Baby Food Basics - Part 2: Easy Freezing

Where were we?

Ah yes, greens and sweet potato diaper rash. Moving right along...

So I realized how time consuming the whole wash/peel/cube/steam/puree process could be, especially when preparing such small portions at a time. I'd heard about freezing the purees and so set out to find the most efficient and safe way to go about this process. Ice cube trays seemed to be the choice method, but I was concerned about plastic. I've converted almost entirely to glass food containers and wasn't about to store my baby's first food in toxin-leeching trays. After a bit of research I came upon some PVC/Phthalate-free trays with lids to prevent freezer burn.


They are just like ice cube trays, only with tight fitting lids. I have since found other varieties I may have chosen instead, but these worked just fine for me for what I needed.

**It's best to go ahead and freeze your purees as soon as they cool from cooking. In other words, don't leave it sitting in the fridge for a week and then freeze whatever is left of it.

I've found it's good to set aside a certain time of the week for some big time bulk baby food making and just dive into it so you're well prepared. Sunday evenings became my designated time. Honestly sometimes I would be in the kitchen for 3 hours straight. Peeling, chopping, steaming, pureeing, freezing. I know, I'm hard core. But it's so worth it to have it on hand for the rest of the week. Cami even has her own shelf in the freezer as well as in the fridge.

**Speaking of having on hand... I have not even mentioned this yet, but I was not opposed to feeding her organic jar food once in a while. There are times when convenience is necessary for a busy mommy and popping open an Earth's Best jar of winter squash at Grandma's can be a nice little break from all the prep and clean-up of the home-made stuff. Or when Daddy is baby sitting. Or when Mommy has the flu. Or when Mommy forgot to thaw some cubes the night before (see below) and Baby is screaming. I'll admit, at times I was tempted to totally switch over to jar food. I mean the organic stuff can't be that bad right? Okay, probably not, but fresh is always best and as long as I'm able, I'm going to provide the best for my baby. So when Publix ran a sale, I'd stock up on the jars and it was comforting knowing I had them to fall back on if need be. She preferred the homemade stuff over jar food anyway.

So once the food was frozen in the trays I popped out the cubes into freezer bags, labeled with food and date, then tossed them back into the freezer.

**Tip: run warm water over bottom of tray first for easy-to-pop cubes.

Each night before bed I would decide which food we needed for the next day, pick out enough cubes for however many meals, and seal them in a glass container in the fridge. This gives them just enough time to thaw for lunchtime. As far as warming them from the fridge, I used a bottle warmer and placed the mushy, thawed cubes in a glass baby food jar. It's not fun to try and thaw them immediately from frozen so do your best to remember. I usually kept a small amount of fresh food in a container in the fridge for times when I forgot to thaw some the night before (which happened often.) You kinda learn to work with your forgetfulness and come up with a functioning rotation.


**If baby doesn't finish her meal, you need to discard the remaining portion from the jar or dish. Bacteria passed from mouth to spoon can grow on the leftovers and contaminate the food. To eliminate waste, make a point to learn how much baby is eating per meal so you won't have to throw any away. Okay, that won't happen. Baby is unpredictable and you just have to deal with throwing out some of your hard work once in a while. Our dog, Harley, has had his fair portion of organic baby mush and he never complained so it wasn't an entire waste.

Some of our favorite freezables: carrots, cauliflower, butternut squash, broccoli, peas.
(Oh, and don't freeze avocado. Yuck.)

Once they've had their first tastes of all the basics, you can get creative with mixing them up.
Some combinations we like are:

-avocado and banana (neither frozen) – this makes a good and easy breakfast. Simply mash them together!

-carrot and tomato – tomato should be peeled, seeded and sauteed. You can eventually mix in cheese making this a tasty trio!

-spinach and butternut squash or sweet potato

-broccoli with almost anything - especially if they are still working towards an acquired taste for it. Mix it in with something they already love, like sweet potato.

I often referred to the book Top 100 Baby Purees. It includes pictures, tips and plenty of fun recipes to try. Some of which are actually tasty for the rest of the family... pre-pureed of course!

I realize all of this sounds like a lot of work compared to buying jar food, but it really isn't. If you take a few hours every other week or so, and develop a system that works, it can actually be fun. And it's so rewarding when you watch your baby react to new tastes, knowing that it's healthy and fresh and made by mommy and God.