How Did You Store Your Homemade Baby Food?

Hi K.!

I have made baby food four all four of my children, and I wouldn't do it any other way. I freeze it in regular ice cube trays that have been washed in the dishwasher and simply put them in the freezer uncovered. When they are frozen, I put them into 1 gallon bags labeled in the freezer. If you leave the food in the trays too long, they tend to shrivel up and loose water so watch the time. If you freeze in the morning, transfer them before you go to bed, or if in the evening, transfer first thing in the morning. You can figure out how much is in each cube by measuring first, but once you know what you want, puree and pour. It's easy to tell my husband/grandparents/babysitter how many cubes the baby needs. Meat has a different texture than you see in the jars, but the baby doesn't know that! For travelling, I have used jared meat and all my babies have done fine changing from store bought to homemade meat. Just try the store bought at home before you go so you don't have any surprises. I have travelled with homemade meat for the baby, I just worry more about its storage.

I have used both a regular blender and a hand mixer with a chopping blade to make my food.

Hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

I used regular ice-cube trays, then stored the frozen cubes in zip-top baggies. It worked great! The easiest is peas (don't even have to cook!) and soft fruits. Don't attempt green beans unless you really want to work... they're too stringy. Once my DS was ond enough to start meats, I started mixing broth with cereal. I made the broth into ice-cubes too. A great website for tips and recipes is: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Have fun!

Hi K.,

I purchased regular ice cube trays that came with covers. I got them online, but I think places like Target carry them as well. It was definitely handy to be able to stack the trays in the freezer. You only need to freeze them overnight or for about 12 hours and then you can transfer the cubes to a (labeled) freezer bag. It makes them much easier to access and it opens op your trays for another variety of food.

I found that making my own food was quite easy. My son now is a toddler and I use the trays as regular ice cube trays again until the next kid will come along!

Good luck!

I steamed/cooked fruit and veggies, then pureed them. (blended them, using their own juice they'd been cooked in, and sometimes some extra water, too)

I used regular ice cube trays, and didn't cover them. We never had any problems because of this, but the trays were the only uncovered thing in the freezer.

I stored the cubes in plastic zipper bags. When I made a lot of stuff at one time, I labelled it with dates and everything, but after a while I knew what was what without doing that.

I don't really cook or shop either, so I tried to do fairly big batches of these fruit and veggie cubes at once.

My son is 3 now, and he usually eats chunks of everything now, but I still cook some veggies in quantity ahead of time, and freeze them with the cube trays, or even blend some things, like squash. (that little boy LOVES squash!) I also use them to freeze small portions of homemade applesauce.

I always used regular ice cube trays. After the food was frozen, I moved it to freezer bags labeled with which kind of food it was. Then I thawed it, either alone or in combination with other kinds of fruits or vegetables. I never tried meat.

A friend of mine ended up buying some baby food in glass jars, and just froze the food in the glass jars once that food was gone. I'm sure she probably bought organic stuff to begin with so that her son's first food was good stuff. Have fun!

Hi K.,

We use the regular store-bought ice cube trays, though we use the flexible ones. We pour the food in them, leave in freezer until frozen then we pop the food out and transfer to a ziploc freezer bag. Works great!

I bought a dozen 4oz canning jars and used those. I'd just take out what I needed to start and when she got older I moved up to 8 oz jars.

I tried (once) the plastic ice cube trays with lids and I hated them! It was hard to keep the lid closed and I'm guessing now that I know more the plastic probably had BPA's in it too.

C.-WAHM of 4.5 y/o virtual twins
Owner: http://www.BeHappierAtHome.com

Way to go on making your own baby food! It is super easy and WAY cheaper. I made it for both my boys, and was surprised at how quick and easy it was. I would get whatever fresh or frozen fruit or veggies I wanted them to eat and just cook it in water on the stovetop until it was soft enough to put in the food processor (some fruits don't need to be cooked at all). Once pureed, just put in regular ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap. Later that day or the next morning, I would empty the frozen cubes into sandwich bags and lable item and date made. It works great and the cubes rarely stick together. There are lots of fun baby food cookbooks out there too, but I discovered that with my boys, when they were at the point of starting to want to eat what everyone else had, we just cut really little pieces up and let them use their fingers instead of us always feeding them. I think we only did baby food stuff for about 4 months. Good luck and have fun! - B. =)

I made both my kids babyfood. I never gave them anything else. Here is what I did.

I bought a steamer. fill it up with whatever you want like for instance a 2 pound bag of baby carrots. Once done I would mash or blend in a bowl and spoon into plain ice cube trays, cover with handy wrap and freeze. Then I would pop out into a ziplock back. At first you only use 1 cube. Just put one in a bowl on the counter to thaw-does not take long. If it is too thick just add a little water or formula to thin out. Warm slightly in the microwave. The best thing about this is you could make up a bunch of different kids of food now so when you are ready to start using them it is all ready. Much healthier than the stuff in the store.

Hi K.. I LOVE your baby's name--how do you say it?

Anyway, when my son was a baby, I made all his food as he was intolerant to rice, apples, and lactose. Rice and apples was in ALL the baby food back then, and well, he drank soy formula his entire first year.

I would make his food, and freeze it in a regular old ice cube tray(there's so much cool stuff out now to make baby food at home!). Sometimes I'd cover it, but most times not. You can pop the food out of the tray once it's frozen, and store the cubes in baggies so you can label what they are and dates. Once I defrosted one cube, if he had any left, I wouldn't save it past 24 hours in the fridge, like I wouldn't have w/the baby food my youngest ate.

I like your idea of 2 oz. containers. You could use pudding cups or small storage bowls too.

K. W

I would make cook and mash the food and put it in ice cube trays. Just regular ones will do. Then I would use an oversized ziplock baggie to put the entire tray in. It would keep the freezer burn from getting to the food and when I wanted to use it I would just take the tray out pop out a couple of cubes and nuke them in the microwave. Super easy. Good luck!

In my experience there came a time when my daughter was eating half a tray of ice cubes in one sitting! So I had to step up the production line! I switched to a muffin tin, spooned in the pureed stuff into each muffin hole and covered with foil to avoid freezer burn. Once frozen, you then have to leave the tray out for 10 mins or so, long enough for you to ease out each "pie" with a knife. Then load into ziploc bags and back in the freezer. She would eat 2 pies per meal. It turns out that each one is about the same volume as a jar of baby food, a good sized portion.

Hi. I used plain old ice cube trays, then transferred the frozen cubes to a gallon ziplock baggie and marked it with a sharpee pen. It was a great way to feed my little guy and I'll do it with the next ones. One cube fit perfectly into a clean baby food jar (can't be wonderwoman all the time) and made it super easy to travel to grandma's with. Now if I could only get him to eat that well now that he's a toddler! Best of luck and what a great gift to give your little one! S. D.

I just put it in ziploc baggies after it was frozen in ice trays. The cubes make it easy to measure the amount of food you need:)

God luck.

Just plain old ice cube trays are just fine. I prefer the more durable ones, but any will work. If you are worried about things falling and getting icky while the food is freezing, you can cover them loosely with plastic wrap, but I dont' think there is a need for it. In fact, if you are putting the food in the freezer while it is warm, it is best NOT to cover the trays or containers because it will be harder for bacteria to grow. You most certainly can store food in baggies after it is frozen, and the food will last longer if you do. Get the freezer kind...not just the everyday kind. That will keep the freezer burn from getting the food. I used to make up a bunch and then just thow all the cubes into a big gallon ziploc freezer bag, but depending on the amount you are making, you can use smaller bags....main point being that you don't need a different bag for each serving. Just dip into the big bag as needed. If you use a microwave to thaw/heat the food make sure to stir it VERY well and test it to make sure it's not too hot and there are no pockets of heat.

I used a combination of containers. We purchased a bunch of Gerber organics when we were "trying foods" to see if my daughter had any reactions (thankfully she didn't but I didn't want to make a batch of something and find out she did) we kept the containers (plastic rectangles with lids). Then I bought the individual 2oz ones with flapdown lids, they were just 'ok' the lids popped up if you put anything past the little line on the side. Then I started making food and realized we liked the Gerber ones the most--of course, the ones we had the least amount of for storing! We ended up using ice cube trays and storing them in baggies once they froze for what didn't fit in the Gerber containers.

Our daughter pretty much passed through the baby food phase quickly (2.5-3 months), so I literally only made about 2 batches of each kind of food and then one day, she just started eating whatever my husband and I ate--mashed up to pasty consistency. I nannied a little girl who never ate specially prepared baby food, her mom just used a food mill and whatever the family ate, she ate. She's now in her late teens and is the most adventurous eater I know!

Oh, and being a teacher has been the biggest blessing for me! I have seen my daughter thrive and love day care, and we get to spend lots of time together after school (her day care is super close to my school), on school breaks, and summer. You will be fine when you go back to work. Our jobs actually mean a lot to society! I'm not sure I'd feel the same if I had to sit in an office all day...hopefully, I'll never know!

I haven't read a bunch of these responses, so this might be a repeat...but here's what I did. I usually didn't actually make food up to freeze because I was pretty lazy. I just would peel something throw it microwave for a few minutes and mash it up. I also was really glad I didn't make a bunch up because my son really didn't do mashed up vegetables for very long and I had a bunch of friends with a ton of frozen vegetable cubes left in the freezer.

Super Baby Foods! Go to the library and check it out, or just order it online. It will be a great resource!!

We use ice cube trays by OXO that have a lid which makes it less messy to put them in the freezer. They aren't marketed for babies, but each cube is about 1 oz. so it makes it easier to measuring. We've given our daughter very little store bought food, but use the jars (from my sister) for storing food in the fridge. Most things defrost if I put them in the fridge the night before I want to use them. While it's in the freezer, we use quart size freezer ziploc/glad bags since they hold one ice cube tray plus, but there isn't so much extra plastic in my freezer. You have to use the freezer ones to prevent freezerburn. Ours also have a little area to write what it is, when we made it, and when it expires on it so when I pull out a bag of orange colored puree, I know if it's squash, sweet potato or carrot! :) E-mail me if I can be any more help! My daughter is just over 14 months and I've made almost all her food for the past 8 months. Also, a word of caution, but baby foods don't last a super long time (mostly 2-4 months) in the freezer so don't make too much at a time. Early on, I made 1 or 2 things weekly. That was about the rate we were going through things.

Other tips:
Buy the regular jar of applesauce. It's cheaper and easier. We get the Trader Joe's organic and I think it's $3. I made it early on until I realized it was about twice as much and a big pain to make it.

Buy the canned pumpkin. It's difficult to cook an entire pumpkin, but if you read the label, there is canned pumpkin on the market that doesn't have anything added. It's available at Whole Foods and Fred Meyer for sure.

Invest in a food processor. It's easy to get things super creamy which is important for the early foods.

Im not sure if Tupperware still has them but when my twins were little I used the hamburger patty stacker set. It is meant to store individual patties but works perfectly for babyfood. You just take the bottom one and the next one is still covered.

I use regular ice cube trays and cover them with plastic wrap. Once they are completely frozen I put them into zip lock baggies. This also frees up my ice cube trays to make other foods to keep the variety good in the freezer.

I made my own baby food for my daughter and used the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. The book describes several different freezing methods. I used plain old ice cube trays and covered them with foil until they were frozen. When the food was frozen I would transfer the cubes to ziploc bags and labeled them with the freeze date and the expiration date. This worked well when she got older and started eating chunkier food or slices of food. It was very convenient. Have fun!

Go to the library and check out Jessica Seinfield's new cook book.

Hi K.! I saw your post and noticed we have a lot in common. I am just a few months ahead of you. My son is 8 months and I am going back to school this year- I am a third grade teacher. Anyways, I do make most of his food (except for the hard stuff). I did not buy the special ice cube trays, I just used the normal ones. After putting the food into the trays, I just slipped a gallon size bag over them to let them freeze. It did not seal, but seems fine. As soon as they are frozen I store them in that same bag and write what it is and the date on it. This has worked well and is very easy. He started eating just one cube and is now eating two cubes mixed with cereal (usually oatmeal). I just throw a couple of cubes in the microwave at each feeding. Here is a great website for you to use:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Good luck!

R.

Hi K.,
Wanted to let you know about a book I found very helpful with feeding my first...Super Baby Food by Rugh Yaron. Has good advice about food prep., homemade baby cereals and so on. She is a little over the top in her insistance on some things but easily read past the opinions.
Happy Feeding!

Hi K.,

I made all my own baby food (with very few exceptions). I used regular ice cube trays. I just blended up the veggie ands scooped it into the trap. I froze it without a lid but I was also a vegetarian then so there were no meat products in my freezer. When it was frozen I stored it in a ziplock bag with the type of veggie and date. The only thing this didnt work cery well with was white potatoes. They dont freeze and reheat very well. There is a really great book called "Super Baby Food" that is the bible for making and introducing foods to infants.

Have fun!

Awesome - I love making baby food!! It just feels so good. When I made all of my daughter's food I put it in individual containers. They were easy to label when I was making multiple types of food, they stacked nicely in the freezer, and they were easy to grab and go. Best of luck!

L.

I used ice cube trays (the ones with the lids) and then popped out the cubes and kept them in labeled ziploc bags. Worked like a charm for me! Good luck!

Okay there are 2 methods I used one before I got a power juicer and one after. Before my juicer I cooked the veggies or fruit down with a little water and then sprayed a regular ice cube try with cooking spray and froze the food in it.

The method I used after I got my juicer was to juice the fresh fruit or veggies. Remove any huge pieces of skin from the pulp and add the juice back to the pulp until it was the right consistency for my dd. Depending on what it was I might cook it for a little while or add a little citric acid (ascorbic acid/vitamin C) to prevent browning and pop in the oiled ice cube tray till frozen solid. Honestly if you have access to a juicer I recommend this method as the food is exactly way you wanted with no extra water and looks, smells, and tastes 100% better.

Once cubes a solid I popped them into ziplocks or freezer containers labled with what they were.

Hi K.-

I would freeze it in ice cube trays then put it in ziplock freezer bags that were labeled with the date and what the food was. When I froze the trays I would cover them with syran wrap. Good luck !

When I made baby food, I just plopped it by spoonfulls onto a cookie sheet (maybe lined with wax paper or foil - it was over 12 years ago so I don't remember exactly) and when it was frozen just dumped it all into a ziplock bag and stored it in the freezer.

For breastmilk, I just pumped into the 4 oz bottles and froze it right in the bottle. They probably have a better system now with the little bags but my husband (he's great with somethingg but working with too many gadgets isn't his forte). It was just so easy for him to thaw it right in the bottle, put a nipple on and feed it to our kids.

Good luck, homemade babyfood is so easy and you don't have all the little jars too!

C.

I made up enough food to fill one ice cube tray, covered it with press and seal and froze. Once frozen, pop out the food and store in freezer bags, write the date and contents andyou are done! Food is best used within a month. What I discovered is that my daughter ate very small portions to start - so I only filled each ice cube compartment about a third to a half full. Also for fruits, I combined a small serving of fruit with a small serving of baby cereal (we used Earth's Best which is organic and not full of all the chemicals that Gerber uses). But after a month of strained or blended food, my daughter was tired of "baby food" and moved on to finger foods and has been self feeding ever since (she is now 9 1/2 months). I bought a food mill, but really didn'y need it, as a blender, strainer, and plain old masher worked just fine. Good for you for wanting to be healthy for your baby!

Hi K.,

I just poured it in ice cube trays and then when it was frozen cracked it into a freezer ziploc marked with the kind of food and date. I know a lot of people who have done it this way. Also, at one point and time I had a whole bunch of leftover baby food jars so I froze the food in there and just pulled a couple out the night before to thaw. Hope it helps!

D. Rylander
A Blessed Birth Doula Services
###-###-####
____@____.com

I used the Glad Mini Round containers. I think they hold 4 oz.

I haven't read the other responses, so sorry for any repeated info. First, I highly recommend the Super Baby Food book! As for storing...

I bought cheap ice cube trays (I think $1 each) and froze the pureed fruits or veggies with a piece of foil on top. Then I would pop out the cubes (which are about 1 oz.) and store them in marked/dated freezer bags. When I wanted to use one, I would microwave it for about 5 seconds and stir it well to make sure there was no icy chunks or hot spots. These cubes are also great for summer time - stick them in a Fresh Food Feeder (http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?section=devS...) and let them suck away on hot days (you might have to shave the cube down or cut it in half to make it fit).

When she was old enough for yogurt, I would buy 6 oz. containers of plain, organic, whole-milk, yogurt and mix in the fruit she had already had. It was cheap and a great way to introduce yogurt. After that we moved on to YoBaby and she still gets that for breakfast most mornings almost 2 years later (she still needs the extra fats from whole milk products because she's small).

When she got a bit older, I would make things like whole grain alphabet soup or high-fiber, high-protein pasta loaded with pureed veggies and white beans. I froze them directly in small glad or zip-lock containers and would thaw the portions overnight in the fridge before using. The 4oz. size is great for this and they stack perfectly!!

Another quick tip, is using pre-pureed foods in adult sized cans or just puree canned goods. This saved me a lot of time, because I would just open them up, puree in the blender (if needed) and fill up the trays. I would hit PCC and stock up every few weeks. :-)

More info about freezing in plastic has come out (same issues as heating foods/beverages in plastic), but honestly, I don't know how to avoid freezing in it. You can store the food in glass containers, but what do you freeze the cubes in? I haven't seen metal ice cube trays since I was little, and those probably had lead. LOL! I just make sure I never heat foods in plastic because at least I can control that.

It's been awhile since I was making baby food regularly, so I probably left out some ideas. I will admit, I never made my own rice cereal (Earth's Best makes great cereals, so I didn't find the need - or have the time). Also, I did buy organic jarred food when our daughter got older and I was only using 1 jar a day to add extra fruits or veggies to her diet. I just didn't have the time while making regular meals for her too. But for over a year, I did mostly make her foods and it was easy and great! Have fun and enjoy this time. I remember thinking I couldn't wait until our little girl was a bit older because it took so long to feed her, but now I miss that one-on-one time. Also, she's not a great eater (never has been) and meal-time takes longer than ever now because she's a super-independent 2 year old going on 14. ;-)