It's not hard or time-consuming to cook baby food from scratch. I suppose if, for every baby-food meal, you had to bake or boil an entire squash and then puree it, then yes, it would take hours out of every day. But really, one butternut squash lasted my son like 2-3 months--you freeze it in ice cube trays and then dump the frozen cubes of food into a freezer bag, thaw 1-2 per meal. Same with just about any other pureed fruit or veggie. If the other family members eat generally healthy foods, then after allergies are ruled out, you can just blend up a little of your normal dinner (pot roasts and stews work great for this). By 9 or 10 months, some kids don't even need things pureed, just cut up really small and cooked soft (think peas & corn, soups minus the broth).

Some foods don't need even that much work: want baby bananas? just peel and mash with fork (I still can't believe someone would pay $1/jar for that!And those jars have added chemicals to keep the banana "fresh"!) Applesauce? Just buy the no-sugar added kind in the normal food section--a huge jar will cost you like $3 and feed the baby and 8 of his friends for a week.

You generally try a new food with a baby for 2-3 days in a row to rule out allergies, so you only need to prepare one or two new foods in a week, and they don't have labor-intensive prep (usually bake or boil, unseasoned, until soft, then puree).

As for buying a baby-food only food processor, that seems kind of silly to me. There are plenty of mini food processors or blenders (think magic bullet) on the market that don't have the customary "baby-label tax" built into the price. However, to each his own when it comes to kitchen gadgets I suppose :)

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My mom just took some of her dinner and put it in the food processor. No special cooking necessary. I think a blender or food processor would be more useful. Since they are larger you can use them for big projects, in addition to baby food.

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I all ways did my own baby foods with a blender grandma gave me. That was well over 40 years ago. The baby ate pretty much what we did. fruit, veggies, a little meat. I bought pablum. I don't even know if you can still get it any more. Thanks for taking me back a few years.

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Echoing the previous comments. There's no need for another appliance to do this.

Thirty years ago I was using this convenient food mill http://www.kidco.com/main.taf?erube_fh=kidco&kidco.submit.feedingproducts=1&kidco.step=1&kidco.bc=fd to feed my daughter from my own plate at home and in restaurants. It's low tech, inexpensive, available either on line or at major stores and wonderfully effective.

You can put 2 or 3 different kinds of food in the central tube. As you compress the tube and sweep with the little blade each comes through reasonably separate into the bowl-shaped portion from which you spoon it to the baby.

Wash up is a snap and completely dish washer safe. At the time, the food mill came with two screens for younger babies who require thoroughly puréed food and toddlers who are ready for more texture. The deluxe version comes with a nifty carrying case but, in truth, I never had a problem cleaning it with a napkin and a glass of water even in restaurants so that I could pop it in my diaper bag.

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Yeah, this is pretty useless. I made almost all of my son's baby food, and it's not that much work. Boil or roast some veggies, puree in the food processor, blender, or pass through a food mill - it's really not that big a deal. If you're that afraid of your kitchen, the solution is to learn how to cook, not buy another appliance.

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I make all my own baby food and my Cuisinart is a godsend. It is not a difficult thing to do I roast or steam all veggies, fruit and meats and them give them a good process. It was more smooth at the beginning and as my daughter got older ( 11 1/2 months now) I left more and more texture to the food. My only recommendation would be to avoid the boilbecause many of the nutrients flow away with the water as you drain the food

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My wife and I made all our son's baby food in a little "suribachi" bowl like this:

http://kousyakuhujin.blog11.fc2.com/blog-entry-170.html

Good for grinding up veggies, rice, whatever. We just fed him right out of the bowl. Talk about easy...

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IMO, another useless thing to take up space. Between my rice cooker/steamer, the oven, and a food processor/blender... I'm set with making my baby food. Other than that, just mashing up what we are eating is quick and easy (not to mention cheaper than buying jars). Oh and making your own food is so rewarding and it tastes a million times better than the jarred stuff.

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Here in France, almost all the mothers I know, including myself own a Babycook & it's also a really popular baby gift. Whether you have a food processor or not, this little gadget is great cos it steams & blends.

You just have to put all the ingredients in the steaming basket - even meat & veggies together & once it's cooked, pour it out to be pureed. It's convenient cos it all done in one appliance & the size is just right for portions for a baby.

I love my Babycook.

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I think what everyone here is missing is that this machine cooks the food also. Sure a blender of magic bullet would take care of pureeing the food, but only after you've dirtied pans cooking it.

I made all of my son's baby food myself and while I did use ice cube trays to cook larger items (think squash and sweet potatoes) I was still aware that there is no way to seal an ice cube tray and that nutrients were lost because of this. As a result, it made more sense to me to buy frozen organic vegetables and just cook one serving at a time, then puree it. That's 2-3 pans per meal when you follow a structured nutrition plan as I did. (Due to my husband's work schedule, we ate much later than my son so meal consolidation was not an option).

While I'm all for cutting every penny you can, I think the amount of time and water this device would save by cooking and pureeing the food in one container would be worth it; to me at least. When I think of the money spent on sinkfuls of water and dish soap, the cost probably be justified.

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I can see where it might be handy, especially for those who make it fresh at every meal, but I'm with the others here. I made all of my daughter's baby food, and if I was really crunched for time, I could open a can of no-salt green beans and puree that. Usually I was able to cook up fresh, and it wasn't always what we were eating but I could cook it at the same time that I already had the oven on anyway, and put the remainder in ice cube trays. For the poster who felt that the trays did not seal, I not only wrapped with plastic wrap pressed down on each section (especially for bananas and avacados, as they discolor) but also placed my trays in freezer ziplock bags. Once frozen I would pop the cubes out into the bag. Often I would cook more than one vegetable at a time so I had a variety in the freezer, especially as she got older and I could make combinations. Soon I mashed with forks and left chunks, my daughter was on table food by the time she was 8 mo. old, and even now she eats nearly anything I put in front of her, she will soon be 5. My 11 year old son, who I fed store-bought baby food, eats practically nothing.

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