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Oct
Opinions on baby food mill vs. a blender?
Posted by: Baby Food Grinder / Category: baby food mill, baby food questionsJust wondering what the benefits of a baby food mill are and how well they work. I don’t have a blender either and wondered if it would be difficult to purée small portions well. What about a wand-type mixer?
I’ve tried mashing veggies with a fork and it’s not fine enough (baby gags and sometimes vomits). I need to mush it up better and would like some advice about the type of equipment to use. He’s currently eating baby food from a jar and I’d like to make it fresh. Thanks!
Tags: baby, baby food mill, blender, food, fork, gags, jar, mashing, Mill, puree, veggies, wand
8 Responses to “Opinions on baby food mill vs. a blender?”
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October 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Blender vs. foodmill. Same thing different name and pricier tag. Also, you are kind of limited as to what you can put the foodmill as it is made for already soft foods. If you have limited space or don’t think you would use it much, try one of those Bullett Blenders that you can get at Wal-mart now. I have one and it chops everything and takes up very little space. Babies are the best!!
October 16th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I use a food mill and I use a food processor (blender works the same)
Personally…I think the food mill is fine for soft foods…but it sucked for anything chewy or hard…so meats ended up in the blender, and mangos avacado bananas all ended up in the mill.
I think the mills are great…but for older babies because they do create a lumpier food than a processor would.
I had the same problem with the gagging and vomiting with milled food…one thing that helped a little was adding breastmilk to the milled food and then running it through again…it helped make it a little smoother…but it was still chunkier than the blended.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I’ve never used a food mill, but they have poor reviews on Babiesrus.com and target.com
I use my blender to make baby food. It works wonderfully, but I don’t really make small portions. I have a very facy vitamix blender, but I’m sure an ordinary blender would work great too.
I have baby food freezer containers. I usually make food every week or every other week, put it in the containers (2.5 ounces each serving) and pull out a cube at every feeding. This saves alot of time. I’d probably buy jarred food if I felt like I had to make each meal on demand.
I steam or cook the vegetables/fruit first, then put it in the blender with water. Freezing usually dries up some of the moisture, so I add a little breast milk at meal time.
Good luck making this work for you. Home made baby food is so much better than jarred food and much less expensive too. When I make 14 2.5 ounce portions, it comes out to about 20 cents per portion. I buy pre-cut and peeled organic vegetables at the health food store, it can be even less expensive if you peel and cut the vegetables yoursel.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I’ve used one of those small baby food mashers that my sister-in-law had last year while babysitting my niece. It’s really good for small portions, but if your baby has issues with gagging and vomiting because it’s not fine enough, I wouldn’t use it. It doesn’t make it much finer than you can mash it with a fork.
My son (11 months) has the same problem with gagging and even vomiting. Even the thicker baby food makes him gag. I got a blender now, and while it’s not good for small portions, you can puree a fair bit of food at a time, freeze it in ice cube trays (cover in saran wrap), pop them out once they’re frozen and store them in plastic bags. You can thaw them overnight in the fridge if you like, before using them, or you can just heat them in the microwave, but make sure you don’t end up with hot spots.
Some foods I still buy in the jars though, like peas, because I heard that the shell on them can still cause gagging, even when pureed the best you can, and I find in the jars, it’s smoother. I just get the organic stuff then. I find my son enjoys those more than the regualar stuff, plus it isn’t all mixed with citrus juice – the regular stuff is all mixed with citrus juices, even the vegetables!
Good luck!
October 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I never used any electric things for processing my baby’s food. I used a KidCo hand mixer. You get it at Babies R Us. I LOVED that hand mixer. It is NOT on their website. You can only get it in the store itself. Grind the food you want, and add a little water if you want it creamier. I never had any chunks with it. I fed my daughter all of the healthy things we were eating with it. It is really easy to clean too. I think it is $9.99. You can buy it with an optional carry case for $12.99.
There are two other things you can use with it as well. One is a three compartment food carrier. Its handle comes off and inside is a spoon. I found it very useful. The other is like an ice cube tray. You grind your food, put it in the tray and put it in the freezer. Pop the triangles out and put it in baggies for storage. When you are ready to use it, you put it in the food carrier, and you are on your way.
If you want to make your own food, I highly recommend it. I don’t know what I did without it. (Except spend a LOT of money on baby food.)
October 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
When my children were young I purchased a “baby food grinder” maybe similar to what you are asking about. Anyway, I would grind down all cooked meat, vegetable, then add a small amount of purified water to make it somewhat pureed than feed to them. Also, the extra I would fill in ice cube trays & freeze (cover in plastic) then thaw out as I needed it . I think it is wonderful that you want to feed your baby fresh food rather then something that comes in a jar that has sat on a shelf in grocery store for months.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I tried making baby food in a blender, but I didn’t know how to use it well… oops. as long as you get every lump out the baby won’t gag. Bigger portions work better in the blender. You can freeze what you don’t use in smaller portions. Those plastic Gerber food containers worked well for me to freeze. I don’t know about any of the other gadgets.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
This topic hits REALLY close to home. I never had any luck making my own baby food.
I do, however, believe commercial baby food to be very healthy. They contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals and don’t contain a lot of sodium like many processed foods. Plus, it allows you to offer a nice variety of fruits, veggies and meats so baby doesn’t get bored, learns to enjoy a lifetime of healthy eating habits, and as does as little vomiting as possible!!!