Homemade baby food

[mobear]

My baby is 6 months old and so far I have been feeding him store bought purées but I’d like to start making purées and food for him at home. Given the expense, baby food makers seem to have a short life span. I’m thinking about getting a Magimix instead. Has anyone bought a Magimix in this situation and found it useful?

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You can use any sort of blender and you can come by them pretty cheap. But I wouldn't invest in something you won't use yourself in the future because blended food isn't necessary and even if you choose to use it, it's only going to be for another month or two.

We used a stick blender, does the job and we still use it now DD is a toddler

I used a stick blender from Wilkos, cheap and did the job. Still have it now, have used it for blending sauces and stuff since (DD is 4).

Stick blender used here too.

My baby is 6 months and I either just mash her food with a fork or five finger foods. They don’t really need purée at 6 months

I had a stick blender that I used for soups etc so just used that.

At 6 months you can use a stick blender (£5), or just mash things. Things like sweet potato/ pumpkin mash with a fork.

It’s only a few weeks then they get better at eating. Now 12 months my little one has 8 teeth’s and eats the same we do with no mashing

I just used the smoothy maker. Still gets used all the time

Thanks all! I was thinking more going forward, as he gets older as well, whether the Magimix would be useful now and later. I think I'm unlikely to use a stick blender very much once he's done with purées.

I bought a kenwood chef, but I love cooking 😀

@mobear - we use our nutribullet a lot before baby and after, and did blitz a few things in that. We use it for soup/ curry pastes/ onions/ pancake/ smoothies etc usually.

@mobear we have a Kenwood stick blender that comes with a potato masher attachment. My sons are 18 and 15 and we still use that!

I also used the stick blender to make a pasta sauce with a load of veg in it, blend it in the pan to hide everything good you put in it. Also homemade soup, leek and potato or red pepper and tomato. Mine has a pan attachment so low down and wide. Really good for non-splashing.

I also have a Kenwood food processor that I use for batch cooking, so chopping 6 onions at a time or grating carrots - a good addition to bolognaise. I actually chop mine like they are crudities then put them down the feed tube to make tiny gratings it also helps blend up mushrooms and tinned plum tomatoes again for that bolognaise sauce.

I think it is good to think about the future. Magimix is expensive. I think you need to realistically think how often you will use it and realise it is heavy so lugging it out of the cupboard takes effort.

I would also say as someone who now has much older children, feed your child what you are eating, so if you make a Sunday roast, mash down the veg you have already cooked. You can make milder versions of things if they are spicy, dish up a small portion then add more spices for you. We never really fed our children "children's" food ie nuggets or those smilie face things. It means one meal for everyone in the future.

Should have said my stick blender came with a mini chopper.

A basic blender or food processor will do the job, best to do nice big batches and freeze.

Thank you all! I think I will have to mull it all over a little more. I definitely could get by with hand mixer for now.

@Caspianberg I used to have a Nutribullet, years ago, but never really got the hang of it. I know some people love them though!

@Tangledtresses & @TeaAlwaysTea I do love cooking. I used to have a KitchenAid stand mixer, I baked a lot, but this was back in my one-bed flat when space was at a premium and I didn't find it particularly useful for anything other baking. I thought the Magimix might be better for baking and cooking, and looks a bit more of a graspable shape/ size than the KitchenAid mixer. We're about to have a bespoke kitchen made though and I'm intent on getting an appliance cupboard in the hope I don't have to worry about lugging these kinds of things around.

Make sure baby is taking the blended food first before u buy something expensive.

I decided with second baby I was going to cook it all from scratch as it cost me a fortune buying pouches etc all the time but first born wouldn't eat my food 😆 so I thought if I get my food in her from the start she won't know any any different. I bought Tommee Tippee blender, got it half price at £12.50 and it was brilliant. As folk say buy a normal blender but u just want to blend up a little bit of what ur having for dinner u wld need to put loads in a normal blender for it to do it properly.

However she wouldn't take puréed food. We had to do baby led and give her normal food cut up accordingly. It was difficult in the first few months but she's a great eater now at 18 months and basically has what we are having. I was amazed she cld eat full sized pasta at 8 months old.

@mobear wow, an appliance cupboard. I am incredibly jealous. Mine live in a corner cupboard next to my instant pot! I have to lift them up onto the worktop.

I have a K-Mix stand mixer and we use it to make pizza dough for our Ooni pizza oven but we also use the standard mixer blade to shred cooked chicken breasts or pulled pork. My K-Mix lives out on the worktop, it is a thing of beauty.

My food processor came with a blender that goes on top. If you cook and bake then obviously a Magimix is a good investment piece.

@TeaAlwaysTea Is there a reason you picked the Kenwood over the Magimix? I assumed the Kenwood was more like the KitchenAid but I was basing that on the shape alone - maybe I need to look into the Kenwood too!

@999Alex I wanted to do baby-led weaning at first but DS can't get the hang of it. He's been good with purees so far, I'm actually a little taken aback by how much he eats! I want to try baby-led weaning again but I think he's a little while off being able to get the hang of it. I think I'm going to have to do a lot of batch cooking when I return to full time work in 5 months so I don't think volume will be an issue.

I had both, the stick blender & magi mix. I ended up selling the magi mix as the stick blender did the same job without all the washing up faff. I now have upgraded to a Bamix.

@mobear my Kenwood is similar to this www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/products/food-processors/multipro-classic/food-processor-fdm781ba-0w22000003 it comes with slicing/grating discs and the feed tube has 2 widths to it using an insert.

Basically I am probably a lot older than you I had a food processor that had been my work horse for almost 20 years and the Kenwood one I got was in Costco and a bargain so I bought it. It was a lovely upgrade and I use it a lot.

I did look at the Magimix with 3 bowls, the weight at around 12kg was double my Kenwood and as I said mine is in a bottom corner cupboard so I would be lifting it out plus I don't use it every day so double the weight and double the price. I had just forked out tens of thousands for a kitchen extension which saw new induction compatible pans plus a new crockery set so I felt like it was just one step too far.

Definitely do batch cooking when you return to work, also if you haven't got one get a slow cooker. Lots of "dump" meals on YouTube for inspiration. A lifesaver when you come home and dinner is already cooked for you.

We have a (tbf very old model) magi mix and a cheapo stick blender. We mostly do blw but when I do need to puree things I always use the stick blender - as pp says it is much less washing up!

The magimix is kind of useful for chopping veg finely for stews etc, but again, lots of washing up and you can always use a grater or a knife.

Very small Kenwood smoothie mixer thing. I also have a stick blender but didn't think it was that great and all the food got caught up in the bit around the blender. It was not as easy to use on small quantities. The cup / smoothie blender was better

@TeaAlwaysTea Thank you, that's really helpful! We do have a slow cooker, somewhere at the back of a cupboard. I have to say though, I don't think the bourguignon I made it in it was as nice as the one I made in my Le Creuset, but that was pre-DS, when I had the luxury of time!

At 6 months baby can eat normal food. No need for purees. Either mash it and spoon feed or give as finger food.

I think I only used a potato masher for potato, carrot, and swede for the first few weeks. Then we were onto what we ate, home made risotto with zillions of greens.
Don't overthink it.