Many parents entertain thoughts of making their own baby food from scratch. Anyone who attempts it using this food grinder will find that it remains a fantasy.

At first blush, The First Years Compact Food Grinder looks like a nifty and useful gadget. It is composed of several separate plastic pieces (bowl, “blade,” hopper, and lid) that fit together nicely (but not necessarily easily) and stack compactly for storage. The lid supposedly allows you to store foods in the grinder for later grinding (unfortunately, my hypercautious husband found out the hard way that you are not supposed to boil the lid to sterilize it, as it shrinks and will no longer fit).

The grinder does not use blades to cut or chop food. Instead, it uses a perforated plastic disk to “squish” food into a pureed consistency. This would effective for softer foods such as cooked fruits and vegetables if it had been designed differently. Unfortunately, there is a large gap between “grinding” disk and the surface you are grinding against. This means that very little food actually makes it through the perforations into the bowl… the rest gets stuck to the grinding disk. I found it useless for tougher foods such as meats. Basically, the grinder (from now on to be called a "smoosher") can handle any food that can easily be mashed with a fork. So why not just use a fork? Good question…

The hopper holds a small amount of food – less than half a cup. This size is appropriate for preparing one serving, but not for mass production of meals to be frozen. The bowl holds more; about a cup.

Cleaning is a chore. The smoosher is difficult to take apart and has several nooks and crannies that are almost impossible to clean thoroughly. However, it is dishwasher-safe, and when broken down fits easily into the top rack of a dishwasher.

All things considered, I don’t think this smoosher meets anyone’s needs. If you’re serious about preparing your baby’s food from scratch, you will want a more heavy-duty grinder or chopper. And if you’re only interested in smashing some canned pears once in a while, you may as well use a fork or a food chopper with metal blades that could be used for other purposes as well. I give The First Years Compact Food Grinder a big thumbs-down.

Recommended: No