Homemade Baby food

About two years ago, I was hunting around on Williams and Sonoma's website, casually browsing for kitchen tools, when I stumbled upon the Beaba Babycook.   After watching the video at the bottom of the product page, I developed a severe case of the "I wants."  I immediately called my sister Ashley, directed her to the site.  I told her I wanted it as a babyshower gift, regardless of the fact that I wasn't pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant at the time.

A year and half later with Remy on the way, and I became the proud owner of my own baby food maker.  Thanks again Ashley!

Me at my Baby Shower

Recently, Remy's been eating solids, but I've been so busy with work, I hadn't given a second thought to making my own baby food.  This past week, I finally decided to pull out the Beaba Babycook and give it a try.  After making just a few purees, like carrot, spinach, sweet potato, apple, blueberry, and pear, I have literally fallen in love with the Babycook.  While it is possible to make your own babyfood using other methods, I like the Babycook because I can do everything in it, so there is less mess and dishes to clean up.  It not only steams the food and blends the food, but it can also reheat and defrost food as well.

Here's a photo chronology of  fruit to puree:

 

Fresh apples

Cut apples steaming in the basket

Removing the steam basket
Note the water at the bottom, this is reserved so that you can thin out the puree to the right consistency

 Cooked apples ready to blend

 

 Voila! applesauce

 

Puree in freezer container

I started out freezing the purees in individual containers, like the ones pictured below, but that got to be a hassle.  The containers weren't airtight, and it was annoying to have more little containers to wash.

My mistake

As an alternative, I purchased the Beaba portion trays and flexible cube trays for freezing the purees, as well as the Beaba babyfood containers, for reheating the purees in the Babycook.  I like the fact these flexible trays allow you to pop out the puree once frozen for further storage in plastic freezer bags.  You could use regular ice cube trays, but the food is harder to get out.  Trust me, I tried it.

Individual portions stored in a freezer bag.

A further bonus of the Beaba?  This justifies more purchases of fruits and vegetables from Costco.  Ben and I aren't able to eat the bulk produce as quickly as we'd like, so he typically limits me to two fruit and two vegetable items.  Now that I'm making baby food, I can expand past our typical purchases.