Save money on organic juice by not buying it

I save money on juice by not buying it.  But that doesn't mean Boogie only gets to drink water.  Mostly, he is still getting his "drinks" from mama, but I do offer him a sippy cup of water (and sometimes when I'm feeling lazy I just put water in a cup and hold it for him) with every meal and he typically drinks about half an ounce to an ounce.

But I do give him what I call "juice."  When I cook apples to make apple sauce, I save the cooking liquid, strain it, and freeze it in ice cube trays just like I do his purees.  I do the same with pears, peaches, mango, etc.  Soon I am going to add veggie "juice" as well, though I will probably mix it with apple or pear at first so that he can get used to the taste.

I suppose I could just not ever give him anything but water, but I offer him a cube of "juice" mixed with water (I estimate it to be about 25% fruit liquid) has the same effect that straight juice does as far as his, ah, diaper issues.  His pediatrician told me to give him straight juice if his stools are firm or if he seems constipated, but I just cannot fathom buying a bottle of juice and then throwing most of it away.  I did this once, and ended up boiling and freezing it into trays and it was a bigger pain in the bum that just freezing the cooking liquid, since I'm already in baby food mode.

This way, any nutrients that come out in the cooking water, go right back into Boogie later :)

And when he starts drinking veggie "juice," my hope is that he will get accustomed to drinking things that are not sweet.

As you can see above, one batch of apples also yielded about 14oz of "juice."  This lasts us a good two weeks and its FREE.



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