My recent "Ahh Haa" moment.

I seem to have many "Ahhh Haaa" moments.  Not because I am stupid, but mainly because I am a little dingy and gullible (stop laughing big bro, at least I have common sense!).  Anyway, my most recent "Ahhh Haaa" moment came a couple of weeks ago when I was cooking dinner.  I had four sweet potatoes that would go bad if I didn't cook them very soon.  I knew I could cook up two for dinner and that would be plenty for Jeff, Anna and I, but what could I do with the other two?  As I stood staring at the 2 gianormous, organic, fibrous delights that cost me a mere $.99, I remebered my sister saying that she used to steam them and mash them for her little munchkin. 

At that moment, I looked into my "baby food cabinet" and pulled out a 2-2.5 oz container pack of organic sweet potatoes that cost me $1.59, and looked at the ingredients. It simply said "Sweet Peas, Water".  Ok, so I peeled and steamed the organic sweet potatoes and blended them with a little filtered water (the whole process taking about 5 minutes more than it would for me to run into the store and buy a container of baby food). I could give Addyson a little bit for dinner and save the leftovers in the freezer in some little containers that I had been saving for craft projects.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"  Those two organic sweet potatoes that cost me $.99 yeilded 22 containers of sweet potato baby food, and that was AFTER I fed Addyson a large helping.  That baby LOVES her sweet potatoes!!

So you can guess what happens next.  At that moment, as I stood at the counter looking at my 22 containers of sweet potatoes that cost me $.99 and 15 minutes, I said out loud "AHHHHHHH HAAAAAAAA!"

Being the coupon crazed, maniac saver that I am, I was hooked.  What else could I try that would save me so much money.  The next opportunity I got, I went to the store, bought a bag of organic carrots for $1.50, a bag of organic peas and a bag of organic beans for $1, four more sweet potatoes for $2, a container of organic blueberries, some organic pears, and some bananas all for $4.50.   Anna, my little sous chef, and I spent about 2 hours in the kitchen steaming, blending and filling containers, all the while tasting the yummie delights we wouldn't think of touching when purchased at the grocery story in litte containers.

When were all said and done, we had 59 2.5 oz containers of food and 11 larger containers of food (because I ran out of small containers), mainly of sweet potatoes, because let's face it, four large sweet potatoes make a TON of 2.5oz servings.  I had been saving the 2.5 oz containers which are freezer safe and microwave safe.  So there we were, putting all that baby food into the freezer and I got out my calculator to add it all up. 

If I would have purchased all that baby food from Gerber, it would have cost about $65.  Instead, for a grand total of $10, we have enough to feed little Addyson for about a month. When I told Anna that we saved about $55, she said "That's GREAT Mommy!  I have a great idea!  You can go take that monies and buy me my bery own 'puter for my birthday, cause I will be FOUR!"