Best way to feed baby?

We’ve tried all the methods. So pros and cons for each.
The prep machine - like you’ve said it’s not recommended so I personally would never use it again. It caused more problems than was worth.
The kettle method is the cheapest and I guess most straight forward but you either have to time it well or have a screaming baby while you cool the milk down.
The Nuby Rapid cool and flask was the best method for us we used that since he was 3 months to a year. Both at home and at night. The only con is we had to get two coz once you use it you can’t use it again for 2-3hrs while it cools back down and my LO had milk every 1-2 hours but honestly we used them so much it was worth every penny. If I’d known I’d have just ordered the twin pack from the start.
The final way (some people disagree on this so I’d check with your HV) is you can boil water and cool it all the way down and put it in a sterilised bottle in the fridge. Then when you make up a bottle you mix say 2oz freshly boiling water

…with your milk then top it up with cold boiled water. That’s basically what the prep machine does. Hope this helps!

Thank you! I’ve been thinking about the flask method (I’ve got a thermostat one as they’ve been highly recommended) and just a different one for the cooled boiled water so I can basically do what a prep machine does but feeding a baby is essential and I find it the most confusing and overwhelming

Kettle method.

but for a first time mum who doesn’t initially know when baby will be hungry how does this work?

With the kettle you can make bottles, and once cooled store them in the fridge for 24 hours. When you need them you can warm them up, we would place them in a jug of warm water.

I prep baby water or distilled/purified water in the bottles. When baby is hungry, I scoop the formula in, shake and done.

I was gifted a bottle warmer but never used it. I never used one with my first either.

We did this too, made all bottles a day in advance, kept in back of fruit and used a bottle warmer or jug of warm water to heat. Nuby rapidcool was only just out then or I would have jumped at it