$70 a month may have been a little overstated. We go there when we are low on food and stock up on as much as the budget will allow so we avoid going there more often than we need and seeing things we didn't know we "wanted". It is probably closer to $40 a month. I know their prices are a little higher than the grocery store, but I thought the final savings through the credit card would more than make up for it. Really we are talking about applying for a store card to *maybe* save $10 a month on food and probably get drawn in to buying something else while we are there. So yeah....I guess you guys/gals (I read the other threads!) convinced me not to go for it.
Really all we get for him there is the Gerber 2 packs, maybe some yogurt melts, and very few other snacks. Also diapers and store brand formula, but that doesn't affect the credit card conversation. We've got all the clothes/toys/furniture we could need for him, so it really is just food.
Is it really much cheaper to make your own food after getting the blender, jars, groceries, and taking the time to do it? I guess that's something I need to look into some more. Kind of like how cooking at home versus buying frozen dinners is cheaper when you really get down to the numbers.
There are several different websites out there that talk about the cost of making your own baby food. If you have empty baby food jars at home, then why not just sterilize them and reuse them and their lids?
Here is one article about the breakdown between store bought and homemade.
http://blog.mint.com/consumer-iq/baby-food-breakdown-store-bought-vs-homemade-092012/Making baby food is pretty easy. To make peas:
Step 1:Fresh peas: Open the pods and scrape out the peas from the pod; Frozen peas: cook as directed.
Step 2: Place fresh peas into a steamer basket in a pan with a just enough water to slightly show through in the basket
Step 3: Steam until very tender
Step 4: Remove peas but don't dump out the steam water yet.
Step 5: Place peas into blender and begin puree
Step 6: If peas are too thick, add some steamer water to thin until you have the consistency you want.
Step 7: Store in reusable jars; Clean blender; Now you can dump out the steam water
Step 8: Feed baby
I'm not sure how many servings one bag would make, it depends on the size of the bag and how much your baby eats, but you could (probably) get 5-7 servings from one bag of frozen peas, if not more.
You also don't have to store in tiny jars, you can use larger containers and just spoon out the amount needed into a bowl rather than feeding directly from the jar.