making baby food and storing it

im about to make pears for my LO's. after i steam and puree them, i have to obviously store them. i bought a 5 lb bag from sams club.
my question is how do i store them and then re-heat them? i saw these ice cube trays with covers at babies r us but they were 15.00. that seems excessive for 2 ice cube trays, lol. can i just buy regular ice cube trays?

how do i defrost them and warm them for my kids? my bottle warmer comes with a baby food jar attachment but its for glass jars.

thanks for the help!!

 

I used regular ice cube trays. I covered them with wax paper. Just make sure you don't fill them too full, or the wax paper will stick to the cubes.

If you're freezing fruit, be aware that the fruit may turn brown. You can reduce the browning by using a bit of lemon juice. Also, when you thaw it, it might be watery. You can add a bit or cereal or powdered formula to thicken it up a bit. (Fruit does not freeze as nicely as veggies). I used the microwave to thaw it, but some would say not to do this, due to the risk of hot spots. I just made sure to stir it up really well and tested it multiple times to make sure there were no hot spots. You could thaw on the counter, but you'd have to plan ahead. Or thaw in a bowl of warm water. They may even like the fruit cold, especially if they are teething, so you don't really have to get it that warm.

 

Regular ice cube trays work GREAT!!!! And.. when your little ones get bigger and you need more food at one time, muffin tins and mini-loaf pans work excellent! :good:

I always steamed my veggies (I never froze fruit) and then mashed & froze them. I would then put the frozen veggies in a freezer bag (to free up the trays). I either let them thaw out naturally or used the microwave on them in a bowl.

Oops.. I read pears and thought peas. I would add some lemon juice as the pp stated. Good luck.

 

I used ice cube trays for freezing, and dumped them into Ziplocs once they were frozen. I heated the food in the microwave. Have fun! I really enjoyed making baby food!

 

I use regular ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap. I also found two trays with lids (Oxo) on clearance for $2 a piece, so I use those as well. I steam or bake their food, then puree it, and put it in a plastic bag and cut the corner off and squirt it in the cube like a cake frosting bag. Once frozen I dump them in a ziploc.

I actually don't heat up the food, I just put it in bowls with lids in the fridge the night before to let it thaw, then get it out about 10 minutes before I plan to feed them, heat up their milk and add some of the warm milk to it to take the chill off.

 

yep, regular ice-cube trays. I also like the silicone muffin pans... they make 3+ oz. sizes frozen... and are pretty easy to get out of the trays b/c they are flexible to dump into the bags to freeze.

and we serve a lot of cold food... my LOs will probably be amazed when food comes and its warm! there's only so much I can do... and microwaving is so hard to get it warm and not hot in places... I used to try to predict what I'd be serving for the next meal so that I'd have it thawing in the fridge ready to eat.

 

This exactly. I freeze fruit all the time (apart from bananas, papaya and avacado which don't freeze well) and have never had it turn brown (but even if it does go brown that is not going to do them any harm) and find it's the same consistency when defrosted as it was before freezing.

 

I do the regular ice cube tray method too - not the fancy kind. I microwave to heat, but I only do it enough to defrost, then stir. It is barely lukewarm - I messed until I found the perfect number of seconds. Also, many times I mix fruit, or even the veggies with oatmeal or rice cereal, which cools it down fast if I do heat it too long.

 

Pears are soooo yummy. I did want to mention though I have had the best luck when they are ripe, otherwise, the flavor is not near as good if you steam the heck out of pears that are not ripe yet, and sometimes when you puree unripened (even after steaming) you can never get that nice smooth, saucy consistency. Just an FYI so you don't cook the whole bag and are unhappy with the consistency. You can also bake them if you have a bunch - recipe on www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I am going to have to visit Sam's Club!

 

I use either use the 4oz ball canning jars or I will you a glass cooking pan and plop 1 tablespoon amount on it free it and scrap it off and put them in a glass container. I am werid though and do not like to freeze in plastic. I would just make sure your ice cube trays are BPA free since I think older ones aren't imo.

http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/home/258.php?pid=291&product=296 I have been really happy with the 4oz canning jars and just take them out when I put them down for their nap and heat of un the microwave for 30 sec and stir. I also never have problems the fruit turning brown using the canning jars, maybe because it has a good seal not sure though.

 

Personally, I wouldn't use lemon juice, esp. at your babies' age. My baby food making book says that babies can be pretty sensitive to acid in the early stages. As a pp mentioned, the browning doesn't mean your fruit is bad...the only people it really bothers is us.

Whenever possible, I let my foods thaw naturally. I don't usually dilute the puree w/ water before freezing it. Instead, I thin with hot tap water prior to feeding (mixing VERY thoroughly, of course). This way, I'm not microwaving nutrients out of the food. I do, however, use the microwave when I need to thaw quickly. You could always use the small snack-size ziplocs and hot water to thaw, too.

Eve