Making your own Baby Food is a smart idea if you want to save money and provide your baby with organic, healthy food. Store Bought baby food is nice, but if you want to control ingredients, making it at home is the way to go. You can use a blender, but buying one of the best baby food makers eases the process. Homemade baby food is in your future!
5 Best Baby Food Makers in January 2019
1. Beaba Babycook 4-in-1 Baby Food Maker
Beaba is the original baby food maker to hit the market. Beaba opened over 25 years ago, so you can trust their quality! The Babycook is a modern, sleek maker that uses a patented design to steam, blend, and reheat baby food in 15 minutes or less. You can defrost and reheat leftovers in a flash.
Beaba Babycook Overview
- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean
Removable parts are top-rack dishwasher safe. If it’s not removable, you need to wipe down with soap and water. It’s easy to keep clean!
- BPA-Free
We love that the Babycook is BPA, lead, and phthalate free!
- Different Functions
The Beaba is a 4-in-1 so it can steam, blend, reheat, and defrost. We love that it has a timer with an audible alert to let you know your meal is ready. You can do it all with their unique, one-handed operation. It opens with one touch. We also like that it shuts off with the timer.
The blending capacity lets you make around 18 servings of baby food at a time. You can make any stage of baby food, from soups to steamed veggies and applesauce. It’s versatile and fast. Chicken and potatoes are ready in 15 minutes from raw to puree!
- Capacity
The Babycook makes up to 4.7 cups of food at a time, which is one of the largest capacities unless you use a double. The bowl has graduation markings to let you know how much food you’re making.
Babycook is the most expensive on our list, but it’s also the most trustworthy brand. You get quality for your money, and many parents believe it’s worth the cost!
- Narrow footprint and removable cord for storage
- Stainless steel water reservoir
- Fast cooking time
- Beautiful design
- Learning curve
- Expensive
2. Sage Spoonfuls Immersion Hand Blender
If you want something that’s easy to use and just purees, Sage Spoonfuls is a great choice. You can puree food for your baby in seconds, perfect for all stages. All you need to do is pulse the immersion blender in the food processor attachment. Getting different textures and consistencies couldn’t be easier!
Sage Spoonfuls Overview
- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean
For easy cleanup, the attachments are all dishwasher safe. The blender itself cannot go into the dishwasher because it’s electric, but you can hand wash that portion.
- BPA-Free
All of the components of the Sage Spoonfuls are BPA, phthalate, lead, and PVC free!
- Different Functions
Sage Spoonfuls is different than a few of the other options because it doesn’t cook the food for you. It’s an immersion blender that purees food that you put into the food processor attachment. This actually means that you can use it beyond the baby food making stage. Use it to make soups, smoothies, sauces, and more! It’s a useful blender.
- Capacity
WIth the Sage Spoonfuls, there is no set capacity. It’s only determined by the pot or bowl that you use to hold the food that needs to be pureed. Make one serving or 20 – it’s up to you!
If you want something that’s versatile and that you can use outside of baby food making, we think the Sage Spoonfuls is a great pick. It works great for huge batches of applesauce or tomato sauce! The food processor attachment is quite small and the lid doesn’t work well. It’s best used in a large bowl!
- Super quiet motor
- Quick and easy to use
- Usable after baby grows up
- Easy to clean
- Lid falls off food processor attachment
- Might leave lumps behind
- Doesn’t do any other function
3. Magic Baby Bullet Care System
The Baby Bullet can make an entire week’s worth of food in only a few minutes. It’s one of the best-known choices and parents love it! Parents love that it includes everything you need. You get the blender and the storage containers needed to prepare up to a week’s worth of food. That means you don’t have to buy everything separately and parents love that. Plus, the price is awesome and very affordable.
Magic Baby Bullet Overview
- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean
The parts are top-rack dishwasher safe. Magic Bullet does recommend that you hand wash the blades if possible to prevent rusting.
- BPA-Free
Baby Bullet made sure that their product was free of any toxins that could harm your baby. It’s all BPA free, so the plastic is safe. No phthalates or lead are used in the unit either!
- Different Functions
The Baby Bullet only performs one function – pureeing. However, the set comes with six date dial storage cups, a spatula, 1 short cup, 1 larger bowl, a freezer tray and lid, and two different blades. You can use this set to store the food in the freezer or fresh in your fridge. The date dial lets you keep track of when the food was made in the fridge.
- Capacity
The small cup holds 12 ounces, which is equivalent to 1.5 cups. The batch bowl holds 32 ounces, so 4 cups at a time.
If you don’t mind having to cook the food separately, the Baby Bullet is a great pick. We don’t understand why all components aren’t dishwasher safe, and we noticed that it does take longer than seconds to get the right consistency. However, at this price, it’s worth it!
- 2 blending blades for purees and cereal
- Storage containers included
- Easy to use
- Small, easy to store in a cabinet
- Takes longer than stated to puree
- Doesn’t cook food
- Not all parts are dishwasher safe
4. QOOC 4-in-1 Mini Baby Food Maker
If you want to save room on your counters or just puree small batches at a time, the QOOC is the unit for you! The QOOC is a 4-in-1 unit that steam, blend, defrost, and reheat. We love that this unit is definitely one of the quietest. It will never scare your child or you!
QOOC Mini Baby Food Maker Overview
- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean
All of the components of the QOOC are dishwasher safe for easy cleanup! Plus parents say that it’s easy to assemble and disassemble.
- BPA-Free
QOOC went above and beyond with their materials. They use Tritan materials that are 100% baby safe, and no BPA comes near your baby’s food! This unit is also lead and phthalate free.
- Different Functions
You can steam, blend, defrost, and reheat with this one machine. The dial on the front allows you to mix and release as you need to create the right consistency for your baby. It’s definitely a one-handed operation.
- Capacity
One of the main differences with the QOOC is that it’s a mini maker, so it only makes around 1.5 cups of food at a time. The tradeoff for that is its small footprint on your countertops. If space is a premium for you, the QOOC is an awesome pick.
This modern looking baby food maker is a great choice but not ideal if you want to make large batches. Since it makes less than 2 cups at a time, you’ll have to do a lot of work to puree freezer batches. If you want something to puree as needed, we think the QOOC is awesome!
- Easy to use
- Free of toxic chemicals
- Dishwasher friendly
- Easy to assemble
- Basket easily stained
- Makes small amount
5. MLiter All-in-One Baby Food Maker
The MLiter is a BPA-free, FDA-approved all-in-one baby food maker that performs five functions! This unit can steam, blend, sterilize, reheat, and defrost. It allows you to prepare fruits, vegetables, fish, or meat from raw to any stage of baby food that you can imagine. The process takes 15 to 20 minutes from start to finish!
MLiter Baby Food Maker Overview
- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean
MLiter scores point because cleaning is a breeze. The steaming baskets, splash shield, jar lid, heat cover, and detachable blades are all dishwasher safe.
- BPA-Free
Not only is the MLiter BPA free, but it’s also lead and phthalate free.
- Different Functions
The MLiter performs 5 different functions, so let’s take a look at each one!
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- Steam: 3 steaming baskets lets you steam different food at the same time.
- Blend: Puree up your fresh or steamed veggies, fruits, or meats.
- Sterilize: You can sterilize teething toys, pacifiers, or baby bottles.
- Reheat: Use this function to reheat baby food to the correct temperature.
- Defrost: Defrost your frozen baby food cubes quickly.
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- Capacity
It has a 4 cup (1,000mL) blending jar. The three steaming baskets have different capacities as well: 150mL, 350mL, and 750mL.
The small footprint and multiple functions make the MLiter an awesome choice. It is a newer brand on the market, so we aren’t too sure yet how it’ll stand up over time. Parents love it so far! We wish that you could puree and blend at the same time, which would make this super useful. However, all of the features make it a great choice.
- Transparent so you can watch the water reservoir
- Small footprint on countertops
- Performs 5 functions
- Can steam more than one food at a time
- Instructions are hard to follow
- Can’t puree and blend at the same time.
Frequently Asked Questions about Baby Food Makers
Why Should I Make My Own Baby Food?
There are plenty of benefits to making your baby food at home! Here are a few to consider.
- Save Money: Buying store-bought can be expensive! An average American baby eats 600 jars. Depending on the brand, that’s between $600 and $900! Preparing your own baby food saves you a lot of money.
- You Control The Ingredients: Some baby food companies add preservatives and sugar to their recipes. Plus, you have to consider the pesticides and chemicals used in the growing of the fruits and vegetables. When you make it at home, you know exactly what you’re feeding your baby! You control the quality and ingredients.
- Add Variety to the Food: When you buy food, you’re limited to the combinations and ingredients that the company selects. Making it at home means you don’t have any limitations. You can expose your baby to more flavors and textures so your kid will be happy every time you set him into his high chair!
Do I Really Need a Baby Food Maker?
The short answer is no, you don’t absolutely NEED a baby food maker if you already have a food processor or blender. Actually, you could do it all by hand if you wanted and still provide your baby with wholesome, nutritional, and yummy food.
So really, we could list a baby food maker as a luxury rather than a necessity, but it’s an awesome luxury that saves you time. You pay for convenience, whether it’s fast food or a baby food maker. Time is a premium, and you only have so many hours in a day. If a baby food maker saves you an hour or two a week, that’s well worth it!
What’s Better - An All-in-One Machine or a Manual Food Mill?
As you might imagine, an all-in-one machine does everything for you, while a manual mill requires you to steam or roast the veggies and then mash it by hand. There are pros and cons for each variety. Let’s take a look at why you might – or might not – want an all-in-one machine. The pros and cons are flip-flopped for a manual food mill!
- Cooks veggies for you
- All you need to do is wash and peel
- Saves time
- Larger – Takes up countertop space
- More parts to clean
- Expensive
What are the Downsides of Making Baby Food?
The most obvious disadvantage is that it’s time-consuming. Grabbing pouches and jars at the store when you’re already grocery shopping takes a lot less time than preparing food at home.
Another disadvantage is that the food doesn’t have a long shelf life unless you freeze it. If your baby doesn’t eat it within a few days, it will need to be tossed out, wasting food and your time! Plus, prepackaged food can be taken anywhere with you because it doesn’t typically need to be refrigerated.
Homemade baby food can’t just be tossed into the diaper bag. You need to think ahead, defrost it, put it into a jar or pouch, and keep it cold. That’s harder when traveling.
The Criteria Used to Pick the Best Baby Food Maker
Once you decide if you prefer a manual or an electric baby food maker, you get to compare all of the different criteria. Picking one seems easy, but we all know moms can be indecisive! When faced with several great choices, it makes the decision hard.
So, here is what we looked at when we picked our top 5 choices.
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- Dishwasher Safe & Easy to Clean: First, you really want it to be easy to clean. Baby food makers tend to have several parts and having to hand wash everything will be time sucking. Being able to put everything in the dishwasher will save you time. You want it to wipe clean easily and not show smudges.
- BPA-Free: BPA stands for Bisphenol A, which is a compound used in plastic that you might find in food storage containers. It is quite controversial, and most experts recommend that BPA not contact food. Since it might be harmful to humans, pick a baby food maker that is BPA-free.
- Different Functions: Take a look at the functions that the maker has. Many parents prefer machines with a steamer function. Steaming foods preserve the valuable nutrients in food, while also locking in the flavor.
- Capacity: If you want to be able to make large batches of food at one time, you need a baby food maker that can handle that capacity. The downside is that these machines will take up more space. Ones that make smaller batches are smaller in size as well.
Conclusion – Is There a Best Baby Food Maker?
Shopping for the right baby food maker should be fun! Your baby is able to enter an exciting new stage of their life. Watching your child try new foods is always exciting, worthy of plenty of home videos.
There is no right baby food maker for everyone, but there is a perfect choice for you and your baby. Think about the type of maker you want, and don’t forget to consider your budget. You don’t have to spend your whole paycheck! You can find choices in all budget realms, and they still make homemade baby food. Before you know it, you’ll be mixing up fun recipes for your baby to enjoy at mealtime.
- Prepare fruits, vegetables, meat or fish from raw to any stage baby food in 15 minutes.
- Simple to use Stainless Steel Immersion Blender and Food Processor.
- Make a healthy, nutritional baby food in less than 5 minutes.
- 4 Powerful functions in one compact appliance with innovative one-handed controls & quiet motor.
- Designed with all features in one: steam, sterilize, blend, chop, defrost, and reheat. Easy to use, reliable, efficient, safe.
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