Homemade vs. Store Bought (a fight to the death)

I decided to embark on an experiment to compare homemade baby food to store bought baby food. Is it really worth the effort? Is it really better? In this highly scientific experiment, I will compare 4 different foods in 4 different ways: Color, Smell, Taste, Cost (tax not included). Unfortunately, because my science lab is just my kitchen I am unable to compare these items in nutritional values.

So here is the experiment (in photos all homemade food is on the right...just think REAL-RIGHT):

PRUNES: 

Oh wonderful prunes, guarantor of poo! I did not buy organic, I bought Gerber Nature Select (whatever "nature select" means) because the organic has lots of additives like tuna oil for DHA because someone convinced us that without DHA we all will become complete morons, but I digress)

Color:

The color discrepancy here, I think, is because the prunes I used to make this were unsulphured prunes.

Smell:

Both had a similar smell, though the homemade was a little more potent.

Taste:

Major after taste on the jarred, and the homemade wasn't as sweet.

Cost:

Store bought: Gerber Nature Select $1.49 for 2-2.5 ounces (about .30/ounce)
Homemade: Unsulphured Prunes $7.98 for the bag got 20 ounces  (.39/ounce)

Mango: 

Jack's favorite part of when I make him mango? After I cut off the "meat" he loves chewing on the "bone" as we call it. He sucks off anything left on it, and it keeps him busy for an hour...always followed up by a bath.

Color:

The difference is obvious. The homemade (on the right) is certainly more vibrant.

Smell:

Both smelled about the same.

Taste:

There was a little more of an after taste with the store bought, but not much. Mango is always yummier fresh. I generally use the frozen mango to mix in things, like with chicken or beans.

Cost:

Store bought: Happy Baby Organic Pouch $1.39 for 3.5 ounces (about .40/ounce)
Homemade: 2 Organic Mangos $5 (2/$5 on sale) I got 22 ounces  (.23/ounce)
Organic is hard to find, but mango is not one of the dirty dozen so I generally do buy regular. I get organic when I can.

Blueberry: 

One of Jack's favorites! Because organic blueberries are so expensive I couldn't find store bought that was ONLY blueberry. So I am comparing an Apple and Blueberry mix, which I mixed Jack's Blueberries with Applesauce to have a good comparison. The issue I ran into was what was the ratio? See my explanation under color.

Color:

The top left is the store bought. I was interested to figure out what the applesauce to blueberry ratio was since organic blueberries are expensive. The top right is a 50/50 ratio of homemade...WOW! Still no where near the color of store bought. On the bottom I did 80% applesauce to 20% blueberry, still more vibrant and blue. I am not really sure how much blueberry you are getting with store bought, which is a shame since it is so good for brain development.

Smell:

Obviously the homemade had a more blueberry smell to it.

Taste:

Not sure what was done to get the store bought the constancy that it is (straining), the homemade is without a doubt more grainy. The store bought tasted pretty much like applesauce with a light blueberry flavor.

Cost:

This is hard to figure out since I don't know the ratio so I am going to show you JUST the blueberries..obviously it will be much cheaper with the apples as they are not expensive.
Store bought: Earth's Best Apple and Blueberry $0.80 for 4 ounces (about .20/ounce)
Homemade: Organic blueberries 2 baskets $9.98 for the bag got 30 ounces (.33/ounce)

Chicken: 

Jack LOVES meat: chicken, lamb, salmon, tilapia oh my. The store bought is not organic as I could not find plain organic chicken baby food to compare.

Color:

I am assuming the store bought is white meat, this particular batch that I made is organic dark meat. Don't underestimate the good in some healthy oils and fats that come with meats.

Smell:

I know I may be partial, but I almost threw-up when I smelled the jarred one.

Taste:

The jarred, which took a lot of guts for me to eat, was gelatinous and bizarre in texture...I felt like I was eating gefilte fish, no meat should come from a jar. The homemade was a little dry (I usually mix it with mango or apples) but tasted just like the chicken you lightly blend for chicken salad.

Cost:

Store bought: Beech-nut Chicken $0.95 for 2.5 ounces (about .38/ounce)
Homemade: Organic Boneless Chicken from Costco $16.20 got 48 ounces (.34/ounce) cheaper and organic.

Last but not least....the TRUE test of the chicken situation, my dog, Murray, who does not have a descriminating pallet at all. The homemade was on the left here. He actually left the store bought and walked away until I called him back and pointed, "Take it!" Eventually he ate it:

Other benefits to consider

Shopping and Cooking
I don't know if this is more of a parenting concern, or a nutritional concern, but part of the great thing about homemade is the child's involvement in what they put into their body. Sounds weird, when my son is only 7 months old. However, when we are shopping he gets to sniff the fruit I buy for him. I am often holding him while I am cooking and he can taste as we go. I look forward to him helping me cook as he grows.

Absorbic Acid What?
I must note that I noticed EVERY food that I bought, except for the chicken, had absorbic acid in it. Although this is ultimately vitamin C, because it is not naturally in the food, I consider it an additive. There seems to be a lot of controversy about whether these levels of absorbic acid found in jarred/pouched baby food can contribute to increasing reflux. Regardless, my opinion is, if it is organic and natural, why is it in there?

Going Green
As I have said before, most of what I do isn't because I am "green", it is for my son's health and well being, but there are some "green" reasons to make your own.

• Less Waste (reusable storage container, no jars or plastic waste)
• Local Grown Food

How did we get here...

As I sit here typing I have a stock pot of organic cotton prefold diapers boiling to prep them with organic parsnips roasting in the oven which will turn into baby food tomorrow. I wonder how I got here. Well, some might say it isn't so odd that I got here, but the fact that my family got here...my husband, that may be a little more shocking...

I was raised by Buddhist hippy parents.  I should say that most people probably couldn't tell. Although they were hippies in college, they weren't overtly hippie looking. We had a large house in the upper middle class suburbs of New Jersey. Aside from the Buddah statues, meditation cushions, tofu, Socratic questioning and lack of sugary cereal, most of my friends didn't know my parents were like that, they just knew something was a little...odd.

My husband, well my husband is a Jewish Republican Conservative Financial Adviser...yes that is his job title. In many respects he has pulled me to the right.

Although I love the environment and used to cry when I saw black smoke coming out of trucks because my dad told me that it was pollution, I generally subscribed to the idea set forth by my favorite geology professor, "No matter what we do to it, the planet will far outlive we humans, it is much more adaptable than we are." I still must admit that most of what I do isn't as much an environmental thing as it is a protect my child from chemicals and do what feel natural kind of a thing.

When the recycling bin is full my husband and I throw bottles in the regular garbage, I drive an SUV (not a hybrid), I do not eat raw (that was the worst month of my life), I am not 100% organic, my son gets vaccinated, I love my air conditioning and my fancy chemical laden face cream.

This is why I, we straddle the grid. I dream of moving to the mountains and never seeing another person besides my husband, kids, and dog...but the fact is, we love the movies, Carvel and making enough money to buy things and go on vacation.

Most of my "crunchiness" or "off the grid tendencies" stems from my son who is now 7 months old. Most of my husband's crunciness stems from my pressure or him not wanting to answer to "the man". We cloth diaper, I make my son's food, I make my cleaning products, I practice baby wearing, I believe in Attachment Parenting, and so on.

So here we are straddling the grid...seeking our independence from societal norms and government dependency, while enjoying the social aspects of well, of society. I think my point is that nothing has to be 100%. My life and parenting is led by what feels right in my bones, in my soul...not by society. For every personal rolling their eyes in disgust at a mother breastfeeding in public, there is a crazy breastfeeding Nazi who thinks that a mom formula feeding her child is a failure. My point is that it doesn't have to be one or the other.