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.
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.
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 !
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!
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 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!
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.
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.
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 Kelly,
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!
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 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.
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!
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! - Beth =)
What a spectacular response I received from so many of you! Your responses have invigorated me to WANT to cook for my daughter. A rare feat indeed. I think my husband is jealous! Anyway, I’ll be going the plain old ice cube tray and freezer baggie route. Thank you, thank you, thank you!