When my daughter was first starting out with eating fruits and vegetables, I had heard of making my own baby food. Problem was that I was still in survival mode. I thought that making food was time consuming, complicated and expensive. I thought it was much easier to head over to the grocery store, pick out my selection of the week and then head back home. Once she entered into the finger food stage, things changed. She became picky and so I had to get more creative. I started sneaking in pureed vegetables into whatever I could. I was on fire, I made dozens of every kind of vegetable purees you could imagine. I’d dedicate an entire day to it because it involved several steps. Some required baking the I’d puree them in the food processor. Others would steam on the stove top before heading to the food processor. All steps required a ridiculous amount of dishes. At this point I realized how much money I really was saving by making my own purees. I also realized that it’s not as hard as I thought….just requires a lot of clean up. I’ve seen Beaba’s Baby Cook on the market for quite some time. But kind of thought “Is that really necessary?” Well, read on!
I opened the box from Beaba and it was pretty easy to put the entire Baby Cook together quickly, even with a toddler tugging at my pant leg chanting “What you doin’? What you doin’? What you doin’?”. I read the instructions to cook my carrots. Okay, fill water in container to the fill line according to the type of food and pour in reservoir. Similar to my morning coffee, easy enough. I snap in my container just like the food processor, press the switch and it’s already steaming. On the stove it takes me about 10 minutes just to boil the water! Within just a few short minutes, the light turns off. It’s DONE! Okay, so the first step was easy, how about the next! So I use the handy dandy spatula stick to lift out the steamer basket. I pour out just a little bit of water that was at the bottom of the container after all the steaming. I leave in a little bit in order to have enough liquid to puree the carrots.
From here, I put the container back on the cooker. I tip my steamer basket to drop the carrots into it, insert the cover, put on the top on and bam, I’m pureeing. You can use the spatula to clean the sides off of the container while you are pureeing if any of the food clings to the sides. The entire process was done in no more than 15 minutes. Then as if that wasn’t good enough, I only had a few small items to wash!! I had wondered if Beaba’s Baby Cook was really worth the money, and I’m here to tell you that it is. It will save you so much time, which as moms, we need all the extra time we can get. It will save you so much money by making your own baby food. Lastly it will save your hands and frustration from all those dishes!
One of the best things about making your own baby food is that you don’t need to add any additional fillers, sugars or preservatives like you can find in jarred baby food. The Baby Cook is so versatile, you can cook vegetables, meats, fruits and even grains! This way, as your children get older, you can make thicker purees to give them a chunkier consistency. In their manual, they even give you several recipes for great fruit and veggie mixtures to make for your child’s growing palette.
If you make your own baby food, then you probably also freeze small portions to be used at a later time. Previously I was putting my purees in freezer safe sandwich bags. This is not only awful for the environment, but it costs a lot of money. Beaba’s Multiportion Freezer Trays are made from BPA-Free silicone and designed with seven separate 2 oz cups for freezing. To use a portion, simply slide one out of the tray and heat it up in the Beaba Baby Cooker or in the microwave. These are truly exceptional trays and the ability to have seven purees in one container is also so convenient. My freezer is organized! You won’t find me digging through the freezer looking around for that last puree of beets that I just KNOW is in there…(somewhere).
Want to buy a Beaba Baby Cook and Multiportion Freezer Tray of your own? Click here to find local and online authorized stores. You can even find them at your local Williams-Sonoma store! This is a definite Must Have for your Holiday Wish List!!
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Thanks to Beaba for providing a sample Baby Cook for this review
