Hi Ladies!
My big boy will only be doing formula and baby food for two more months. He doesnt have very many teeth and Im starting to worry about the real food thing. I have decided I need to buy a food processor, I know there are baby ones out there and just need some advice or insight on which one to get. My blender isnt the handiest thing I have ever used so Im not going to be using that. I dont want to spend tons of money on it, but dont want to buy a piece of junk either. Just thought some of you wonderful moms could point me in the right direction so I dont buy a dud!! Thanks Mamas!
My daughter has feeding issues, so I still need to feed her pureed food but want to feed her real food with more calories than comes in baby food...I use the "Magic Bullet" mini food processor...it was a gift from my husband's brother a few years ago...who knew it would come in so handy!!! I use it every day at least twice a day!!
I did wind up spending $150 on the babycook from Williams and Sonoma...it's paid for itself in 2 months. I can make organic babyfood for 8-11 cents per meal (compare that to 75-95 cents a meal). I like it because it both steams and blends--no need to strain. Comes with recipes (although, wandering through the babyfood isle will give you ideas, so I don't use the recipe book yet). But, I like it because I can throw it in the dishwasher, I can freeze what I cook (in baby cubes, find them on amazon.com) and I KNOW what's in the food! Plus, I've customized to my daughter's tastes as she's grown up (she's picky, likes bananas with oatmeal, but cannot throw pears in with it!). I'm also able to stretch meals by adding rice cereal and the remaining cooking liquid. I have also started whole grain organic rice with green beans...so, I feel good about what I make. It's spendy, but so darned easy...worth every penny!
I got a little chopper thing at Target for about $10. It was small I could take it with me when I went out of town. I chopped up a lot of the same foods to make them a little softer and easier to go down than just straight giving them regular table food. I think the chopper thing holds about a cup of food. It was great to get some veggies and cook them and chop them up. As your child gets more teeth you can continue to chop less and less to get him used to the textures. I used it to make baby food and then put it in little bowls and froze it for another day. The best part was it was 4 pieces: 1) the little bowl, 2) lid, 3) blade and 4) the motor with cord. It was easy to stick in the top shelf of the dishwasher and clean.
I dont really think that you need to process his food when he moves to "real" food. Just start off with soft foods, mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables, bread, things that he doesn't need a lot of teeth to work on. His teeth will start coming in soon and he will be able to eat just about anything that you offer to him.
I would think that you will probably still be using baby food for a while...9 months seems awfully young to be taking him completely off of baby food and move to table food.
BUT...if you do want to use a food processor...you could just use the blender, that is what I did when I made baby food for my children, I would fix a roast in water, add potatoes and carrots or green beans, then I would blend it (using the water that it had cooked in to thin it to the consistency that I wanted) in my blender.
