REVIEW: PHILIPS AVENT ESSENTIAL BABY FOOD MAKER

When Maliq turned 6 months, I was super excited to start his weaning journey, I had so much planned for him but when the time came, I only realised that I wasn't ready for it. Why? My plan was to make him fresh food every day but turns out that I have a battle with time. Even though I'm a sit at home mum, I seem to be always busy and I don't even have time to watch my favourite drama. LOL... Anyways... before we welcomed the Philip's Avent Baby Food Maker, I was cooking Maliqs' meals on the stove which was quite the hassle, it's like a game changer when I started to use a baby food maker instead. Why? Keep on reading to know...

A baby food maker is to help mothers prepare fresh meals for their baby who has already started weaning. It consists of a steamer and blender in one which saves you the hassle to do it manually buy having 2 appliances to do so. Actually doing it manually is not that bad after you got the hang of it but of course, as a modern mum, you'll prefer something simpler and easier to help you go through this process especially if you're a new mum like me. What I hated before was cooking and steaming on the stove, I had to keep running to the kitchen since mummies always multi-tasks right? Sometimes I tend to forget that I have something on the stove since I usually cook my sons' lunch after breakfast, the time where we don't go into the kitchen anymore. After cooking, then comes blending, which also played a role on why I wanted a baby food maker. The blender I had was used for cooking and of course, a lot of onions, chillies and other stuff were blended in there and I sometimes worry that it may be mixed into my sons' food as well even though we cleaned it well. Another thing is it's kinda hard to blend it exactly soft since the blender was not made for it, so I had to take some time to blend the food.

So when we received the Philips Avent Baby Food Maker I was so happy and relieved. Philips Avent is a brand that most of you know already and I bet that a lot of you have already owned some of their products. From what I know, Philips Avent has a few selections on baby food makers which differs in sizes and functions. The one I have is their basic food maker which functions to steam and blend only. Before I give my review on this, let's take a look closer on Philips Avent's baby food maker. Their build-up is rather simple actually, it consists of a steaming section at the side where you'll need to fill in water. The section is then heated up and the vapour of the water will then release through the side hole into the blending pot.

The blending pot consists of a steaming tray and also a blending knife below. For steaming, the food goes into the steaming tray which will then drain the food's water down at the blending pot which instantly separates the water from the food. This water is then used to blend the food together but you can choose how much water you'll want to use. 

Also, know that we could steam almost anything in this baby food maker but just make sure to know how long you'll have to steam the food for it to be fully cooked. For example, carrots take 20 minutes for it to be fully soft which requires 120ml of water into the steaming section while for chicken, it takes 30 minutes to fully cook which requires 180ml water. You'll know the time is up once the light at the steamer button goes out, which also means that the water at the steamer section has dried up fully. If you somehow feel that you're food isn't cooked especially with meat, just add a little more water in the steamer section and steam it a little longer. But I never had that problem with meat, it's fully cooked in just one steaming round.

Once you've steamed everything, you can then pour in you're food from the steaming tray into the blending pot. Only a few twists of the blender, you'll get a finely blended puree for your baby. It's just that easy. The knife is super sharp and the best thing about it is that it's detachable which means easy cleaning, and indeed it is. Compared to a normal blender, reaching to lower part for cleaning is a bit difficult sometimes, so having this option in a baby food maker makes you at ease that you'll know that your baby appliances are always clean and hygienic as the possibility to leave bits of food is less.

So after using it about a month over, here's my review on it.

It definitely makes your life easier especially for new mummies who are still learning like me. Since I had this, I could easily make baby food and multi-task as well. Even if I forget I'm steaming food it's okay since it won't get burnt. I could just leave it for half an hour and it's still okay. I love that it's used specifically for baby food so I could make small portions and avoid waste a lot. My baby doesn't each much yet, so I'll make sure I only cook the amount he'll be able to eat and that's so easy when I had this.

Besides it's function, I loved the design as well, it's elegant and compact too. I don't find this baby food maker that big as I'm able to fit it in anywhere in any kitchen. Yes, I'm guilty of bringing this here and there, especially when we go back to our mums for a few days. Having this makes it so easier, I don't have to search for suitable appliances at my mums' house to cook his food, I could just pour, steam and blend easily with this.

Below is a little demo on my first try with the food maker

There is actually a lot you can do with Avent's Baby Food Maker including cooking rice as well. I didn't know at first but mummy blogger @ayueidris taught me how. After that everything just became so simple. I'll do another post on how to cook with the Philips Avent Baby Food Maker soon.

Till then peeps!