by Michelle Brouillette
When my twin girls were beginning to eat "real food," I would purchase no-salt-added canned vegetables and no-sugar-added canned fruits. I would then puree them in a blender, place them in ice-cube trays and freeze them. One can of fruits or veggies would usually make a whole ice-cube tray. When they were frozen, I would then place the cubes in a Ziploc bag until I needed them. At mealtime, I would just pop the desired number of cubes in the microwave for a few seconds because they thaw very quickly! I only used two cubes of veggies and two cubes of fruit per child with each meal when they first began to eat real food, so a can of vegetables would last about a week frozen.
This saved me a lot of money because I was able to avoid buying jars of baby food. The only time I purchased baby food in a jar was if I caught some on sale. I learned this tip from a cousin of mine who did not have twins, but I knew right away that this is a great idea for parents of multiples because it is easy and so economical. When I began to make my own baby food, I bought some baby food from the store and compared the taste to my own baby food. It was exactly the same! I also bought the large jars of unsweetened applesauce and used that instead of buying the small individual jars of baby applesauce. This, too, was very cost-effective.
Michelle Brouillette is a full-time wife, mother and college student, majoring in Early Childhood Education. She has been married to husband Kerry for sixteen years, and they have three children. Sean is the older brother of twin sisters, Abigail and Hanna.