The innovation on cooking baby foods

Last thursday, I had a discussion with a friend regarding baby foods. She's a new mom of a barely 6 month old baby. She asked me how I prepared the baby food when my son was younger. For cereals (such as barley, rice, oats) and fruits, I just bought the Heinz baby foods. Heinz baby foods have the most natural taste compared to the other available brands in the market. For vegetables, I cooked them. I started with potatoes, then sweet potatoes, carrots, squash and so on. How did I do it? I just boil them, when it's soft enough to mash, I mash it. But most of the time, I want it really really soft. Some foods can block the respiratory tract and choke the baby. Also, babies cannot digest food well enough. I don't want my son to have tummy aches after. For the meat, you can either just boil it with plain water or you can saute it with a little oil, celery and onions to enhance the taste of the meat, then boil it until it's cooked. I usually do the latter, since it's tastier.

Advantages and Disadvantages of buying commercial purees

Advantages

• you're sure of the nutrients that your kid is getting. Some people would say that it's healthier.
  
• variety of choices
• ready to serve and practical. it makes a mom's life easier! All we have to do is pop it in the microwave to warm.

Disadvantages

• there's always a fear of the amount of preservatives injected in the food.
• it doesn't taste good
  
• not very easy on the budget. Price range per small container is $1 to $2 CAD.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Homemade purees

Advantages

• nothing beats a homemade food.
• very easy on the budget
• you prepared it, you cooked it, so you know what's inside.
• you can select the freshest ingredients
  
• no preservatives

Disadvantages

• when food is overcooked, you tend to destroy the vitamins and minerals inside. That's why I'm very skeptic when it comes to cooking the fruits because I tend to overcook the food.
  
• It's so time consuming. For a new mom without any help, preparing and cooking baby food could be overwhelming.

Between commercial and homemade, I'd still vouch for homemade. But, how can we have homemade purees in less time without sacrificing the quality of the food that we're giving our little ones. Then, this friend mentioned something about Beaba Babycook. I've never heard of Beaba babycook, so I began to research about it.

The Beaba Babycook is a one-of-a-kind, patented compact countertop appliance that functions as a steamer, blender, warmer and defroster to prepare fresh, healthy meals for baby. It starts by steam cooking vegetables, fruits and meats in less than 15 minutes, while preserving their vitamins and flavors. It then purees and blends them to the desired consistency. Parents can also use the Babycook to quickly reheat or defrost precooked foods. SOURCE

Judging by the description and the reviews, it's very practical to use. It will lessen the aches and pains of preparing baby food. In less than 15 minutes, you'll have a great food just for your little angel. It is available in Williams-Sonoma for $149.99.

On the other side of the coin, there was a review, that was published a year ago, regarding the presence of BPA in this gadget. Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is a difunctional building block of several important plastics and plastic additives. With an annual production of 2–3 million metric tonnes, it is an important monomer in the production of polycarbonate. Source

But on the Beaba website, look at the safety notices, it says that there's no BPA migration detected in the test by an international, independent testing laboratory. You can always email them to ask for the copy of the report. Anyway, after reading the reviews, I thought this is really worth buying. For my next one (not sure when!) I'd definitely be getting this.