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How do I freeze baby food?

How do I freeze baby food?

Expert guide on how to safely freeze food for your baby, plus how to defrost and reheat it

Lucy Dimbylow

Published: February 9, 2019 at 3:07 PM

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4 steps to freezing baby food

Use ice cube trays or small food pots, which have been washed at a high temperature.

Add the food into the trays or pots. Put the ice cube tray in a plastic bag. Remember that food will expand as it freezes, so don't overfill and leave enough space if you're freezing in sealed pot.

Label everything, with the name of the food and the date of freezing. "Frozen stewed apple looks much the same as frozen asparagus soup," warns registered nutritionist Jo Travers, "or mealtimes end up like Russian roulette! Write on the date of freezing so you know when it needs to be eaten by."

Put your food on the top shelf or as high up as possible. This helps to maintain the texture of the food better, as the top is usually the coldest part of the freezer, and so freezes more quickly.

Why and how do I use ice cube trays?

"Freezing baby food in ice cube trays allows you to defrost the small amounts your baby needs, when you need it," says nutritionist Jo Travers.

Flexible ice cube trays rather than solid ones are easier when popping out the frozen cubes.

Once they're fully frozen, quickly pop them all out onto a very clean surface. If you find they won't budge from the ice cube tray, run the back of the tray under cold water.

Place the cubes you want to keep (as long as they're still completely frozen) into a labelled plastic bag and return to the freezer.

How long can I keep food in the freezer for?

Cooked vegetable purees: 6-8 months
Cooked fruit purees: 6-8 months
Beef and lamb: 4-6 months
Poultry: 4-6 months
White fish (cod, haddock etc): 6-8 months
Oily fish (salmon, tuna etc): 3-4 months
Sliced bacon and sausages: 2-3 months
Soups and sauces: 3 months
Bread: 2-3 months

3 things you need to know about freezing safely

There’s no need to sterilise containers once your baby is 6 months as long as they haven’t had contact (or contained) milk products - but do make sure they’re clean
Check that your freezer is at the right temperature (below -18°C)
Cool food before putting it in your freezer

Our mums' advice about freezing baby food

Our forum is full of useful tips about freezing baby food from mums who are doing it every day. Anyone else had flying ice cubes?

Harjeet, who is a member of our MadeForMums community, shares: **"**I froze food that I cooked for the first and a half month as I found that when I made a batch of food my little lion only ate 3-4 spoons to begin with. After this time, I mostly feed him what we ate as a family, so not as necessary to freeze the food.

"Freezing food really helped me save time; I didn’t have to prepare food 3 times a day. It’s worth freezing food immediately (once cooled) so that there is a stock of food in the freezer for when you have no time to cook or when you are not well! I found that by freezing food I could just grab something out the freezer in the morning for his lunch and at lunch get something for his dinner.

"I food that most foods freeze well, only bananas, avocados, rice and bread I would say not to freeze.

"I froze food for the first month, freezing the food in ice cube trays worked a treat. I would freeze a batch of food, once frozen transfer them into a freezer bag and then the ice cube tray is free for the next batch of food.

"Also, I froze pre-prepared meals that I brought from the shops. If there was some left in the pouch or jar, just pop it into the ice cube trays and freeze to use for next time. Best to freeze on the day of opening the meal."

"That's a great tip about freezing any left over jar/pouch food," says Jodie-Lou, another member of our MadeForMums community. "I've only frozen home made foods and brought leftovers have gone to waste. I will defiantly do this from now on to save on food costs!

"I have found freezing chunks of fruit is good for when they are teething or just nice for a hot day."

How should I defrost frozen food?

"If you have frozen food in ice cube trays, the individual cubes are pretty quick to defrost," says Jo.

"You can do this in a microwave on the defrost setting straight from the freezer, or use the hot water method by putting the frozen food into a glass bowl and float that in a larger bowl of hot water - this takes 10-15 minutes.

"Otherwise, leave food to defrost in the fridge, but this can take several hours. Don’t leave your food out of the fridge to defrost as bacteria may grow more easily."

What food not to freeze

From a food safety point of view, there are few foods that cannot be frozen. However, the following foods tend not to freeze well:

Raw eggs in shells
Hard-boiled eggs
Watery fruit and veg such as lettuce, cucumber, melon
Leafy herbs like basil and chives
Egg-based sauces such as mayonnaise and hollandaise
Low-fat dairy produce like plain yoghurt, cottage cheese

What to do and not to do when reheating frozen baby food

Do reheat food until it’s piping hot all the way through and allow it to cool before serving.
Do feel free to freeze cooked food that contains ingredients that have already been frozen when raw (e.g. it’s fine to defrost a chicken breast, use it in a casserole, and then freeze the cooked casserole).
Do only reheat as much food as you think your baby will eat in one go.
Do eat food on the day of defrosting
Don’t just warm food through, as this doesn’t kill bacteria.
Don’t refreeze raw meat or chicken that has been frozen once already and defrosted.
Don’t reheat frozen food more than once (e.g. don’t defrost a large batch of puree, reheat it for your baby’s lunch, and then reheat the leftovers next day.

Read more:

Our weaning and baby food tips and recipes
How long can you keep frozen baby food for?
How often should you introduce new flavours to your baby?

Authors

Lucy Dimbylow