7 Time-Saving Tools That Help You Switch Your Baby to Solid Food
It’s time to start solid foods with your baby (hooray!). You want your tot to have a wide-ranging palate (read: not a picky eater), so you’re excited to introduce your little one to all sorts of good foods like creamy avocado, naturally sweet bananas and fresh carrots. You’ve bookmarked several homemade baby food websites and pinned some healthy recipes for babies, but now you don’t where to begin and are considering making a baby food cocktail to chillax. For reals. As a mom to twin girls, I try to be as efficient as possible. Here are some of my favorite time-saving tools to help make healthy food for your babies.
1. OXO Tot Mash Maker Baby Food Mill ($25): As a working mom, I wanted to make healthy food for my girls in my beloved Vitamix. Fast forward to when I actually have time to make food — after they go to bed. Um, not a great time to cue up the blender! Enter a hand-powered baby food mill. You can easily and quietly mash up any type of food with a few cranks. Add a little water, breast milk or formula to make any food more pureed.
2. OXO Tot Baby Food Freezer Tray ($10): I find it’s easier to make a batch of baked sweet potatoes (or whatever I’m cooking) and freeze it than make fresh food every single day. I love these freezer trays that hold six one-ounce cubes of food. The silicone lid keeps food from getting freezer burn or other freezer food smells. When the trays are full, I put them in a bigger freezer-safe container for storage.
3. Baby Bullet Storage System ($20): I love that these little happy storage cups (complete with smiley faces) come with a turn dial to mark the date that you put the food in the container, because I can barely remember what I did in the morning, let alone when I made my girls’ food. The storage containers hold up to two ounces of food and are super easy to clean — nothing gets stuck in there.
4. FarmBox ($52): While I’d ideally love to buy all my veggies and fruits that I make for girls at my local farmers’ market, I don’t have a ton of time to do that. FarmBox, which was recently acquired by GrubMarket and is set to go national, delivers high quality, fresh produce to my doorstep. I opt for the every-two-weeks basket, which is plenty of good eats for a family of four.
5. Freezer-Safe Food Labels ($5): You probably know by now that moms have foggy brains, or at least I do. When I make batches of food for my girls, I like to use these freezer-safe, easy-to-remove food labels so I can remember when and what I made. You don’t want to hold up a bag of green-colored cubes of food and not remember what they were!
6. Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder ($4): When you’ve got little ones, you have to double check that foods aren’t choking hazards. This mesh feeder allows you to give your baby organic blueberries or mango slices without worrying about them choking. Or if your tot is teething (which is *the worst*), you can stick in a frozen cube of breastmilk or some frozen peas for them to gnaw on and numb those sore gums.
7. BabyBjorn Soft Bib 2-Pack ($22): Well-meaning folks will gift you all sorts of cute bibs that you’ll love, but when you’re starting out with solid foods, your baby is going to wear most of what they’re eating. These soft bibs are suuuper easy to clean. They catch crumbs, fallen carrot puree and sometimes little spoons. You’ll be thankful you have them in your life!
Got any amazing foods tips for new parents? Tweet us your best suggestions @BritandCo!
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(Featured photo via Getty)