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Author:
Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN
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Inside: The best baby food mill is a clear winner. It’s convenient, easy to use and easy to clean. Learn more about our pediatric dietitian’s favorite baby food maker.
If you’re starting solids with your baby, you may find yourself needing to turn adult food into baby food fast, and a baby food grinder is the best way to get there.
Whether you are doing baby-led weaning or puree-to-table-food, there are probably foods that your baby, who is just learning to eat solid foods, just isn’t ready to eat like an adult.
For example, maybe you’re out of town and you are going over to dinner at a friend’s house. You could let your baby eat spaghetti with their hands. The problem is, you won’t have access to a bath, you don’t have your usual baby gear, and your friend’s house isn’t ready for a spaghetti bomb.
This is where a baby food grinder, or a baby food mill, comes in handy.
What is a baby food grinder?
A baby food grinder or mill is a simple manual baby food maker that grinds up food. You put the food into the container, turn the crank (or use the masher) and you get a textured puree.
What is a textured puree?
A smooth puree is food that has been put into a blender and made into a perfectly smooth texture. Think of plain yogurt that has been well-stirred.
A textured puree, on the other hand, isn’t perfectly smooth. It is smooth-ish. A baby can swallow the food without chewing and it will go on a spoon, but there is more to it. Think of a sweet potato that has been mashed up really well with a fork.
Different foods put through a baby food grinder will have different textures.
The benefits of textured purees
Textured purees made with baby food grinders have benefits for babies.
When your baby eats foods that have been processed with a baby food mill, your baby learns to:
Have different textures in their mouth.
Eat the flavors of whatever other food the family is having.
Expect they will eat what everyone else is eating.
When your baby is exposed to many textures and flavors early in life, they can often continue to eat more textures and flavors later in life.
Some families choose to use flavor training to help their babies eat more flavors, such as vegetables.
Some families prefer to wait to expose their babies to flavors until they show the signs of readiness for eating solid foods. They go straight to solid foods using food that the rest of the family is eating.
Whether the family is using the baby-led weaning method or puree-to-table weaning methods, serving the baby family food is the best way to help them learn to eat family food when they are a toddler.
We have tried the most common baby food grinders on the market and have picked the one that we think is the best in terms of how easy it is to use and clean.
Traditional Food mills are also a good option if you have one or plan to get one to use in your cooking.
One thing to note, while they usually last a long time and can be used for other foods (mash potatoes), they are not very portable-friendly and usually require a bit of cleaning.
Not a food mill, but still very notable are mash-and-serve bowls. Mash-and-serve bowls can do a good job mashing food.
There are many types of mashers on the market – from potato mashers to forks to various baby-specific mashers. Using a fork is often equally convenient if a family wants to have less baby gear around.
Summary
Serving your baby textured purees can be a great way to help them eat more foods now and later as they begin to be choosy as a toddler. A baby food grinder can be a great tool in your tool box for this.
Created by experts, Kids Eat in Color is the leading resource for families seeking evidence-based information and strategies on child nutrition and feeding.
Jennifer Anderson is a registered dietitian and has a masters of science in public health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In 2019, she founded Kids Eat in Color®, a public health resource that improves child and family nutrition and mental health. Prior to starting Kids Eat in Color® she coordinated youth nutrition programs at a food bank, performed research in inner-city food deserts, and consulted for the USDA national office SNAP-Ed program. Her academic background is in public health nutrition, cultural anthropology, and economics.
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Inside: The best baby food mill is a clear winner. It’s convenient, easy to use and easy to clean. Learn more about our pediatric dietitian’s favorite baby food maker.
If you’re starting solids with your baby, you may find yourself needing to turn adult food into baby food fast, and a baby food grinder is the best way to get there.
Whether you are doing baby-led weaning or puree-to-table-food, there are probably foods that your baby, who is just learning to eat solid foods, just isn’t ready to eat like an adult.
For example, maybe you’re out of town and you are going over to dinner at a friend’s house. You could let your baby eat spaghetti with their hands. The problem is, you won’t have access to a bath, you don’t have your usual baby gear, and your friend’s house isn’t ready for a spaghetti bomb.
This is where a baby food grinder, or a baby food mill, comes in handy.
What is a baby food grinder?
A baby food grinder or mill is a simple manual baby food maker that grinds up food. You put the food into the container, turn the crank (or use the masher) and you get a textured puree.
What is a textured puree?
A smooth puree is food that has been put into a blender and made into a perfectly smooth texture. Think of plain yogurt that has been well-stirred.
A textured puree, on the other hand, isn’t perfectly smooth. It is smooth-ish. A baby can swallow the food without chewing and it will go on a spoon, but there is more to it. Think of a sweet potato that has been mashed up really well with a fork.
Different foods put through a baby food grinder will have different textures.
The benefits of textured purees
Textured purees made with baby food grinders have benefits for babies.
When your baby eats foods that have been processed with a baby food mill, your baby learns to:
When your baby is exposed to many textures and flavors early in life, they can often continue to eat more textures and flavors later in life.
Some families choose to use flavor training to help their babies eat more flavors, such as vegetables.
Some families prefer to wait to expose their babies to flavors until they show the signs of readiness for eating solid foods. They go straight to solid foods using food that the rest of the family is eating.
Whether the family is using the baby-led weaning method or puree-to-table weaning methods, serving the baby family food is the best way to help them learn to eat family food when they are a toddler.
This can help reduce or prevent picky eating and the baby food mill is a great tool to have in your back pocket.
The best baby food grinder
We have tried the most common baby food grinders on the market and have picked the one that we think is the best in terms of how easy it is to use and clean.
Our top pick is the OXO Tot Mash Maker Baby Food Mill.
This food mill is reliable, keeps the mess inside, and is easy to clean. It is also easy to stick into a diaper bag to bring with you.
Other baby food makers we have tested
1. Green Sprouts Fresh Baby Food Mill
This food mill has a classic design and seems like it will do a good job. But the crank does not reliably mill the food due to its design.
Families have reported that they are unable to process many foods, the crank just spins and doesn’t actually mill the food.
2. OXO Good Grips Food Mill
Traditional Food mills are also a good option if you have one or plan to get one to use in your cooking.
One thing to note, while they usually last a long time and can be used for other foods (mash potatoes), they are not very portable-friendly and usually require a bit of cleaning.
3. Nuk Mash and Serve Bowl
Not a food mill, but still very notable are mash-and-serve bowls. Mash-and-serve bowls can do a good job mashing food.
There are many types of mashers on the market – from potato mashers to forks to various baby-specific mashers. Using a fork is often equally convenient if a family wants to have less baby gear around.
Summary
Serving your baby textured purees can be a great way to help them eat more foods now and later as they begin to be choosy as a toddler. A baby food grinder can be a great tool in your tool box for this.
More helpful tips for starting solids