Making and freezing your own baby food is often a less expensive and more convenient alternative to purchasing baby food from a grocery store. By using this method, you can guarantee your baby's food is fresh, natural and healthy without any of the usual preservatives store-bought baby food can carry. Use these steps to make and freeze your own baby food.
1Prepare fresh fruits. Ripe fruit such as bananas, prunes, cantaloupe, apricots and peaches are all types of ideal fruit you can freeze without having to cook them first.
2Cook fruits with a harder texture. Fruits such as pears and apples need to be boiled for 2 to 3 minutes or until the fruit is soft enough to stick a fork through it.
3Cook vegetables such as peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, squash and spinach by baking, boiling, or steaming.
4Feed your baby liver and well-cooked, unsalted meats. Liver is the easiest meat to blend and is rich in iron.
Choose a Puree Method
1Mash food using a fork or similar utensil. Whether you are preparing soft raw fruit such as bananas or cooked vegetables such as peas, a fork is usually the easiest way to mash the food.
2Use a blender. Cut your baby food into chunk sizes that work best in your blender and blend until it reaches your desired consistency.
3Use the straining method. Using a sieve or a strainer, you can push your baby's food through with a spoon until the results are no longer lumpy.
4Chop foods finely with a knife. Using an ideal knife for chopping, chop or dice baby food into sections small enough for them to eat without complications.
Decide on a Freezer Storing Method
Method 1: In Baby Food Containers
1Transfer the baby food to a jar that is freezable.
2Leave the cap on loosely.
3Stick the jar in the freezer.
4Wait for baby food to freeze.
Method 2: As Ice Cubes
1Use ice-cube trays with lids. Ice-cube trays have convenient serving sizes and often a single cube is enough to feed your baby. As your baby grows older, you may increase their serving size to 2 cubes.
- Ice-cube trays with lids will also help protect your baby food from freezer burn or odors from other food.
2Use freezer bags or storage bags with zip-tops. Zip-top bags are a safe way to protect your food from freezer burn, odors, and are easily disposable.
3Use the baking sheet method. Although using a cookie sheet or baking sheet may take up lots of room in your freezer, you can drop mounds of prepared baby food on them. Make sure you cover the baby food with food-safe wrap to prevent freezer burn.
- Since frozen baby foods generally take between 8 and 12 hours to thaw in a refrigerator, transfer foods from the freezer the night before. Use within 24 hours for fish, meat, and poultry and within 48 hours for all other foods.
- Use the baby food within 1 month after freezing to maintain taste and nutritional value.
- Some fruits such as bananas and pears will sometimes have natural discoloration from being exposed to air. Add 3 to 4 drops of lemon juice to the fruit before freezing it to avoid discoloration.
- Always label your frozen baby food with dates and descriptions to keep you aware of its freshness.
- Do not feed corn to babies because it is difficult for the digestive system to process.
- Never store baby food in glass jars unless the manufacturer of the jars state you may do so.
- Never feed your baby processed or pre-cooked lunch meats such as bologna or bacon. These foods contain a high amount of sodium and additives and are not healthy for your baby.
- Never cook your baby's food in a microwave. Not only does it remove important nutrients from food, but it may cause food to cook unevenly and potentially harm your baby.
Things You'll Need
- Cutting board
- Zip-top storage bags
- Ice-cube trays
- Chopping knife
- Pots for boiling
- Blank labels
- Strainer or sieve
Categories: Baby Recipes
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