Weaning Twins: Annabel Karmel Review

So I’ve written about deciding when my twins were ready for weaning, and I’ve written about some of their first foods. So how about making your own baby food and storing it?

The team at Annabel Karmel very kindly sent me some products to test.

* The Annabel Karmel by NUK Food Masher and Bowl

                          * The Annabel Karmel by NUK Food Cube Tray with Lid

So where to start? Well 5 years ago, when Bunny was making her weaning journey, a friend’s mum gave me this book…
 Now whilst this book was published twelve years ago, I’m pretty sure there is a more up to date version (Actually Annabel Karmel has 26 books)! To some of you, me and my book are probably “so last century”, as there is also an Annabel Karmel APP with hundreds of recipes on! However, the book still has some great tips and recipes on infant nutrition. So after briefly skim reading the first two chapters, I steamed some carrot, sweet potato and swede, which just so happen to be some of my personal favourites in the land of veggies!

I put some of them in the AK bowl and used the AK masher to… well… mash! I was surprised at how quick and easy it was. The bowl has a ridged section which helps to grind the food smaller. The result was a puree with very small lumps. I could have probably mashed further to get the lumps out, but I decided instead to leave it slightly lumpy and freeze it for when the twins are on the next stage of weaning.

Whilst the masher was quick and easy to use, and ideal for travel (especially if you are going somewhere like the inlaws for a weekend). However if I were planning to make a batch of baby food to freeze, I would probably use a quicker method. For one off meals, or if you just want to mash up some of the family meal, so the babies can eat the same as you (provided you cooked with baby friendly ingredients), then it’s perfect!

So then I put our home-mashed baby food into the AK storage cubes ready to freeze. When they were in the box, they just looked like they were plastic, but when I got them out I was pleasantly surprised to find they were actually a high quality silicone type material. Flexible and bendy. This means that when it comes to defrosting and heating up the baby food, you don’t need to spend ages bashing the tray against the wall or trying to warm one section up first. You can just push the food cubes out and put the rest back in the freezer. The tray also has a lid to keep it all sealed.
If I had a bigger freezer I’d buy a few more of these bad boys and fill my freezer with homemade baby food. Sadly until I get that PR call from SMEG *wishful thinking*, I shall have to make do with one. Although one tray really is plenty as it will store 9 generous sized meals.

And for those days when you are feeling ultra lazy, have used up all your food cubes and quite frankly can’t be bothered to make any more, or you are going out and can’t keep your baby food cool… Annabel Karmel also make a range of Organic baby food pouches! Her press release states that after 6 months of age, you should start introducing meat and fish to your baby’s diet, as they need the proteins and fats in their diet. These pouches are a good way to do that if you are uncertain of putting these in your own purees.

So far the twins have sampled:
Cosy Cottage Pie,
Scrumptious Salmon & Sweet Potato,
Yummy Morrocan Chicken
Fruity Apple, Pear & Blueberry

…All of which, only use Organic and baby friendly ingredients.

Tiny wasn’t really a fan of the Morrocan chicken but they both loved the rest!

So how would you like to win the full range of Annabel Karmel Organic Baby Puree’s?
Well if you live in the UK… you can! Just complete the instructions in the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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