18
Sep
Has anyone used the “baby food grinder”?
Posted by: Baby Food Grinder / Category: baby food grinder, baby food questionsI went to Kmart today and I saw this thing, I think it was called The Baby Food Grinder, where you can grind, fruits, veggies and meats! I never heard or saw such a thing, and it was only about 8 dollars and I was seriously thinking about getting it! But I want to know if anyone else has used this before. Also I have a question about making your own baby food, assuming I just use that device, do I have to steam and boil the veggies and fruits, or can I just grind them up and feed to her?
I saw it in the same isle as the baby food, and sippie cups and what not. Also so lets say I make like spaghetti for dinner, can I grind that up and feed it to her?
Tags: baby food grinder, grinder
7 Responses to “Has anyone used the “baby food grinder”?”
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September 18th, 2009 at 12:35 am
i make baby food. I use a food processor. If it is so cheap it probably will not hold up. I cook all the veggies then mash them, apples a simmer with in water until they are soft then out them in the food processor. Other fruits like strawberries, bananas etc I just mash them up.
September 18th, 2009 at 1:13 am
My brother and his wife registered for this item recently and I wondered about it as well. I came to the conclusion that the food mill processer they registered for was/is way too expensive and I would rather use a food processor. I suspect that you would need to steam/cook the vegetables before trying to blend them together. You know you can freeze the homemade baby food in ice cube trays. I read somewhere that a mother made her own baby food, froze them ni ice cube trays, then put the cubes into a ziploc bag for storage. She defrosted the food when she was ready to use it.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:01 am
I also have a baby food grinder…mine works awesome…I use it to grind my iguanas food…lol! He eats like frozen veggies and stuff so I am sure it be used for the same thing. umm I am sure you would have to boil or steam the veggies first but Im not sure…
September 18th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Oh my goodness, YES, get on of those things! My mom had one that we used to grind up stuff for my younger sibs (there were 10 of us) and it will save you so much money. I honestly don’t remember my mom ever buying the baby food in a jar. My son is 5 months and just got his first tooth, so I’ll be using mine before long.
As far as your question, yes, everything needs to be soft or cooked. Obviously you wouldn’t have to boil bananas or canned fruits/veggies, but you can’t put hard, raw stuff through it.
Hope this helps!
September 18th, 2009 at 2:41 am
My MIL gave me a baby food mill. I’ve never used it. She apparently did when her kids were little, and I guess you can just feed them right out of the thing you grind it up in.
I just give my son food-I don’t bother with purees. He can mash up most things easily with his gums.
And yeah, you could grind up spaghetti.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:32 am
I would think you would have to still steam or boil the food just to make it easier to grind, I havent used one myself but I remember when my daughter was starting solids and my mom and I saw the same thing she said that she had almost exactly the same thing when I was a baby and she would just grind up whatever they were having for dinner such as spaghetti, I personal want to get one this time around when my son starts solids I think it would be a great investment and hey if it breaks it was under 10 dollars.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:43 am
My mother in law bought me a food grinder made by Munchkin – not necessarily the same one, but I can tell you about my experiences with that – not so good. Partly just because I am klutz, maybe. But I had so much trouble getting the pieces to pull apart, and then when I would put the food in it took a lot of pressure to push it down, but you had to crank at the same time. And they I could only do one pear at a time, and so I had to struggle to pull it apart again…plus the pear juice leaked all over the place, and the pear came out in little cylinders. After one try I went to using my food processor, which allowed me to do larger batches and make a much smoother puree. Less mess, less time, less struggle.
No matter what device you use, the food needs to be soft. For all veggies and several fruits, that means you need to steam or boil them first. Many people also recommend steaming even soft fruits (like pears) for babies under 7-8 months so that it helps break down the sugars. The lovely thing about baby food though is that you can freeze the purees in ice cube trays, put the cubes in freezer bags, and store them for up to 3 months. So while it does take a bit of time to steam and puree the food, you can do a big batch at once and basically not have to make that type of food again for a couple of months.
As far as grinding up your own dinner, that usually happens when babies are approaching one year. At first you need to introduce foods slowly, starting with fruits and veggies. Both wheat products and meats can be introduced around 8 months. By 10ish months a baby has had enough foods that you could give them an adult dinner without worrying about whether the ingredients are appropriate (for example, pasta has wheat and tomatoes are very acidic) or that they will react to the spices. So the answer to that would be, yes, around 10-12 months, depending on how your dd does with solids. Also, you always need to grind up the food for baby BEFORE adding extra salt or sugar.
This is a great website on making your own baby food; i have linked to the page that talks about the tools of the trade specifically:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/pureebabyfoodandstore.htm