The Tools for the Job

What do you NEED to make baby food?  Well let me start by saying that you are fully equipped to make baby food with just your normal kitchen appliances, but there are some things that make it easier to make and store baby food.  Here are my favorite baby food making tools:

For Cooking:

A Steamer:  Obviously when making baby food you don't have to steam your veggies (you can boil, roast,etc...) but for me this made my life so much easier.  You can simply peel and chop up a sweet potato and throw it in the steamer for about 20 minutes, or until it is soft enough to mash / puree and that's it.  If your baby is new to solid foods this could be a weeks worth of meals for your baby made in about a half hour start to finish...and most of that time (while the veggies are in the steamer) can be spent, playing with your baby, cleaning, napping, etc...

For Pureeing:

A mini food processor:  Once again you don't NEED one, but it will make your life much easier.  For alternatives to a mini food processor you can obviously use your regular size food processor, a blender, a hand blender and I found that a ricer works great for Sweet Potato's - you just want to make sure that the product that you choose will get you the consistency that is best for your baby.  Having said all that, I just found that the mini food processor was the perfect size for a batch of baby food and more convenient than lugging out one of the larger appliances. 

For Storage:
Stay-Fresh Baby Food Containers:  This is my favorite baby food storage container. I love it because you can freeze your baby food right in the container, you can pop it out of the freezer and through it in the diaper bag to bring along with you and can feed baby right out of the container when you are on the go. Another benefit it that they are stackable which will save a lot of room in your freezer especially if you are like me and like to make a bunch of puree's at one time.
For Feeding:

I keep it VERY simple...I buy the disposable bowl and spoon sets.  I do re-use them and they are fine to throw in you diswasher, but I like them because they are cheap so if you are out and leave the spoon on a table a restaurant or something you won't feel too bad about it.  I also use the Stay-Fresh Baby Food Containers (see above) as a bowl when serving the baby.