I purchased this item and then came home and read the reviews. I almost returned it, and then decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. Most of the other reviewers complained that it leaked. It does, but I just sit it in the sink to grind. Then there were complaints of the force you have to use to grind the food. I don't think that's the case at all. I think the key is the grinding motion. You have to push down on the green plastic part while grinding with your other hand. If it becomes hard to push, you simply keep grinding until it becomes easier to push. I believe most people are trying to grind it too fast. Also, I believe some of the complaints are because people aren't using food that has already been cooked. If you want to grind up a food such as squash, it is common sense, I think, that the food be cooked until soft. I just ground up cooked corn that was cut off the cob, and it ground up great.
Also, I think the thing to keep in mind with this product is price. It is only $10!
I feel that for under $10, you are getting a great product that does what it is supposed to do: grind up cooked foods in quantities suitable for feeding to a baby.
I really really like this product. The poor reviews seem to be from people who are not using it correctly and quite possibly did not read the directions to clear up their issues. I purchased this product 2nd hand, so it was well-used before me and by me as well.
#1 I have never seen metal shavings in our food nor have I had trouble with rust. I have hand washed it as well as put it in the dishwasher.
#2 The grinder plate/handle portion is EASY to remove. There is a knob at the top (blue in the picture) that you can tighten to prevent the handle from rotating. Once this is locked, it is quite easy to twist the grinder plate/handle piece out of the green plastic portion. This knob will also allow the handle to rotate faster or slower as needed, perhaps solving the problem that others mentioned about their wrists being sore from using this product. Also a problem that I have never had.
#3 I haven't ever had the base leak, there is a rubber seal that goes all around the "plunger" part that keeps liquid from leaking out.
#4 I have never had it "fall apart" while grinding. I suspect that this could happen if you do not have the grinder plate portion fully tightened into the green plastic base. Again, this could be achieved by fully tightening the knob at the top of the grinder plate/handle portion before trying to attach it to the base.
#5 This is for making baby food, not grinding hard foods. The food needs to be cooked until soft, except for some fruits which are already soft, before being run through the grinder.
#6 Yep, it is small-ish, makes ~1 portion at a time, which is perfect for early solids eaters and when you want to share table foods versus preparing large batches of food at once.
Overall, I love this grinder. I would definitely recommend it, we use it almost daily and couldn't be happier with the performance, which is why I just typed the longest review EVER!!! LOL
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This grinder is difficult to use. First, you need to assemble it and then load in the food to be ground, then put the grinding part on top and twist it to secure it on the chute. If your food is too tough, the grinder doesn't do anything, and any force you might use to press down on the grinder may result in the grate popping off and the food flying everywhere. My husband and I tried to use it on meat, which required one of us to push down, and the other to turn the grinder. Once you've done that, then the instructions say to simply remove the grinding plate (grate) and the handle. The grinding plate is impossible to remove as the force of turning and pressing down on it makes it screwed in so tight, you can't remove the grate unless you use an icepick or the tine of a metal fork to loosen it. The handle to turn the grinder is very small and hard to use. Your hand gets really tired and sore.
We discovered that putting the metal blade on upside down (with the flat part not against the grate) did a better job of moving the food upwards to the grate.
Also, if your food is overly moist or wet, the grinder leaks at the bottom.
I must also mention that there are a lot of parts to wash and some are small, they sometimes get lost in the sink or drying rack.
I believe Kidco has a manual grinder too, that has a bigger handle. We haven't tried it since we gave up on manual grinders. I also tried the Bella Cucina (like the Magic Bullet), which was the worst thing ever as plastic shavings from the lid went into the food from the edge of the cup. Each time you screw on the lid, the sharp lip of the cup would create little shavings from the lid (which is colored plastic) that sometimes fell into the ground up food.
I ended up getting a Cuisinart SmartStick with the chopper bowl accessory, and that worked fine. I also have the Kitchenaid stand mixer and had the food grinder attachment as a gift. We used that it grind mass quantities of meat that we froze so that we would have meat on hand. We would grind one whole rotisserie chicken (deboned) twice, and then package the loosely ground chicken in ziploc bags and freeze them. Then we would simply take one bag out and leave it in the fridge to thaw so she would have some meat to mix with soft cooked veggies. Any parent knows how difficult it is to ensure your baby gets the right amount of protein each day.
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Awesome little contraption! I'm a stickler for homemade baby food--I've never bought a jar (though I used baby food pouches on a very long airplane trip once). This little thing makes it so easy! And it's really easy to clean (with a brush). We use it 4 times a day to feed our 11-month-old, whose meals typically comprise a finger food appetizer, ground up entrees, and dessert of chopped up and pureed fruits. On a typical day, breakfast is a handful of blueberries, three or four blackberries, two strawberries, and 1/2 a banana milled together with three tablespoons of oatmeal cereal. It takes 5 minutes and the texture beats hand blending out of the water. Lunch and dinner entrees would be a seasonal veggies, protein, and pasta, rice, or quinoa, and other grains. Examples are roasted sweet potato milled up with some garlic, cumin, and millet or barley, or boiled milled peas and quinoa, or star pasta (ground in the mill) and homemade pureed pasta sauce. The mill does an awesome job with chicken, too--and I've tried it with pork sausage and lamb. Works beautifully. (Whoever said the food needs to be cooked soft is not using it properly. You've got to put some pressure on it, but churn slowly.Most everything we grind is raw) Desserts are whatever's fresh and in season : Mangoes, papaya, kiwi, peaches, nectarines, berries, pears, plums are fruits that stand up well to milling. (Mine doesn't leak--maybe white little collar hasn't been replaced properly? I can see how that can be annoying, though.)This, we pair with cut up grapes, and berries, or little apple pieces. I particularly love the Munchkin mill on trips--we just spent a month in Africa, and getting our baby's breakfast, dinner, and lunch in restaurants was 100 easier and better than giving him jarred stuff. All we really needed to take were the baby cereals: rice, oatmeal, millet and quinoa flakes. Using it so often and having traveled with it, it still works well--which is a super-bonus because it was less than $10. Love this thing!
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The small parts are too difficult to use and clean, and the grinder only works if the food is **very soft** (already soft enough to feed in small bites to our 6-9 month old) or if you push down on the top cylinder *very hard*. I could not make it work. Seems like the force I had to put on it just pushed the food through the grate--I couldn't tell that rotating the grinder did anything useful. One of the wand-style food blenders which comes with a mini chopper did the trick for us.
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I purchased this set when my son was just begining solids at 6 months. He is now almost 9 months and I just ordered 3 more sets to insure we always have one on hand. My son has always insisted on holding the spoon himself, and with other plastic and metal spoons I worried he would hurt himself. The spoon in this set it a soft flexible rubber so I just let my son hold it and play with it while I feed him with a more traditional baby spoon, this way I avoid the tug of war tantrums. The bowl suctions well to his highchair tray and is easily removed by gently pulling at the bottom of the suction cup to allow air to get in there. This may not be the set for everyone, but for us it has been wonderful!
