Saving a Bundle on Baby Formula

By far, the most expensive item for an infant is formula. (aside from medical bills) If you can avoid formula, it can sure save you a bundle. Unfortunately, we were unable to avoid using formula. We first tried Enfamil because we had a free sample from the hospital, but had to quickly re-think things when we ran out. It was $27 for a 24 oz can of powder. That's a lot, considering we're going through one of those cans a week with our 1 month old (she's 1 month old today).

My first thought was to look online to see if it was any cheaper. Sadly, I could not find anything that was significantly cheaper. I thought I was stuck paying $27 a can until I noticed the generic brand at our local CVS drugstore. The CVS brand was $10 cheaper! Of course, my first thought was, "Does this have the same nutritional benefits?".

My wife and I did the research to see if there were any consequences to giving our child generic formula. We read all the message boards and baby sites and just about everyone said that there was no difference. I went back to CVS and compared the ingredients and nutritional information between the name brand and generic brand formulas and actually found that they were the exact same, word for word.

I came back home and researched some more and found that baby formula is actually heavily regulated by the FDA to meet certain nutritional standards. Congress actually passed the 1980 Infant Formula Act give the FDA more control over the manufacture and distribution of infant formula.

Now I was certain that the generic formula was just as good as the brand formula. So to sum it all up, here is how you can really save on formula. Go with generic. I chose the CVS brand, which was $10 cheaper. I also had a $5 coupon which was good for purchases of $30 or more. I bought two cans and used the coupon which made my unit cost just $14.50 a can. That's a cost of 6 cents an ounce compared to the 1.125 cents an ounce with the name brand formula. By the way, CVS gives us a $5 coupon with every purchase. I've got 3 saved on the refrigerator door right now. I know it's hard, but if you can get over the idea of giving your baby generic formula, you'll really save a ton of money!