I'm looking into making our own baby food. Does anyone have the baby bullet? Would you recommend it?
We have a food processor that I was hoping to use. Does anyone use theirs to make food? Any tips?
How do you store the food? I read about ice cube trays, but I would think they need to be covered to avoid freezer burn.
Thanks for any advice you can give!
Re: Making your own baby food
I did my own for the short time that DD was on purees. Have fun with it. Don't get stressed, it's only food. This website is a great resource.
We used a regular food processor, or for a lot of foods, just fork-mashed (avocado, banana, sweet potato). My regular food processor was always just fine, but I never tried making my own rice cereal or anything like that - just the usual fruit and veggie purees.
I froze purees in ice cube trays and then dumped the cubes into big freezer bags. I never bothered to cover the trays, because they were usually only in the trays for a day or so at the most. I didn't bother to pre-puree and freeze avocado or banana, because they're pretty small and taste so much better fresh.
As for tips - I made pretty big batches every time I made stuff, so I didn't have to do it all that often. I would bake 4 sweet potatoes, for example, and then mash and freeze it all in trays, and I would have A TON of sweet potato that would last for a long time. Or two big bags of frozen peas, or 2 lbs of carrots, or a whole butternut squash. But start out small until you know if your LO likes something before you wind up with a freezer full of it.
I also always made the purees unseasoned, and then added seasonings to the batch that I was thawing to feed DD. And I froze them as individual food cubes and would then mix cubes for a meal - a cube of peas and a cube of carrots, instead of mixing pea and carrot purees together before freezing.
I would avoid canned fruits and veggies whenever you can, and just use fresh or frozen as much as possible. DD's puree stage was pretty short, but I used leftover cubes of puree as sauce on pastas or mixed in with other meals once she was eating more real foods. I still like having some pouches of pureed fruits on hand to mix into her oatmeal or yogurt.
I waited until 6 months and then just mashed everything with a fork for the first couple of weeks. I let DD feed herself, so there was no "spoon feeding". She was still BF so I knew she was getting what she needed.
I wouldn't spend money on a baby bullet... just use a food processor and trays.
The little storage canisters and the freezer tray were useful to a degree, though I ultimately opted not to use plastic storage containers for food, but not worth the price of the whole set when you can find alternatives relatively easily.
Perfect....but I'll add one other fun step: Label Label Label!! Oh and buy a few baby freezer food trays with covers!
We LOVE baby cubes for storage of purees! They are BPA free and have individual lids (and they sit in trays) to allow you to defrost just the right portion. They come in a variety of sizes too!
https://www.healthyhappytot.com/puree-storage/