Ladies that make their own baby food...

rachel06

Just curious as to if you do it the old fashioned way or if you have one of those handy food preparation gizmos.  I have been looking & researching these & wanted to know what your thoughts are.  I am leaning towards the Baby Brezza but wanted to get the good, bad & the ugly of things you use. TIA

kel716

I made food for about 4-5 months, and just used the recipes on wholesomebabyfood.com.  I used a blender (now I did get a good blender since mine was horrid), ice cube trays (they're 1 oz each), and a pan to boil things like apples.  So do you need anything else?  No.  GL!

AllieSchmallie

I made my own baby food for Jonah from the time he was 5 months to 1 year (when he began eating more finger foods and whatnot). I had one of the Beaba Babycook baby food maker, which is a pricey gadget, but I received it as a gift. I have to admit - it made things pretty easy. I might not have made my own food for so long without it, because I stay pretty busy with work and Jonah. So, for me, it worked out well.

Ttimes3

Are you volunteering to make baby food for Billy?

tiffyr0se

kel716:

I made food for about 4-5 months, and just used the recipes on wholesomebabyfood.com.  I used a blender (now I did get a good blender since mine was horrid), ice cube trays (they're 1 oz each), and a pan to boil things like apples.  So do you need anything else?  No.  GL!

ditto this.  Though I did buy some baby food containers instead of using ice cube trays. (https://tinyurl.com/62tcwvo)  I also reused glass jars from the bit of baby food I did buy.  Personally, since you only make babyfood for 6 months, I don't think the pricey gadgts are worth it or necessary.

doodlebug914

I used my kitchen aid mini chopper and didn't feel like I needed anything additional!!  I do have a micro steamer from pampered chef as well that I used when I wasn't doing big batches, and I used ice cube trays to freeze then put the cubes in freezer bags. HTH!

teacherjess

I do not think you really need anything fancy. All you will be doing to anything will be cooking or steaming it, and then pureeing it. You can get a super-cheap rice steamer with a vegetable rack for steaming, you can use a pot for boiling, and you can use a regular blender or an immersion blender for blending. We already had a nice immersion blender for blending (a Cuisinart-- great wedding gift!) and that was invaluable. We just froze everything into nice ice cube trays and then put those into freezer bags and never had any problems. So, if you are going the cheap route, you'll need (if you don't have these things)....

Steamer if you plan to steam vegetables, etc., and you can use a rice cooker with a vegetable rack- $15

Immersion blender-- $25ish

Nice ice cube trays, maybe with covers-- $5

Miller238

Two words.  Magic Bullet.

KittahMama

My friend bought me a beaba baby food maker and I like it.  I just put a bit of water in it, steam whatever and then blend!  I do this while I may our dinner and manage to make her at least one food a day.  I do this for one week and freeze leftovers she doesn't eat at that sitting (ice cube trays work great).  Then I have enough food for a month it seems, though sometimes I mix it up sooner.   You could do the same thing with boiling whatever and then blending- it just makes it simpler!

curlypie1

I'm using an immersion blender currently, and it does just fine. I freeze in ice cube trays and store in ziploc bags.

buckeyethor

I used the blender or food processor. I would make huge batches at once and freeze in ice cube trays.

adamsbabble

I didn't want to get anything expensive and gimicky since I'd only get a few months use out of it... I just used our blender and it got the job done

allobosc

Miller238:

Two words.  Magic Bullet.

This. And not that new baby one they have that is high priced.  You can pick one up at Kohls pretty cheap with a coupon.  Add a small steamer tray to pot and some ice cube trays and you're all set.  It is super quick, you really do only use it for 6 mos or so and you can make smoothies and other goodies with it too like margaritas

Traycee1242

I LOVE my Beaba Babycook and think it was worth every penny. I still use it all the time (steam veggies, potatoes.. I like to avoid microwaving when possible since it saps some of the nutrients)
I figure I will use it for all my kids... Totally worth it. It's one stop and no mess to clean up!

cregank24

I made Madison's food from the 6 mo mark. Ditto a lot of people. I have a good blender (Kitchen Aid) and bought the ice cube trays from Bed Bath Beyond that have the slide on lids. That way they were stackable.

I do recommend the ziploc steamer bags. They were nice if you wanted to steam a few things really quickly in the microwave

Also, I second wholesomebabyfood.com as a resource. It was nice to read their suggestions and then decide what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do

JenRose05

I bought a steam basket from ikea (5.00) and steam most everything, I also have a mini food processor (also 5.00) and I just add the water that I steamed the food in to smooth it out. Sometimes I will bake things (sweet potato and ginger, pears and cinnamin, apples etc) and just add bottled water to smooth it out. Allison let me borrow her beaba babycook recently and I have to say while I would never spend 100+ on a baby food maker, its a time saver and convienent. I usually fill ice cube trays, I think they are about an oz a cube?

ML*

We also liked using a food mill right at the dinner table.  It was a good way to puree the same food we were eating at dinner in small batches without having to haul out the blender and then clean all the pieces.  Bonus-- we still use it for homemade applesauce.

kristinleigh

So far I have been just using my Kitchenaid Mini Prep Food Processor (the 3 cup size) and ice cube trays.  I have only done sweet potatoes and squash which were baked and pureed, but when I do steamed veggies, I plan on using the ziploc steam bags. 

 

hav2run

kel716:

I made food for about 4-5 months, and just used the recipes on wholesomebabyfood.com.  I used a blender (now I did get a good blender since mine was horrid), ice cube trays (they're 1 oz each), and a pan to boil things like apples.  So do you need anything else?  No.  GL!

Yes!  This for us too.