I bought this to prepare quick meals for my 5 month old - but you need to add A LOT of food to fill the base column in order for the grinder to work. There is space between the blade and the piece that pushes up to it. If you only add a little food (a few carrots or a few pieces of broccoli) you grind just a tiny little bit and the balance of the food is left in the column and does not get pushed up to the top to reach the blade. Very frustrating! I wanted to make a little food for each meal, but instead have to put a lot of food in the column that I don't need just to reach the blade.