How do you get baby food for free?

[Kim1013]

I'm sure this has already been asked. My DS is just now starting on baby food and I didn't want to stockpile just in case he didn't like certain flavors or was allergic. How do you get baby food for free or close to? I'm amazed how much baby food cost. Oh, I do not have a preference if the food is organic or not. TIA!

[foggierbard9]

The only free baby food I have gotten was with the beechnut homestyle stage 3 coupons they had out last year. I am starting to stock already for our baby that is due in April. I haven't found a great price yet, I got some Earth's Best for .40 a jar(with coupon at BRU), some Gerber for .35 a jar(with coupon at Giant) and some Beechnut for .33 a jar(with coupon at Walmart). I have also gotten free mini meals(but those are like 12 mos+).

Another option would be to buy frozen veggies, cook just a little at a time, mash and serve him those when you can't find cheaper baby food.

[mrsthrifty]

My dd is 14 months now and I used some baby food just for convenience but the best plan for me was to cook a sweet potatoe and then puree it and freeze it in ice cube trays. It is a ready meal when you need it... and waaay cheaper! Yogurt and bananas are also great... I also found quite a bit of jars of cereal mixed w/ fruit on clearance for like .30 and would always grab all they had...canned green beans can be easily ground up...

[Cynthiabutterfly]

I got free Gerber graduates and the free Beechnut let's Grow! but the only free baby food I've gotten was when they had the $1/2 Target printables, way before they limited the coupons to one per transaction.

To be honest, I made alot of my own baby food. I got the freebie frozen veggies, and pureed them, and my babies loved to eat oatmeal and applesauce too. I also cooked alot, so anything that was appropriate for them to eat (like soup or stews) I'd just mash some up for the baby too.

[talk2ham.1]

My price for baby food is .25 or less per jar in this area. I've heard of people getting stuff for less, but our sales just don't cooperate that way with the Q's. It just doesn't go lower than that for us around here. Beechnut Let's Grow is the only stuff I've ever gotten for free. That would puree easily, but it's too chunky to give to a brand new eater right from the container. Plus they are mixed foods. New babies need to have their foods introduced one at a time to keep track of allergic reactions.

Once you've done the whole, one-food-type-at-a-time-to-watch-for-allergies-thing, you will do yourself a big favor to just get a manual grinder and grind down whatever food you eat for your baby. It's cheaper, really easy, and you can take them with you everywhere in the diaperbag.

BTW, don't bother with electric grinders. They are way over-rated and over priced. They have too many parts, are a pain to clean, have a stupid cord that always gets in the way in the cabinets, and they don't grind as thoroughly as manual grinders anyway. Plus they aren't as portable.

HTH!

[VivaciousJewelz]

Originally Posted by foggierbard9 The only free baby food I have gotten was with the beechnut homestyle stage 3 coupons they had out last year. I am starting to stock already for our baby that is due in April. I haven't found a great price yet, I got some Earth's Best for .40 a jar(with coupon at BRU), some Gerber for .35 a jar(with coupon at Giant) and some Beechnut for .33 a jar(with coupon at Walmart). I have also gotten free mini meals(but those are like 12 mos+). Another option would be to buy frozen veggies, cook just a little at a time, mash and serve him those when you can't find cheaper baby food.

Yeah, those are good prices. I was lucky that HT put baby food on sale AND had super doubles at the same time, so I got a bunch for really cheap. If there are no good sales in the next month or so, though, I'm going to have to buy some produce and puree it for my DD.

[foggierbard9]

Originally Posted by regbyandjulie Yeah, those are good prices. I was lucky that HT put baby food on sale AND had super doubles at the same time, so I got a bunch for really cheap. If there are no good sales in the next month or so, though, I'm going to have to buy some produce and puree it for my DD.

Frozen is cheaper than fresh (especially veggies) and because they are frozen right when picked, the nutrients are the same in them. For fruit use unsweetened applesauce from the jar, banana's mashed up, and you could even do frozen fruits if you wanted. Fruits are a little harder to get to a good consistency when you puree them, I always had to add some rice/oatmeal cereal to them or they were too runny.

[MrsPinecone]

The only free stuff I was able to get is the Safeway O organics stuff a couple of years ago. The coupon was for $1 off, so 8 coupons got 10 jars at .79 each.

Of course, I stocked the heck up, and DD loathed purees and was on 100% table food by 8.5 months.

I've been putting purees into soups and baked goods for months.

[Kim1013]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I was having a hard time even thinking about paying $1.41 for Gerber stage 1 veggies. Absolutely crazy. I think I'll try pureed frozen/cooked veggies. It sounds like the most economical route to go. Now I need to buy some ice trays and veggies. Thanks again.

[oceanbreeze]

question: must you really feed them the jar baby foods?

I was hoping to puree veggies/ etc and freeze or refridgerate them and serve instead of the jarred stuff.