus in my Vita Mix (canned beans, olive oil, some salt, and done) which took about 2 minutes and lasted us for about 3 weeks and went perfectly with celery and carrots, and even as a spread on sandwiches. I plan to make a variation of the hummus by adding in cilantro, tomatoes and whatever else my lil heart desires!

The Vita Mix is just so easy! It's unfortunately not sold on TV, only at Costcos and comes in white and black (we have black to match the rest of the kitchen appliances... absent our yellow stove).

It is so easy, even a kid could do it (with adult supervision of course) and when my niece came into town, she was evidence of that! She was so excited to help me put in the different ingredients and with me holding the lid on, was able to use the mixing stick and actually help make it!