Product Review: Baby Brezza

One of the first big milestones in a baby’s life is getting to try real food.  As a parent, there are a few options to consider with baby food, with the main one being:  Do you buy or make the baby food?

From the beginning, I had decided that it couldn’t hurt to try and make homemade baby food.  I saw a number of positives when making it myself as opposed to buying it:  saves money, allows baby to try the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables, keeps more of the nutrients, it lets you control the batch size as well as the texture, and as baby gets older you can add in different herbs or spices to add new flavors.

With my twins I did the traditional bake, boil, steam, or keep fresh then blend in a food processor.  With my singleton I used the Baby Brezza.  Having used both techniques, I thought I would review the Baby Brezza in order to give new moms or moms new to making homemade baby food an idea of what would be the best or easiest choice for them.

PROS

• EXTREMELY SIMPLE!!  All you do is cut the food, push the button, and wait!  The Baby Brezza comes with a booklet that tells you a suggested amount of each type of food and how long to cook it for (ex. apples: 2 medium, cut into 1/4″ dice, steam for 15 minutes).  Once the food is in the container, you simply press the “steam and blend” button until it highlights the correct number of minutes (it only offers you 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 minutes) then start.  It steams the food that’s in the container and then once the selected amount of time is complete it automatically starts blending!  TADA!  You have just made fresh, homemade baby food!
• Only uses one dish – with the Baby Brezza you steam and blend in the same container! (This saves you time later because you don’t have multiple dishes to wash).
• You can do other things while it’s cooking – when I made baby food for my twins I would always have to keep an eye on the food to make sure that water wasn’t boiling over, the food was cooked enough, etc.  This time around, I have two 2.5 year olds to keep an eye on while making baby food and with this you simply hit start then forget about it until it’s done, leaving you time to play or get other things accomplished.
• Keeps nutrients in –  when steaming or boiling food, some of the nutrients are lost into the water used during the process.  With the Baby Brezza, that same water is used when pureeing the food, keeping more of the nutrients in.
• Makes junior foods easily too!  As baby gets older and can handle more of a chunky texture, you can steam the food then choose how long to blend it, therefore adjusting the texture to baby’s needs.
• Can also be used to defrost or reheat baby food.

CONS

• Cost – a Baby Brezza costs about $100.  Plus, if you want to get add-0n’s (the grain basket, the spatula, food containers, etc.) the costs can add up.  I must note however, that none of these add-ons are necessary and there are cheaper options for those add-ons).  Of course, you could always register for a Baby Brezza and hope that you get one as a gift, which is how I got mine 🙂
• Limited use – they Baby Brezza is really only useful through the baby and early toddler years.  Once your child no longer needs to eat “junior foods” and can eat exactly the same foods you do, it won’t be needed anymore.
• Batch sizes could be an issue – the Baby Brezza makes perfect batch sizes for my singleton.  It makes enough for me to have a few meals worth, plus some to freeze.  Looking back, if I had used this with my twins I would have had to do multiple batches or make more batches more often because we went through baby food QUICKLY!   So, if you are using this for multiple children you may not make as much food as if you used the stove, a pot, and a food processor.

Each person’s situation and needs are different.  With my twins, this probably wouldn’t have worked.  But with my daughter, I have LOVED my Baby Brezza.  It has made making baby food (while having a baby and twins running around) a piece of cake!  I’m pretty sure it is one of those baby items on the “10 items you don’t need for your baby” list and it’s true…you don’t NEED it.  But I know, in my case, it has made my life much easier while allowing my daughter to have fresh baby food!  Take the info and decide what you think.  Happy baby-food making 🙂