Storing Leftover Baby Food

Storing Leftover Baby Food

October 5th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Baby food can be expensive, and nobody wants to waste good food by having to throw it away after a feeding. Unfortunately, baby food can easily become contaminated, so use caution to avoid having to waste more food than is necessary and keep baby safe at the same time.

Avoiding Waste

Whether you are using homemade baby food or jarred food, the same rule applies; any food that has touched the spoon you used to feed the baby needs to be thrown away. After the spoon has been in your baby’s mouth, it carries bacteria back to the dish which then contaminates the food. If the bacteria are allowed to stay in the food and be re-introduced to your baby later, it could cause illness. Even if the food has been refrigerated, the bacteria can still proliferate and pose a danger to your baby.

It can be hard to tell how much your baby is going to eat at any given feeding. It’s possible you will need the entire portion you have set out, or the entire jar. If baby gets full halfway through, or really just isn’t in the mood after a few bites, that entire portion will have to hit the trash. Avoid this by spooning out small amounts at a time into a small bowl for feeding. If you need to add more, use a clean spoon – not the one you are feeding baby with – to add another portion to the bowl. This way you don’t contaminate all of the food. As long as you don’t put the feeding spoon into the main portion of food, you can safely refrigerate for later use.

How Long is Baby Food Good For?

This depends on any number of factors including whether the food is homemade or jarred, the type of food, and if it has been frozen and then thawed. A general rule of thumb to follow, however, is to toss anything in the fridge after 2-3 days. Some foods won’t even last that long. Baby cereal made with breast milk tends to get very soupy due to the action of enzymes in the breast milk. It is usually only good for the one feeding. Foods like bananas and avocadoes turn brown very quickly due to oxidation. While it isn’t necessarily bad for baby, it sure doesn’t look appetizing.

Meat, poultry, fish and eggs should be used within 24 hours, as they don’t last as long as fruits and vegetables and can become contaminated with bacteria easily.

Most jarred baby food will have instructions as to how long the food is good for once opened. Remember that the expiration date on the jar only refers to how long the food is good if the jar has not been opened! While the food can last quite a while with the lid sealed, the shelf life quickly diminishes once opened, even if you don’t feed directly from the jar.

Your baby’s immune system still isn’t ready to deal with a bacterial infection, so be sure to follow safe handling practices for all baby food. Although feeding from the jar is convenient, it isn’t safe if you want to feed the rest of the food later. Anything that is leftover, whether in the jar or in a bowl, should be thrown away right after the feeding if baby’s spoon was in the food. It might be hard to accept the waste, but your baby’s health is at stake.

How to Quickly, Easily, and Safely Make Your Own Baby Food

How to Quickly, Easily, and Safely Make Your Own Baby Food

February 22nd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Making your own baby food is an easy way to save money, to introduce your child to the same foods your family eats and to control what items you’re feeding your child. Making your own baby food is simple – you’ll need something to process the food such as a hand mill, blender or food processor. You’ll want storage containers such as ice cube trays as you can freeze baby food to keep it fresh much longer than storing it in the refrigerator.

Selecting Food Items

The majority of baby foods made at home include fruits and vegetables. To get the safest produce, you might opt to buy organic as these items will be free of pesticides and other toxins used in growing commercials plants. But you have the option to use fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Use fresh fruits and vegetables very soon and freeze the extra portions to ensure they are stored safely. Avoid vegetables high in nitrates such as carrots, beets, green beans and squash. You might use the organic varieties of these or buy them frozen as nitrates are less likely to appear in the frozen varieties.

Prepare the Raw Ingredients

To prepare the vegetables and some fruits, such as apples for the food processor, you’ll need to cook them. You can cook them until soft by steaming, baking or boiling. If you elect to boil the vegetables, use as little water as possible and pour as much as possible back into the blender with the rest of the food item. Remove peels, pits and seeds from applicable food items.

Preparing Fruits and Vegetables

To prepare the baby food, place the soft fruits and vegetables into a food processor, blender, or food mill. Add a bit of liquid – water, formula or breastmilk and puree until the mixture is smooth and soupy. If the food has small seeds, be sure to strain it before serving. Most preparations produce more than a single serving of food, so place the extra into ice cube trays, freeze and then store in freezer bags. You can simply thaw the item to have freshly prepared baby food at any time.

Preparing Grains

You can puree grains as well. Rice and millet can be cooked according to package instructions and then ground in a food mill or blender until smooth.

Preparing Meats

To make meat dishes for baby, you must first remove the skin and as much fat as possible from the piece of meat. Cook the meat and then place it into the hand mill or food processor. Add a bit of water and puree or grind it up. Older babies can handle the meat if it is cut up into very small pieces.

Storing Baby Food

As mentioned, you can freeze the extra portions of baby food and store them in the freezer. Ice cube trays make a nice serving size and are easy to use. Keeping the frozen food cubes in plastic bags allows you to label each with the date. You can keep fruits and vegetables for up to eight months if solidly frozen and meats and grains store up to two months.