What is cheaper? I say to myself as a mum to a 7 month old. Do I stock up on baby food jars OR is it cheaper to batch cook and freeze homemade baby food 🤔
The cost of living is going up and it’s not just happening in the UK, it’s happening in other countries too. Being in a family of 5 I need to save money were I can so I am really keen on doing this little investigation!
Supermarket offers on baby food
There are quite a few brands of baby food out there. So, in the below tables I have priced how much money it would costs a week to feed my baby. I have not included baby snacks or puddings.
Ella’s Kitchen
This international brand makes organic baby food. The pouches the food is contained in, makes it so easy to feed the baby. You basically unscrew the lid and slowly squeeze the food onto a spoon, it’s mess free! The screw cap can be sealed quite easily, once your baby has finished. As I write this blog the cost of buying Ellas kitchen baby food are as follows: –
| Supermarket | Baby food prices per jar (February 2022) | Price for a 7 days of food |
| Asda | all food pouches cost £1.30 | £9.10 |
| Tesco | 5 food pouches for the price of 4, this works out £1.20 a pouch. | £8.40 |
| Morrissons | all food pouches cost £1.50 | £10.50 |
| Sainsbury’s | all food pouches cost £1.50 | £10.50 |
Hipp Organic
This brand prides itself on being big on quality and organic farming. The cost of buying the baby jars are: –
| Supermarket | Baby food prices per jar (February 2022) | Price for 7 days of food |
| Asda | 4 months + you can buy 12 jars for £6.00 12 months + 2 meals for £3.00 | £6.00 £10.50 |
| Tesco | 4 months + you can buy 6 jars for £3.00 12 months + its £2.00 per meal. | £3.50. £14.00 |
| Morrissons | 4 months + a meal costs 90p 12 months + a meal costs from £2.00 | £6.30 £14.00 |
| Sainsbury’s | 4 months + meal costs from 85p 12 months + a meal costs £1.75 | £5.95 £12.25 |
Heinz
Heinz believes meals for babies and toddlers should be exciting.
| Supermarket | Baby food prices per jar (February 2022) | Price for 7 days for food |
| Asda | 4 months+ a meal costs 0.65p 12 months a meal cost £1.30 | £4.55 £9.10 |
| Tesco | 6 months + a meal costs 0.60p 12 months + a meal costs £1.35 | £4.20 £9.45 |
| Morrissons | 4 months + a meal costs 0.70p and you can buy 10 jars for £5.00 7 months + is 0.90p and you can buy 10 jars for £6.00 12 months + is £1.50 a meal | £5.00 (0.50p a jar) £6.00 (0.60 a jar) £10.50 |
| Sainsbury’s | 4 months + a meal costs 0.60p 7 months + is 0.70p per jar | £4.20 £4.90 |
Home cooked baby food
Home cooking baby food allows me as a mum to control what ingredients goes in. I have tasted a baby jar of food and found it to be a little bit tasteless and bland. Whereas home cooked food is more flavoursome. So the items of food I want to feed my baby include fresh vegetables such a broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cabbage, potatoes, bread, rice, eggs and cheese.
All the above pictured items I buy regularly for my family as part of our fortnightly shop. The cost to buying these food products are: –
Baby food shop breakdown
| Vegetable | cost | Starchy foods | cost | Non-dairy | cost | Dairy products | cost |
| Broccoli 350g | 0.46 | Sweet potato 1kg | £1.00 | Eggs – 12 in a pack | £1.69 | Cheese 400g | £2.50 |
| Cauliflower | £1.00 | Potato 2.5kg | 0.99 | Chicken 2.15kg | £5.00 | ||
| Carrots 1kg | 0.29 | Rice 1kg | 1.70 | ||||
| Cabbage | 0.45 | Bread 800g | 1.20 |
The above foods are recommended by the National Health Service when weaning a baby onto food. These food items are already part of my food shop. And these items cost in total £14.08. But this food isn’t all just for the baby its to feed the rest of my family. So, in theory Millie is just sharing a little bit of our food. So technically I think she is eating for free, do you agree? With Mille eating small amounts for each of these food products it’s difficult to put a cost on it.
As I have 2 other daughters to feed I always make sure at least 5-6 days a week we eat healthy with plenty of meat and veg. So what we eat Millie eats. All 3 of my daughters motivate me as a mum to cook healthy meals and because of that, me and Rob eat well. We do have treats to McDonalds, Dominos, chippy, chinese etc. But this happens maybe once or twice a month. On treat days like this I go to the freezer to defrost one of my batched meals 😉
Baby food jars vs homemade
Overall I think, well depending on what baby brand used, baby jars can be, in the long run really expensive. Especially if you are also buying puddings and snacks for the baby too. Whereas home cooked food is cheaper especially if you are also feeding the rest of the family.
It would be really good to get your thoughts on this, so please use the comment box.
