Home–cooked meals for baby save cash

NEW parents are increasingly making food for their baby from scratch to save cash, according to a new study.

While the baby food and drink market has been insulated from the economic downturn better than many sectors, research by consumer analysts Mintel found tighter household budgets have driven many parents to making more home-cooked food for their babies and toddlers, with 41 per cent now doing so.

The number of parents with children aged under one using baby food peaked at 76 per cent in 2009 and dropped to 65 per cent in 2011.

Emma Clifford, senior food analyst at Mintel, said: “While parents economise in other areas in response to squeezed incomes, their unwillingness to accept anything but the best for their little ones has insulated the market from the economic downturn to a certain degree.”