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Many commercial baby foods can be heavily processed, full of sugar and lead to expensive meals that is a huge drop in nutrition from milk (breast or formula). However, there is another way to get them the best post milk nutrition that they need…with a baby food maker.
With the use of a baby food blender, you can start to make your own puree using hand picked, fresh and healthy ingredients that you control. But which is the best on the UK market? We’ve reviewed 27 and handpicked a top 5.
Best Baby Food Blender UK Reviews
Contents
NutriBullet Baby Food Blender
NutriBullet are a household name in the when it comes to making fruit and veg blend niche and they do offer a baby food maker which is specific for baby food. The compact design of the main blender itself is similar but with a more pastel colour, rounder edges and ‘baby’ on the front. Make of that what you will.
The stainless steel blades and gadget operation is exactly the same as other NutriBullets (if you’ve ever used one) which creates blended food in seconds with a motor and sharp blades strong and sharp enough to cut down the toughest of ingredients. You can switch between smooth for young babies and chunky for older babies and toddlers.
The blade can even be used to mill down oats and grains which offers versatility to any amateur cook.
However, the magic of this product is in the accessories. You will get six small capacity storage cups, a larger cup and a big container for batch blending. The small storage cups are ideal for exact measurements for snacking and eating, the larger for bigger meals and older babies and the big bowl to keep the blended food in the fridge/freezer for batch cooking… to then pour into the smaller cups.
It’s easy to clean with a rinse under the tap with no awkward nooks or crannies for food to get stuck in and spoil over time, a common blender problem. All containers are dish washer safe so you can get back to the important things in life.
The NutriBullet baby food blender is absolutely fantastic at making baby food and will easily create the perfect meal or snack with your chosen ingredients in seconds. Featuring class leading accessories and storage cups so making baby food is not a chore but an enjoyable task for a cook of any level. It is one of the most expensive on the market but we think it’s worth it and can be used just as well as a normal blender and not just baby food. One of the best, certainly.
Philips Avent Baby food Steamer and Blender
We’re here to review the UK’s best baby food blenders but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t consider one that can also steam food. But first, we’ll talk about how well the compact Philips Avent blending gadget can blend meals in minutes.
They’re good. It’s easy to set up with a generous tub to put the ingredients in. The blender chops them up nicely into a puree and doesn’t struggle with tougher vegetables such as root vegetables. It even handles oats and grains well which enables you to offer a wide variety of flavours and textures to your children. Meat can also be blended but we wouldn’t recommend that for hygiene and nutrition reasons and cleaning it can be tricky.
Where it does lack, however, is the number of accessories it has on offer which is just a jug. The jug has good capacity, though, with a handy handle which makes it easy to pour out the contents. The reason why there’s little accessories and the jug is the way it is is because of the steaming capability.
It has a built in steamer which softens and keeps the nutrients in the food. This can be perfect for older babies/toddlers and for those who are going down the baby led weaning route. The steamer is a natural successor after the blender and it’s brilliant to have one in the house without having to buy a separate one.
Both the steam and blend features together makes this quite an expensive purchase but for those who are taking home cooking and proper weaning seriously this is well worth the price. But, if you’re looking for JUST a blender then this is not the one we’d recommend.
Babymoov Nutribaby Plus 5 in 1
The Babymoov nutribaby is perhaps one of the most complete and fully featured baby food makers on the UK market. It can blend, steam, heat up baby bottles, sterilise and defrosts and it can do these functions separately and at the same time. It has two separate pods with a useful central control unit to set the program.
The biggest benefit of this is that it becomes useful with a weaning baby and continues to be useful into toddlerhood and infancy. You may use the blender for pureed food at first then move on to the steaming and so on. It may be advertised as a steam blend defrost device for babies but it can do the same for adults all the same.
The babymoov steamer is handy but can take a little longer than we’d like to make, this is due to the lower power it uses. The blender creates mushy food but tougher veg may need an extra round of blending to get it perfect. Not so much a concern for a toddler.
It takes a large amount of space on your counter but that it because it combines 5 different devices on its own with a single control panel. The bowls are big enough for large batches, too. If you don’t have a blender, steamer or steriliser already then this could end up being a space saver. If you do have any of the above then perhaps the babymoov nutribaby product is a little too much.
Aside from the price tag, our biggest gripe with it is that it has been finished with cheap feeling plastic without a glass bowl and not at all how you’d expect it to considering the cost you pay. It still works but we did expect a classier finish.
Sensio Home Mini Food Chopper/Small Food Processor
What is one of the best baby food makers that is also one of the cheapest is a common question and one that’s asked for most products we review. For the answer we think take a look at the Sensio. You can usually grab this in the UK for less than £30 which is a fraction of the cost of the more pricier ones we’ve reviewed.
It is a simple compact blender and not a steamer and blender combo so bare that in mind.
The pricier ones are better, don’t get me wrong, but the Sensio will do the job of chopping stuff into small bits or into a puree blend. The 600ml capacity jug is quite large and generous so batch cooking is a possibility.
The drawbacks are a lack of safety features, exposed stainless steel blades and cheap feeling materials. But, if you want to save on cost you’ve got to give up on some luxuries. However, it is easy to clean and dishwasher safe and the ease of use scores high.
We wouldn’t recommend this product over the others but since we feel blended home food is so much better than store bought processed food it is better to have a cheap one than none at all for families on a tight budget.
OSTBA Hand Baby Food Blender
If you need both a baby food maker and a space saving gadget then why not consider a hand blender which doesn’t take much space in the kitchen. Comes with its own 700ml mixing bowl and baking beaker to chop food and smoothies and create great smooth batter for cakes if you need it.
It’s simple, cheap and effective and advertised as an all-in-one tool that doesn’t dominate the kitchen and won’t break the bank. The compact 400W motor inside is very powerful considering its low price of under £30 in most cases.
This is one of the best baby food blenders for those on a budget who want a food processor not just for the baby but for the parents as well.
Baby Food Maker Buying Guide
When your baby is ready to be weaned off formula milk from the breast or bottle one of the most popular ways to get started is with pureed and blended food. Pureed food doesn’t need chewing and is easy to digest for babies making it a safe from choking and chock full of nutrients.
Buying your baby’s pureed baby food in supermarkets can be expensive, especially over time and they come with them all the packaging which then needs to be recycled or binned. For any food that doesn’t get eaten then it invariably needs to be disposed off contributing to the high cost and waste.
Should baby food be blended?
The biggest benefit of blended food is to ensure they get the same nutrients that the whole food contained in a form which they can’t choke on and can consume easily. It’s one of the preferred method for parents who want their baby weaned earlier. They won’t need their full set of teeth to eat blended and pureed food.
However, there is a caveat here. Breastmilk is recommended exclusively for the first 6 months AT LEAST so blended food is not optimal at this age. Formula milk is similar. Also, blended food does not teach a child how not to choke on food (see baby led weaning) and it could delay when they acquire this skill – it is an essential skill.
But, if you are going to go off the milk then blended nutrient dense food is optimal.
So, blended food can be a huge boon if your baby likes it but parents should be advised not to rush the weaning stage and if you do choose to start offering blended food then some solids from time to time is recommended.
Can you use a normal blender for baby food?
Yes, absolutely. In terms of their operation a baby food maker for steaming and blending is no different to a normal one, the biggest differences between the two is the design and what accessories it can come with. A baby food maker will typically come with small cups and a recipe guide to help you get started, some may have a feature to control the consistency. The differences, however, can often make it worth getting a specialised one rather than a normal one.
Some examples of what can be thrown in is weetabix, but not so much quorn, toast or a milkshake.
Do I need a baby food blender?
A baby food blender and food processor is by no means an essential purchase but in time it can become an exceptionally handy tool in the house to create soups, purees and so on to help you expose your child to as many tastes and textures as possible. Batch cooking is also easier with a blender with large capacity containers. Homemade food is also much cheaper than buying it whole and processed so there’s some long term financial benefits here.
How effective a baby food blender depends on how you are planning to wean, how early and whether they were breastfed or formula fed. Baby lead weaning parents tend to use more solid foods to help them learn how to not choke on their food and less reliance on purees. Bottle fed babies tend to wean earlier than breastfed babies and a blender can help with this before all their teeth have come in to help them chew the solid foods.
It’s a handy tool for convenience but parents can take it or leave it.
What are the benefits of a baby food maker/baby food blender?
It’s convenient
Baby food blenders such as the ones above make it easy to make all kinds of foods at home such as soups and purees from every day ingredients such as fruit, vegetables and even meat and fish (wouldn’t recommend for baby). Buying pre-made food is expensive and leads to a lot of waste but using the raw ingredients and blending yourself saves a lot of money and time. No time to make anything big? Just chuck some veggies and off you go.
Helps with weaning
If you aren’t going down the route of baby-led weaning instead going for straight-forward weaning then using a blender can be great for that. Going from milk to purees can be a relatively easy transition and when you have your own baby food maker to help then it can make things easier for the reasons above. Having a blender to make healthy baby food also makes things a lot easier as milk is usually quite nutritious and easy to digest whereas ‘real’ food can be a challenge for young tums.
It’s healthier
A healthy baby should be fed food that resembles what they were in their original state – not processed. Using your own baby food maker means you know 100% of the stuff that’s going in whereas pre-made baby food is processed and can be full of sugar and ingredients you just don’t know about. There’s also the risk off allergies. Blenders can’t just help a healthy baby but healthy parents, too. Steam can help keep the nutrients in place while the compact gadget cooks.
Great for batch cooking
Blenders can help make batch cooking easier provided you have the counter space to store it all in the fridge/freezer. This means less trip to the shops, food always available and a lot less waste. The best baby food blenders should come with large food storage to help with this. Steam can still be used for large meal prepping.
Do you need a baby food steamer?
Although a steam blend gadget is useful and can make super tasty baby’s food it is still a luxury item in our eyes. But, if budget is not an issue then something that steams defrosts blend reheat can save so much time and money from having to buy a separate device to do it. The best baby food after breastmilk is of course wholly natural and organic fruits and vegetables high in vitamins and minerals and steam cooking helps keep the nutrients from being destroyed as they cook.
Should I use a food processor for meat?
In our opinion, baby’s food should not contain meat and fish. They can get the same nutrients from vegetables and fruit without the added complications of what meat and fish has inside. Their mini digestive system has only just got used to milk and meat could be too much for them at that age. It’s best to start with whole fruit and veg before considering meals with meat in it.
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