Making My Own Baby Food - Elgin,IL

Check out the Beaba:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/beaba-babycook-ba...

I just used our mini food processor. Funny, we got Beaba Baby Cook but never used it! Never even took it out of the box! If you have a blender or food processor, save your money for other things if you want. Also hand mashing works great for softer foods. My son is 20mo. but I still make him apple/pear sauce all the time, and hand mash it.

I used my Oster kitchen blender. Worked like a charm! I also used my regular food processor for chunkier variety (more like stage 3 baby food--especially when blending meat). I also tried my food mill (that I use for making normal apple sauce or tomato sauce) and while it worked great,for food consistency, one purpose of the food mill is to keep out the skins/seeds, so I felt like I was wasting so much of the veggies' good fiber since the skins weren't getting through. That's when I switched to the blender.

I do keep seeing those commercials for the Baby Bullet and it looks really nice for someone who doesn't already have a good blender.

If you do happen to use an Oster blender, if you can find a smaller jar, it will work even better to get a good consistent blend for baby food more like the Magic/Baby Bullet (unless you're doing large quantities, in which case nevermind).

Good luck!

We bought a Dex baby. I am pretty sure it was about $30 and it is fine. It is easier to scrape small volumes out of than our mini Cuisinart. We generally steamed/cooked food before pureeing (or of course most fruits are served raw) and we froze in ice cube trays for convenient serving sizes so we didn't need all the other attachments. Good luck. I think it is a much better way for baby to learn about tastes/foods than jarred bf. If you have ever tried the stuff - gross :( . Good luck.

I tried many other tools before stumbling on the kitchen aid food chopper by accident. I liked it because you can make bite sized portions or puree food depending on how long you chop the food. Thus, it can be used to make starter foods or finger foods. After baby isn't a baby anymore, it can be used in your kitchen for herbs or garlic. It's just under 15.00.

http://www.target.com/KitchenAid-Food-Chopper-White/dp/B0...

I used a mini food processor that worked out great for the quantities I was making. I am sure that I paid less than $30 and never bothered to strain anything.

i would just get a food processer (pretty much the same thing but can be used for making multupul things) and a fine mesh strainer to make sure its smooth

I bought a $5 food grinder from KMART it worked great it was in the baby section hand crank.

My boys are older now, but I wish there had been a Torpedo Multi-purpose Appliance available when they were small. I just bought one and love it! It purees, juices, makes soup, ice cream, etc. It costs $199.

I have the cuisnart food processor. I think I bought the 4-cup processor. I love it...I use it for baby food right now, but then you can use it for anything after that. I think its a better investment that way since you can get so many more uses out of it. I bought mine from Kohls for like $24 or so. I really suggest looking into processors rather than baby specific processors. It's a much better value for your money!
By the way...This is my 3rd baby & my first time making my baby food, and I think it's great! So much cheaper, and so many more options for your little one! Not to mention, it gets her used to regular food rather than adjusting from baby food to regular food!
Hope this helps!

If you buy a manual food mill, you can use it for more than just baby food. (It purees and strains at the same time.)

I just used my blender/food processor or a small strainer(pushed through soft food). I never paid extra cash for "baby" items because this phase leaves quickly and not worth the xtra cash. I'd rather put that money into organic fruits and veggies rather than an item.

I just use my regular Kitchenaid blender. After cooking the food, i just toss it in the blender with the liquids it cooked in. So far, I haven't had any issues (even with peas). I considered purchasing the Beaba Baby Cook at first, but then changed my mind because it was another thing to buy and have it sit on the counter (we don't have a lot of counter space).

I just used a blender with the liquid I used to steam the veggies or fruit. I tried the bullet as well but found it easier to use the larger blender so I can make a bigger batch.

I just used my food processor - cuisinart, I think. It worked perfectly and making the food was super easy.

I have a cuisinart mini prep that has done an amazing job! You can get blender/processor made for making baby food, but they don't work much differently than any other processors, especially for the added price. (Although the actual Magic Bullet doesn't do very well, I don't know about the baby bullet) I know people who have just used their blenders and had good results.

I made my own baby food for my first baby. I used one of those small food processors from Walmart and it worked just fine. I think I paid $20 for it. Anything that will puree is fine, and you don't need to spend a lot of money for it. I never strained either.

I just bought a hand crank kind at the grocery store. It's made by kidco. Cost under $10 and is works great for soft fruits and steamed veggies. For the harder to mash stuff I have a bullet that works well.

Definitely the Beaba Baby Cook! I tried everything for my first two kids but when I had my 3rd...the Beaba had just come out in American. (One of my friends in England had it and I was jealous:) It does everything in one little unit and makes it so easy! Whatever you're cooking for dinner, you can just throw in and steam. You can also make batches ahead of time.

Check it out on William Sonoma's website...there's a link from another person further down. It's worth watching the demonstration.

Oh my, I used a baby food mill I purchased years ago from a company called One Step Ahead. I believe it was around $15. I have also seen food mills at Kmart and Walmart. I never made "recipes" for any of my children. When I first began solids, I always started with baby cereal and when it was time for veggies, I steamed my own veggies, bland, no spices and pureed them in the food mill and then froze them in ice cube trays. Once they were ready for other foods, the food right off my plate is what I put through the food mill.

If you are looking to make "bulk" items like a bag of carrots and such, then a food processor or blender will work fine. Personally, I wouldn't buy a special gadget for $80. When will you use it other than for pureeing food for baby??

I used a fork and just smashed up whatever we were eating that was really soft and fed it to my DD. She did great. She only ate 3 containers of baby food ever. Just think what moms did for all of these years before blenders and baby bullets, etc. The kids were fine. Just smash it until it will slide down and don't give too much. I had also bought this hand blender, pureer that I used once for $20 about 5 yrs ago. It worked too, but it was less time consuming to just feed her what we were eating smooshed. ;)