Beaba Babycook - What Hannah Did Next

Now my little girl has reached the six month mark, we have started the joyful task of weaning. She’s been pretty good in the fact that she’s been happy having only milk and didn’t appear to be showing any signs of wanting to start eating solids. So far, she’s not as keen as her brothers were.

I had wanted it to work out this way, partly because I only wanted her to have milk for factors such as making sure her digestive system is ready and reducing the risk of allergies but also because weaning is my least favourite milestone!

So rather reluctantly, I started to make preparations a few weeks ago, for her trying her first foods. I was then offered the Beaba Babycook Solo 4 in 1 steamer and blender to try out and this got me looking at the whole weaning process in a new light again. It’s just what I needed.

With my first son, I spent an awful lot of time preparing some god awful purees for him. I boiled vast quantities of fruit and veg in pans and ended up with sloppy, tasteless and rather lumpy offerings for him. Not surprisingly, he was none too keen on his first tastes! They probably contained zero nutritional content too. This put me off slightly, so when my second son was born, I didn’t even make any. Which in hindsight makes me feel a little guilty, although I was happy with second stage weaning where I made beef stews and fish dishes, that could be a little more textured and ‘lumpy’.

So this is where the Babycook has been a real game changer in terms of going back to scratch and achieving tasty results, third baby around. I’m used to juggling a few things in the kitchen but something that I consider a hassle to prepare, make and clean, is never going to work for me.

It couldn’t be more simple to use and for that reason, there are NO excuses for not producing your own nutritious purees really easily. There is one baby food brand that I really love and I actually think their food is tasty, so I will still use their products when needed, but this really means that you can cook up batches and always have food handy when you’re home. You can make a few different flavours to make various combinations and it’s much cheaper too.

All you need is your raw ingredients, chopped up and the machine really does do the rest for you. You fill the water reservoir up with water you measure out in the jug pictured. Then once the food is steamed, you remove the basket and pour the contents into the jug with the water it has been cooked in. After a few blitzes with the blender and you have a nice, smooth puree perfect for feeding your baby. Having ample water is the key ingredient to no lumps and the water that remains in the jug seems to be the right amount you need.

Here is some sweet potato and carrot chopped up in the basket ready to be steamed.

Once you’ve closed the lid, you simply press the button with the steam icon and the machine starts its cycle. It can take up to 15 minutes to cook through and once it’s finished, it alerts you with a beeping sound.

These silicone multiportions are really handy to use to decant the purees into. You then can pop it straight in the freezer for when you are ready to use it. Once it’s frozen you can then put the frozen portions into freezer bags if you like, which frees it up to be used again. The first time I used it, I was just going to the freezer to take the portions out as I needed them. The fact it’s silicon means that you can actually remove them indiviually, which is great if you have room in your freezer and don’t need to use the mould straight away again. It can also be cleaned in the dishwasher and used in the microwave and oven (without the lid).

Here are some additional items to use alongside the babycook. A container for steaming rice, with a spatula that can be used to lever it out of the jug. A storage container with measurements (available in various sizes) and this clever little seasoning diffuser ball. This means you can add some extra flavouring to your baby’s meals by popping this in the steam basket, infusing the flavour of herbs etc. Genius.

If you want your weaning experience to run smoothly and you want to see the Babycook in action, then you watch this quick video of me preparing a small batch of apple puree. See how easy it is!