Making baby food is so much fun...until it comes to the 'freezing, storing, & thawing' part. To use a popular Russian saying, "If you love sledding, (learn to) love dragging the sled up the hill, too." The freezing, storing, and thawing is the 'dragging the sled up the hill' part.
I purchased a couple 2oz silicone containers (with lids) from Amazon and so far, they've been great. I recommend searching for 'ice cube trays', not 'baby food storage containers' because the price varies significantly. To me, the lids have been a life savor: 1). they prevent the 'freezer smell' 2). the lids allow you to stack the trays, saving you tons of room in your freezer 3). they lessen the amount of ice crystals that will form on the food.
Once the purees were frozen, I popped out each puree cube, quickly put it into a sandwich baggie, tried to expel as much air as possible (to lessen the crystallization), and seal it off. The 'quickly' came from making my husband do it with me.
The second time around, I wrapped each frozen food bit in plastic wrap, and THEN put that into a sandwich baggie. I think this was a bit redundant, but there was less crystallization on the food.
I then put each individual sandwich baggie into an even bigger freezer bag. Writing this really makes me think of how you can take the girl out of Russia, but can't take Russia out of the girl. I don't know what it is with Russians and 'bags' (especially cellophane), but I now see that I may have a problem with bagging things, and just bags in general (see self-psychoanalysis below, or skip it entirely).
UPDATE: Although wrapping in plastic wrap reduced the formation of ice crystals, it was a giant pain in the arse when reheating. I had to take it out of the bag, take the wrapping off, put it back in the bag...you get the idea. Not going to do that again.
1). Thaw
2). Cut
3). Squeeze!
1). Thaw in the Refrigerator:
This works best when if you're a planner, which I totally am...sometimes. It's easy to do, if you remember to do it the night before. Take out the amount you will use the next day and simply place in your refrigerator to slowly thaw overnight. I usually just toss a couple of sandwich baggies onto the lower shelves of the refrigerator.
Then, when you are ready to use you can warm to room temperature by placing the purees into a bowl of warm water. You can keep the thawed, unused baby food in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.
Here's a cool trick that works for me: I use my old french-press to thaw the food. It's nice because it holds hot liquids well, it's glass, and you can use the plunger to submerge the food. It only takes about ten minutes. I recently found yet another nifty way to use the french press...I can warm frozen cube of food & a container from the refrigerator, without entirely submerging the latter...I hafta say, I'm PRETTY STOKED about this.
2). Thaw in a warm liquid:
French press to the rescue again! This is how I normally end up heating Max's food. I grab a sandwich baggie from the freezer and thaw it in hot water for about 15 minutes.
3). Microwave in a microwave safe GLASS container:
You can also microwave the food. Make sure to check for hot spots, as microwaves tend to heat unevenly. Another thing to keep in mind is that different textures microwave differently. For example, I microwaved carrots for a total of 1:30 on 40% power and it worked great. However, this definitely scalded the apples. Many sites say to microwave in 15 second increments and to stir frequently. I don't have the patience to do stand near (not in front, haha) of the microwave. I only resort to the microwave when I've completely lost track of time and it's dinner time.
For some reason in the post-Soviet 90's, these Marlboro man plastic bags were THE shit. You could buy them at any kiosk. Later, they evolved to have shirtless men on them -- I remember my mom carrying one around all the time and me starting at pecks from an early age. I suppose that it could maybe be equated to having an Abercrombie & Fitch bag in high school? I don't know. Whatever it is, it worked, I subconsciously love bags.
Before you jump to conclusions about the smoking advertisement, let me show you a picture of what Soviet 'bags' looked like and then you will understand.
FREEZING
I don't know why, but freezing stuff grosses me out a little and that is why I took some extra (probably super unnecessary) steps freezing/thawing baby purees.I purchased a couple 2oz silicone containers (with lids) from Amazon and so far, they've been great. I recommend searching for 'ice cube trays', not 'baby food storage containers' because the price varies significantly. To me, the lids have been a life savor: 1). they prevent the 'freezer smell' 2). the lids allow you to stack the trays, saving you tons of room in your freezer 3). they lessen the amount of ice crystals that will form on the food.
Once the purees were frozen, I popped out each puree cube, quickly put it into a sandwich baggie, tried to expel as much air as possible (to lessen the crystallization), and seal it off. The 'quickly' came from making my husband do it with me.
UPDATE: Although wrapping in plastic wrap reduced the formation of ice crystals, it was a giant pain in the arse when reheating. I had to take it out of the bag, take the wrapping off, put it back in the bag...you get the idea. Not going to do that again.
THAWING
There are a quite a few ways to thaw baby food, I think it all depends on how much time and planning you put into it. The benefits of freezing in small sandwich baggies is that there's essentially no mess and less risk of contamination. Once the food is thawed, you can cut a small bit off the corner of the bag, you can simply squeeze it out into a bowl.1). Thaw
3). Squeeze!
Ways to Thaw Baby Food
1). Thaw in the Refrigerator:
This works best when if you're a planner, which I totally am...sometimes. It's easy to do, if you remember to do it the night before. Take out the amount you will use the next day and simply place in your refrigerator to slowly thaw overnight. I usually just toss a couple of sandwich baggies onto the lower shelves of the refrigerator.
Then, when you are ready to use you can warm to room temperature by placing the purees into a bowl of warm water. You can keep the thawed, unused baby food in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.
Here's a cool trick that works for me: I use my old french-press to thaw the food. It's nice because it holds hot liquids well, it's glass, and you can use the plunger to submerge the food. It only takes about ten minutes. I recently found yet another nifty way to use the french press...I can warm frozen cube of food & a container from the refrigerator, without entirely submerging the latter...I hafta say, I'm PRETTY STOKED about this.
 |
| Use the plunger as a divider! |
2). Thaw in a warm liquid:
French press to the rescue again! This is how I normally end up heating Max's food. I grab a sandwich baggie from the freezer and thaw it in hot water for about 15 minutes.
3). Microwave in a microwave safe GLASS container:
You can also microwave the food. Make sure to check for hot spots, as microwaves tend to heat unevenly. Another thing to keep in mind is that different textures microwave differently. For example, I microwaved carrots for a total of 1:30 on 40% power and it worked great. However, this definitely scalded the apples. Many sites say to microwave in 15 second increments and to stir frequently. I don't have the patience to do stand near (not in front, haha) of the microwave. I only resort to the microwave when I've completely lost track of time and it's dinner time.
For some reason in the post-Soviet 90's, these Marlboro man plastic bags were THE shit. You could buy them at any kiosk. Later, they evolved to have shirtless men on them -- I remember my mom carrying one around all the time and me starting at pecks from an early age. I suppose that it could maybe be equated to having an Abercrombie & Fitch bag in high school? I don't know. Whatever it is, it worked, I subconsciously love bags.
'Nuff said.