Baby Food

Question: Mommies who make your own baby food...?

(Posted by: Liz (Tanner's getting a sib! on 2010-01-22 13:23:33)

How do you store the food after you make it? My son is 7 mos old (wow, the time has flown) and I am making his food. I puree it and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Then I pop the frozen food cubes out and put them in zip lock bags in the freezer. He's still at the beginning stages, so not eating much and the ziplock bags are being opened so much that they are tearing. I hate waste so I don't want to frivolously use these bags...I'd like something that will keep the food from getting freezer burned but also not take up a ton of room. For the time being, I'm preparing about 2- 3 wks worth of food for him (again, because he's only eating about 2 cubes per day) but down the road, it'll probably decrease to about a week's worth as he starts eating more and I make the same amount each time. Any tips on food storage, anything that's worked well for you? Thanks.

Posted by: d on 2010-01-22, 13:41:43

I used baggies and the small containers with lids. I found it much easier to use the baggies with ice cube size portions. Like someone else said invest in brand name sandwich baggies with a few cubes inside and then pop all the baggies into a freezer bag. It's nice to make up sizable batches so you aren't making baby food every 5 seconds lol.

Posted by: megalus03 on 2010-01-22, 13:28:03

You could just throw them in a shopping bag and tie a knot in the top... If you didn't want to use another ziploc bag. If you are using the food within a couple weeks it shouldn't freezer burn. We used actual Ziploc Brand bags and didn't have too much trouble with them tearing.

Posted by: Mary F Sunshine on 2010-01-22, 13:29:04

I used the same freezer (not just storage) gallon and quart size Zip-Lock brand bags for months without issue. I know some of the store brands tend to be less durable. Seriously, one box of name brand freezer weight bags is worth the cost.

Posted by: woostababy on 2010-01-22, 13:29:17

All i can suggest are those small pyrex glass containers. they will work well when hes older at least just empty out a shelf on the door and they fit there nicely. plus you can heat the food up in the container since you cant heat in plastic due to BPA.

Posted by: Patsy A on 2010-01-22, 13:31:54

Repeatedly opening the bags also lets impurities in, so I suggest you use sandwich size bags with fewer cubes in each. When I did that it was for twins, so we used them up faster. Back then there were no ziplock bags, so the cubes went into plastic bags with a twistie to close. Good for you, making your own! Just be sure to leave out the salt. He doesn't need it and the companies put in sugar and salt so it tastes better to moms.

Posted by: Cindy C on 2010-01-22, 13:36:25

You are making way to much at a time. why not make it for only a week at a time. or even make it daily and refrigerate it instead of freezing it. just fix a little extra food for your dinner and blend it up. you could also get little rubbermaid dishes to put it in instead of the plastic bags. very soon ,if not now, your son will be ready for finger foods. at this point just fix extra food when you eat and cut it up into bite size pieces EDIT: we were thinking about making baby food for our daughter. we looked at the ingredients on the jarred stuff and it's really not that bad. there is no seasoning,no salt,mainly all natural. money wise though we have WIC so we get jars free. For the person who said that "companies put salt and sugar in their stuff so it tastes good to mommies " have you ever tasted the jarred stuff?? it tastes horrible.

Posted by: cathrl69 on 2010-01-22, 14:42:56

I used to put my cubes in a plastic box designed for freezing food in. They're intended to be opened and closed at freezer temperature so survive better. I'm guessing you don't have Lakeland in the US, but any company which promotes home cooking and freezing should have something similar. The very cheap "freezer to microwave " ones tend to split.