While it’s not aimed at the baby food market, the Ninja Professional Chopper is ideal for blending up baby purées in an instant and it might well become a nifty piece of kitchen equipment you’ll continue to use after the baby weaning days. The best baby food blenders don’t take up too much space and this one will fit neatly into any cupboard or on your kitchen work surface. And because it’s so small, it’s no bother to take on holiday or out to a family member or friend's house for lunch. Money saving: While a baby food maker is an initial investment, in the long run it will end up saving you money. Commercial baby food can be expensive – with the average baby consuming around 600 jars of baby food over their weaning months. Fresh food: You know you’re feeding your baby the freshest possible meals – because you made them yourself! What To Look For In A Baby Food Maker NutriBullet

This steamer and blender by baby food gurus Tommee Tippee does the whole job in one go. Just pop your ingredients in the jug or steamer basket to cook them gently, while retaining all the foods’ nutrients. Then use the smart switch to move over to blend mode. My only slight criticism is that the puree function is quite loud. That means it's hard to use when the baby is asleep, and if I use it when she's in the room it terrifies her and she starts crying so I can't do that either. I work around this by popping her in another room with a toy for the 30 seconds or so it takes to puree. Finally, we looked up advice from baby weaning experts such as Annabel Karmel, to find out what the purée gurus looked for and what they advised on cooking for your baby, so we could be sure the products we recommended would be up to the job. What age do babies start eating food? All the parts (except the motor, obviously) can be washed in the dishwasher, but there's only a few parts to clean so I find it easy to do by hand. A balanced diet with plenty of veggies is important and surprisingly achievable with the right tools. The best food steamer can be trusted to perfectly steam cook your grub without any help or assistance. They’re not just for vegetables, though. With tiered food steamers, you can cook meat, fish, rice, dumplings or potatoes all in one go. This means less time fussing over the hob and more time spent relaxing.

All you have to do is chop up the food into small cubes, add a small amount of water or breast milk/formula from your baby bottle and place it inside the plastic lid of the Itsy Blitz. Once the purée is the right consistency, you can serve it to your little gourmet straightaway – the lid even doubles up as a baby bowl. Transparency is really important to us and that's why we're always upfront about where we find our recommendations. We write about products that we feel offer the best value to most parents – the ones that our users would recommend to their own friends and family. Additional functions: Some models reheat or defrost already puréed baby food - useful if you don’t have a microwave.

Official advice from the NHS is to start weaning your baby from milk onto solid foods at around six months. This is based on research reviewed by the World Health Organisation which shows that, until six months, babies need nothing other than breast milk (or infant formula). Should I purée or do baby-led weaning? Portability: There are travel baby food makers on the market, such as the Itsy Blitz Portable Baby Food Blender we’ve reviewed above. If you know you’re out and about a lot, it’s worth looking at these. BATCH COOKING: you can prepare several meals at once with its 2.2-litre capacity (1,500 ml for cooking, 700 ml for blending)! You can blend and cook at the same time or separately – it's up to you! We scoured the Mumsnet forums for recommendations from real parents who’ve been through the weaning years and came out unscathed, making notes of their honest recommendations as well as products that they felt didn’t quite make the grade. Every parenting guide we write - covering everything from the best sterilisers for bottles to the top nappies and nappy rash cream - starts with research on the Mumsnet forums, as we know how useful an independent review can be. PRESERVES NUTRIENTS: you can cook each type of food for different lengths of time using the separate baskets. The cooking water vessel means the vitamins and flavours are preserved.

2. Best budget baby food blender: Tommee Tippee Mini Blend Baby Food Blender

This is my 3rd week using the Avent food maker and I’m still loving it! It’s just so easy and doesn’t take up much time at all. Even hubby had a turn and thought it was great.” (Frances) To use the blender you have to pull out the little connector on the right part of the control pannel, and put the blender on the connector.You need to put enought food in the blender to allow him to blend efficiently. Hygiene and ease of cleaning: Look for models that don’t have narrow openings so you can really get the cleaning brush inside. Those that are dishwasher-safe will be a big boon if you’re using your baby blender every day. Some even have an auto-clean mode, which can make life a lot easier. Once plugged in, the turbo steam ring takes just 40 seconds to start cooking your food, and with a large water reservoir there’s enough to fuel an hour of steaming. Juices from the upper basket run into the compartments below, so be wary of placing a strong flavoured dish, like salmon, at the top. We’d advise putting fish and meat at the bottom, potatoes or veggies in the middle and rice at the top. When it comes to gorgeous kitchen appliances, the Béaba is a winner! You only need one hand to operate it (handy when holding a baby!) and it only takes minutes to make a meal. It can prepare more than four cups of food at one time – steaming, blending and reheating in 15 minutes or less. from The Stork Nest

Some parents will happily steam fruit and vegetables and mash them up with a baby fork – and to be fair, in the early days of weaning when your baby has very limited tastes, this is a perfectly sensible idea. Once you’ve decided the time is right to start weaning your baby onto solids, there are other options to consider – finger foods, purées or a combination of both? You might well have a blender at home already, but if you want to be able to make small portions, a dedicated baby blender is what you need. The best baby food maker will help you whip up a purée in no time, without making a mess (leave that to the babies!).

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But while this blender is not as robust as some, it's compact enough for small kitchens and especially handy if you’re going to leave it out on the counter and use it for every meal. It comes with a recipe book and a spatula and, because it’s Philips, some spare parts are available as well. If you’ve decided to go the baby-led-weaning route exclusively, you likely won’t need a baby food blender, but you may still want to invest in a baby food steamer for softening crunchy veg while keeping the nutrients in. And of course, there’s no need to choose just one route or the other. Many parents make purées with the odd bit of cooked pasta or a banana finger on the side, and just let their baby try a bit of both. Baby food makers vary in size, capacity and function, so it’s worth taking your time to make sure you choose the right one for your family.

As others have said, the machine is not huge, but I find it sufficient. To give you an example, I fill it to the "max" line with apples, and find that gives me about 14 x 30ml ice cubes worth. I don't have a huge freezer so that's more than enough. I started using the machine a couple of weeks before we started weaning so by the time my baby was ready I already had a freezer drawer full of cubes of different fruit and veg, which I now mix and match each day to give her a varied diet (I use freezer bags to store cubes to avoid having to buy loads of ice cube trays and save space). When it comes to buying a baby food maker, there’s a somewhat bafflingly amount of choice available – from simple blenders for baby food to clever multifunction steam and blend gadgets that allow you to create healthy baby meals from raw ingredients. Why you should trust us Incorporated steamer: All-in-one models are really useful but you do pay more for a blender that steams too. ADAPTABLE: It delights your baby with meals suitable for weaning onto solids. The 3 blending speeds along with the cooking water vessel mean you can adjust the texture depending on your baby's age.The Intellisteam has an easy-to-use digital display, there’s a rice tray and compartment divider included (both dishwasher safe) and it will even remember the last settings you used for each food group to minimise fumbling around. Overall, we think the Morphy Richards Intellisteam is a smart choice for its compact design and many attractive features. I] have the Tommee Tippee one and it's so handy! We love it."(Recommended by Mumsnetter PandaMa) Our verdict If you like the hands-off approach, you’ll love this appliance! It automatically steams then blends homemade baby food in one step, making up to 820ml of deliciousness in as little as 10 minutes. It also comes with three reusable food pouches and three filling funnels for easy food storage. from Baby Bunting