Baby food making

From a local Mama…

Has anyone out there had success with the Beaba Babycook (or similar- Baby Bullet) food maker? We are considering buying one but are on a budget and don’t want to spend the money
unless it’s really worth it. Suggestions?

Here are some great responses from the community- feel free to add your own in the comments!

• I cook & am confident in the kitchen, so let’s start from there. 🙂
  I already had all the tools at my disposal that the Beaba provides, just not in one cute little package, so I decided against buying one. Instead, I used my Cuisinart, glass storage containers, BPA free ice cube trays, various tools (spoons, sauce pots, steamer, etc. depending on the baby food I was making) and that was it. The Cuisinart will chop the veggies, puree the veggies, etc. In fact, I did not have to buy one single tool to make baby food. If you don’t have a food processor of any kind, even a good quality blender will do, I suggest you think about purchasing either one of those, the Beaba, or some similar product. 

  Otherwise, it can be a real chore getting the puree fine enough for early eating using something like a food mill or pressing through a seive.

   **Buy/read Super Baby Food or similar baby food book for guidance and suggestions.**
• I also used my blender and a hand blender.  My little guy ate so much that I started freezing his food in eight ounce canning jars instead of ice cube trays.  I’m not mathematically minded but it wasn’t difficult to see that it was much cheaper than buying baby food, even considering the time it took to prepare it. Also, I found a great website that made it so much easier for me: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com
• The Container Store (online) has some nice ones  – 21 cube trays! – that come with lids.  I found some silicone ones at Bed Bath & Beyond. Online they also have stainless steel too, but can leave an undesirable metallic taste in acid foods (tomato for example). Silicone is not a plastic and does not utilize BPA in its manufacture. Always a good choice!
   Look around because the silicone has become very popular since people have become enlightened about BPA and other chemicals used to make plastics.
• I have been making baby food with my cusinart 3 c processor for about 2 months now and I love it!  So easy!  I use cleaned out jelly jars for food storage. Right now I am using plastic for freezing. Does anyone know if I can freeze in glass jelly jars?
• I used the Ball jars that are freezer safe and they worked fine.  I’m not sure if all jelly jars are, but they were not hard to find.
• You can also check out “baby led weaning” (just google it) which talks about skipping the whole cereal/pureed baby food step and just introduce solids a little later with finger foods. Then you don’t need any equipment other than what you’re cooking for your family. Just another perspective! 
• Yes, we didn’t start with “baby food” until that time too (around 6 months). However, if the food was too thick or chunky – baby was having none of that until at least 8 or so months. We fed her what we were eating and I simply cooked extra (and then pureed & froze it) so when we were eating things she wasn’t interested in I had something to offer her. That kept the “baby food” prep at a manageable level and everyone eating happily.
  I like to make extra food anyway when I cook certain things – as many of us do – and stash it in the freezer for those crazy days! So it wasn’t far outside of what I already do in the kitchen. Do not make feeding your baby a CHORE! It should be a PLEASURE. Often times we served fresh foods like ripe avocado to baby (her first food). Doesn’t get much easier than that. Of course, avocado can be a bit pricy at times, so find what works for your budget. 
  Waiting until they express interest in eating foods other than milk (mommy or formula) typically works best for all.
• It’s been a while, but my recollection is that the advice was to not introduce too many foods at once anyway, and I also heard that skipping the grains was a good idea, so my equipment was basically a fork…we did alot of avocado and banana, sometimes I would just put carrots or other veggies or fruit in the blender, we were still nursing so all the protein and fat was coming that way, and then I just slowly introduced other things as he got interested…we did nut milks, such as almond, mashed sweet potatoes…you can pretty much mush anything with a fork, and I have always felt it was better to give fresh raw or freshly cooked food anyway, to retain vitamins and enzymes….when I was out I would just bring along an advocado and he would eat the whole thing…(of course, then he lost interest in avocados for the next eight years!)

So, did you make your own baby food? What tools did you use?