Homemade Baby Food Tools?

I strongly suggest looking into BABY LED WEANING (blw). Pureed baby food is unnatural. It's something that's been created in the last 100 years or so. Before that people would wait for their children to be able to grab food and feed themselves. There is a series of developments that happen in order. First babies get the ability to chew, then the ability to digest food, then the ability to bring it to their own mouth. If you force feed a baby before they're able to feed themselves you might be looking at issues like, digestion problems, choking, food aversions, and texture aversions. Sensory integration disorder (when a baby won't eat textured food) is becoming a hugely diagnosed disorder. There's no way in the natural world that people would have had this much problem getting their children to eat what was offered.

I went to China in 2003 and asked a local woman if she knew anyone that didn't like vegetables. She couldn't think of a single person that didn't like them.. Why in the world do so many American children hate veggies (and are overall picky eaters)? Just something to think about..

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At the risk of sounding like an info commercial, I love the magic bullet. It's the perfect tool for making baby food and is great for many other tasks from grinding dry rubs to blending eggs. Now that my son is 3, we use the magic bullet to make up German Pancakes all the time and it's gotten him to eat lots of eggs (if you haven't heard of them, they are just one egg w/ a 1 Tablespoon of milk and 1 Tablespoon of flour that you blend up, pour into a pan like crepes and butter and then lightly sprinkly cinnamon sugar on them. The magic bullet is great for it since you can make about a 1/2 dozen eggs at a time in it and blends the flour and milk with it perfectly without a lot of mess or cleanup time needed). We ground up every fruit and veg. we ate with the magic bullet and I swear that's why he eats every kind of fruit and vegetable now. Thus, my recommendation is a magic bullet...easy to use, easy to clean, compact.

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Hi L.!

I used the Cuisinart Mini Food Processor (approx. $30 on amazon.com) when making baby food for my little one and it worked great! I also bought a couple of ice trays so I could freeze the food in little blocks and easily store them in plastic bags, which I labeled with the ingredients and date they were made. I also bought a cookbook called First Meals by Annabel Karmel. It has good information on baby foods and appropriate baby foods for each age. The majority of the book consists of recipes. The baby food ones in the beginning are super easy to make and as she progresses with tastes, she has some with interesting food combos.

Good luck with preparing your own food. It's just one more rewarding thing you can do for your baby.

Best,
C.

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The best thing I ever received was a Magic Bullet. Cleanup is a cinch, and it's quick and easy to stick veggies and water in there and then puree. In a regular food processor, you have to wash this big huge pitcher, even if you only use a little bit for the baby food. But with the Magic Bullet, cleanup is easy because the container is small, and you can usually make about two days of food for a 1 year old if you use the tall one. I LOVE THIS THING! :D

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Hi L.,

Congratulations on your baby girl. I fed my daughter a mix of both jarred baby food and homemade when she was first eating solids. I found the best thing for making purees for her was a food mill. They are inexpensive. Mine cost about $15 and I got it at either Babies R Us or Target but I've also seen them online. It comes apart completely and can be washed in the dishwasher. I used to stuff ours in a gallon zip top bag and throw it in the diaper bag to use when we were eating out. It was a great way to introduce our daughter to the food we were eating. Now she's almost 4 and has pretty good eating habits. She is currently going through a phase where all she wants to eat is chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese, but I sneak veggies in on her in those things too! :) Don't be lured into buying a big expensive set up with special food ice trays and cookbooks. I got a few baby food cookbooks and they were pretty silly stuff that I could have figured out on my own. I never had to worry about leftover to freeze because like I said I fed her what we were eating, so I made it right at the table during our meal. I did used to make one week's worth of her cereal and fruit and freeze it in ice cube trays to send to daycare with her. But, again I didn't use any special equipment. I hope this helps and again, congrats!

Hi, I have tried a few different things over the past months for making baby food, and they all have their pros and cons. The Magic Bullet is great for making baby food when you want a total puree and can add plenty of liquid - perfect for a beginning eater but lousy for an older baby who can handle the chunkier, less liquid food (so great for the beginning months). The Kidco Baby Food Mill is great for eating away from home - it works well to puree small amounts of cooked food without needing to plug something in, is easy to take apart and clean (once again, great for a few months on a limited basis - but it is only about $10). If you choose anything electronic and more expensive - a processor, blender, or Magic Bullet, most importantly just choose something that you will use for other things after the baby food. I ended up loving the Magic Bullet because it makes the best, fastest, and easiest smoothies, and I drink smoothies every day because of it. And I still use it for baby veggie/meat purees for my one-year-old, I just don't like how liquid it has to be. Oh, and if you do make that choice, I do know people who bought the alternate brand at JC Penny for half the cost and say it works just as well. Good luck with your decision!

I use my hand blender. It is light, doesn't take a lot of room and easy to clean.

I make my daughter's food - she is 7 months. I actually have a full sized food processor and a mini food processor that I can switch between a blender (has a full sized blender pitcher) and a food processor (probably holds 3 cups). That is what I use because it is small, convenient, and I can make things like baby food (I make peas, peaches - skin off in there, blueberries)...I just use a fork to mash cooked squash and sweet potatoes, apples and pears, uncooked avocado and banana...I don't use a food mill, and wouldn't really recommend it...you can thin food out using water, formula or pumped milk...

I just want to advise against the Kidco hand-crank baby food mill. I was excited when I bought it, and it is basically unusable. With the next baby I may try the Kidco power one, or the Munchkin one mentioned here.

I'd look for something easy to handle and clean...

I also loved the book Super Baby Food, if you're looking for a baby food book. But, check the amazon comments and the website for updates, because some things in it are dated. One that I found was that she recommends raw yolks for babies. I found on the CDC site that salmonella contamination is now in chicken's intestinal tracks, (rather, than when I was a kid, the danger was that it was on the shell), so it is the yolk that is dangerous. And the risk is rather high; about 1/50 eggs is contaminated.

I used a Black & Decker mini processor (less than $20 at Wal-mart) and we still use it 8 yrs later. I didn't make big batches to freeze so it was the right size for us. I just ground up what we were eating. During that time I used a lot less salt for cooking. I truly believe that making your own food is so much better. My 12yr old was "jar" fed and is a picky eater. My 8yr old rarely had jar food and will try anything. Congratulations on your baby and good luck with the food processor search.

I have a cuisinart food processor that is 12 cups I think. Love it!! Costco carries the newer version of mine. It worked beautifully for everything I've ever made my daughter (who's now 2 and eats anythine we offer) and works well for adults too. It's easy to clean and the larger size allowed me to puree a whole spaghetti squash at once (for example) and then freeze it in ice cube trays (I recommend the OXO ones with a lid since they're easier to stack and less messy). That way it's frozen for another day and you don't have to cook a little bit every day. Between a food processor, 2 or 3 ice cube trays and a couple spatulas, you can easily make everything for your little girl.

One other little comment to add here.... With any soft skin on a fruit or veggie, just toss it in and don't bother to peel. If you're pureeing, you don't have to worry about the choking hazard of the peel and there's a lot of nutrition in the peels of produce. Just make sure it's well pureed.

My son was born the day before your daughter (actually 8 minutes before your daughter's birthday!) so happy 6months birthday!!
We just use the blender. We got it as a wedding gift three years ago and before now have used it like 10 times maybe. I make all of his food and mix it in with the rice cereal so that he gets the extra iron from the rice. I puree the food in the blender, freeze it in ice cube trays, thaw and mix it with the cereal as needed. It works great for us. It's also handy for daycare since I work full time and can just give them a cube for lunch time. We didn't bother with the food mill or anything else. It just seemed like an unnecessary expense.

hi L.... i used my braun hand blender for everything! if i cooked the veggies or fruit i could puree them in the same pot... it also comes with a mini 'food processor' attachment for smaller batches of things... now that my guys are older i still use it for soups and salsas and even for grinding oats and such for baked goods... and it doesn't take up a whole lot of space (compared to my stand mixer or food processor)... love it... good luck!

I used a regular food mill (i.e., not one designed for baby food). This would be my choice if 1) you plan on making large amounts of food to freeze and 2) you don't want to deal with multiple appliances. The food mill is great because it strains out most seeds/skins while pureeing the food. The mill is also handy for non-baby food (tomato sauce, blackberry sauce (no seeds!), fabulous! mashed potatoes), so it could be a useful tool in general. I would recommend the cheaper plastic ones. I had a metal one fall apart on me, but the cheaper plastic one has been used a lot and is still going strong.

An example of one is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-63031-2-Quart-Food-Mill/dp/...

Good luck and have fun with the babyfood-making. I concur with the message below that fancy kits aren't necessary. A food-mill (or similar) and some ice cube trays should do it.

K.

I used a small food processor becuase I figured out that if I make alot and freezed it I forgot about it! I would put my son in the high chair and then quickly run the food through the food processor before serving.

Hi L.,

Making baby food is very easy! The best tools for the job depend on how you'll be doing it...

If you want baby to eat what you eat, just buy a little food meal and grind right at the table at meal time. I've seen some for sale on the baby aisle at Whole Foods.

If you want to make large batches to freeze (what I did) a food processor or blender would be a good choice. I have both (a Cuisinart set with one motor base for blender/food processor options on top http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-BFP-703-SmartPower-Blende..., and never noticed a major difference between how well either setup worked. Just take a look at the size of the work bowl/pitcher when you buy. My food processor work bowl is only 3 cups. Not enough. I had to puree in batches when I was pureeing, say, a whole squash.

Also, you will want a steaming insert. They are inexpensive and make cooking veggies (and hard fruits) a cinch.

One other piece of advice: ask your pediatrician for a list of which foods to introduce in which order. You can also go to the library and check out a couple of baby food cookbooks. "Super Baby Food" is a great reference but is tough to navigate. The "Everything Baby Food" book is very simple, maybe too simple. Books by Annabel Karmel have great combo meals for when baby is a little older, but she sometimes doesn't line up with age recommendations for foods (like nuts and fish), so you'd have to do a little research.

Good luck and enjoy!

you can buy a little baby food mill which is great. Just put in what you are eating and grind.
http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Baby-Food-Grinder-Colors/d...

Well, I haven't used mine just yet (my little guy is only 8 weeks old), but I can't wait to try out my Beaba Babycook!! It is a little pricier, but I've heard GREAT things about it. It's not for large batches - like the 64 servings of something you can make in a Cuisinart - but it will hold 2.5 cups of food so you can make batches. The real benefit to it is it steams and purees any food all in one small counter top appliance - it can also be used to reheat frozen food as well. (If you look it up on Williams Sonoma's web site they have a demonstration video)

I made my son's food too and I really enjoyed it. I use a blender, any one with a puree setting will do but a good quality one is a good idea since you'll use it A LOT. I like the blender over the food processor because its bigger and you can make more at a time and freeze it. I used small tupperware containers and they hold about 2 servings so they're really convenient. Good luck!
L.

We bought a tiny little blender for making baby food. We have a regular size blender, but it was just too big for making one baby's food. It is like a 16 ounce size, I think, and it was only about $10-20.

I had a Magic Bullet, that I had bought from TV. I ended up using it for baby food pretty much exclusively. But a blender would be great. The only other things I used were a scraper (spatula), to scrape all the puree out of the blender, and some ice cube trays, to freeze the puree in handy portion sizes. There are good web sites out there with lots of good information, like what foods to start with, what foods to stay away from for making home made (like spinach, I think...it's been a while), and lots of other good information. I think the one I liked was www.wholesomebabyfood.com

All I did was steam the veggies or fruit (or cut them up, depending on what kind of stuff), and maybe add some water if needed, blend it up, pour into the cube trays, and freeze. Then I put them in quart size freezer bags, labelled with name and date, and put in the freezer.

Hi L.,
I highly recommend the book "Super Baby Food". [Don't know if it was already mentioned -sorry!] It's a fantastic resource with wonderful nutritional information as well as prep, cooking, and storage info, plus recipes. Get it!!

p.s. I was also born on St. Patty's Day! It's a great day for a birthday!

I have been making most of my babies food for about 10 months (yes, my 17 month old still eats some pureed food) and use my food processor. I love it because I can make a large quantity and then I freeze it in ice cube trays covered with Press n Seal wrap. Once it's frozen I store the cubes in freezer bags and just take out what is needed. I would recommend a food processor if you are considering making large batches. I work full-time, so shopping for and making food every few days would not work for me.

Also, I have really enjoyed the book The Petit Appetit cookbook for baby purees and toddler food.
http://www.amazon.com/Petit-Appetit-Cookbook-Organic-Reci....

I have a Magic Bullet. It's compact and works great for baby food, and isn't as expensive as a Cuisinart. You can get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Use one of the 20% off coupons and I think it ends up being only about $50-$60.

I had a hand operated food mill and a small food processor that was given to me by my mother in law. The foodmill was fine for steamed veggies and fruit and small portions in the beginning. Later I liked the food processor better, especially if you start adding starches and meat. If you don't want to spend a lot of money I would get one of those mini food processors, I think some of them are under $20.

Good for you for making your own babyfood. I usually just pureed whatever we had with a little breastmilk or water added for consistency. I really believe that staying away from the industrial baby food helps babies develop a taste for natural food. Mine is now two and will at least give everything on her plate a try. Good luck!

I tried a food processor, blender, and food mill. Of the three the blender worked best. I did the ice cube tray trick as well and kept bags of baby food cubes in the fridge. Note: if you do this make certain you lable the bags, frozen food doesn't smell and it gets hard to tell the difference between caluiflower & potatoes, peaches & squash.

Good luck!

I made baby food for both my kids, I tried both my blender (you have to cool stuff down, and it's hard to get every morsel out!) I also tried a food processor, better than the blender, but you still have a large container to clean. My ultimate FAVORITE is my hand-held immersion blender. You can blend in the same container you cook the food in and it's super-easy to clean! I wish I had purchased it earlier!
Good luck! And thanks to your family for your husband's service.