What's in your baby's food?

We hope that we know what's in our baby's food when we buy it. But there can be a simpler and much more cost effective choice.

Make your baby's food!

Making your baby's food gives you the option of to chose exactly what you want your baby to eat. Organic and/or local if you choose, the exact ingredients, no additives, etc.

In addition to knowing exactly what's in your baby's food. Consider the cost. From my experience jars of organic baby food run anywhere from $.50 to $1.00 (or more depending on content). If the average baby eats 6 jars a day, you've got $3-$6/day, just in jarred baby food.

That's not including snacks, drinks, etc. That's $90-180 a month in jarred baby food alone. That might not seem like a huge amount, but when you consider this is in addition to your food budget and considering the small amount of food this actually is (not to mention the special baby snacks, drinks, etc.), that seems high to me.

Now let's talk about waste :| If your baby eats 6 jars a day that's 180 jars in a month. 180 jars that may or may not be recycled (let's hope they are!). If your baby is only on jarred food for 6 months total, that's 1080 jars (and $540-1080).

If you make your baby's food you can make several jars from a relatively tiny amount of food. I think one sweet potato made something like 4 small jars of food when I did it for my daughter. You can also use portions of foods that you bought for your meals (I found this super easy as my babies grew).

For super easy baby food making, the Beaba Babycook (BPA free) looks like a winner. I've not tried it, but it looks amazing.
According to it's description it is a "one-of-a-kind, compact appliance that steams, purees, defrosts and re-heats the freshest, healthiest food for your baby. It enables parents to provide the best ingredients for their baby's food at a fraction of the cost of jarred foods! Not only does preparing baby's food save families money, it also drastically cuts down on packaging and waste."

In addition, one great resource for how to make your own baby food is Wholesome Baby Food.com

This site offers answers to so many questions, recipes, how-tos and so much more. They also have this handy Quick Start Guide.

To make getting started a little easier Bebeology and The Eco-Friendly Family blog are once again teaming up for a giveaway :D

Nicole is generously donating a Beaba Multi-Portion Freezer Tray and a Fresh Baby Cookbook to get one lucky reader started :D

----Update! We have a winner!----
The giveaway portion is over :) Thank you to everyone that participated!

Congratulations to Owen's Mom! I hope you and your little one enjoy this! :)

Here's how to win!
Please leave a separate comment for each entry in order to have it counted.

This entry is mandatory! If you do not do this, your other entries will not count!
Post here and tell me your baby's favorite combo/recipe or something that you'd love to try. Include your email address (if it's not on your profile) and the words "Live Green" somewhere in your comment.

Want more entries?

*Follow us and tweet this giveaway! Please tweet, "Win & get started making your own baby food from @Bebeology & @EFFblog http://bit.ly/1jtGb1" Leave a comment with a link to your status.

*Follow our blog and post letting me know that you are :)

*Become a fan of the EFF blog on facebook, leave a comment.

*Become a fan of the Bebeology on facebook, leave a comment.

*Post this giveaway to your Facebook and leave a comment.

*Post about this giveaway on your blog. Leave a comment with a link.

***This is not for an entry, but is appreciated.***
If you have shopped with Bebeology, please take a moment to let others know what you thought of her service and store.

Thank you and Good Luck!

US Only. Giveaway ends December 16th. I'll use random.org to pick a winner. I will email the winner. If I do not hear back within 48 hours a new winner will be picked.

FCC Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement! I was not given any sort of compensation (money/product) for this giveaway. For more information about this blog please look here. For giveaway guidelines please look here.