For those who make (or have made) baby food

[Janna]

If you make/made your own baby food, how would you store the food to transport if you were say, going out to eat, going to a baby sitter, or just being away from the house for a day? The only thing I have thought to do is to buy some commercial baby food and use those jars (the few that still come in jars anyway). Any other ideas?

[Parabola]

That is what I did. We bought some baby food to use, some of the things I couldn't make at home so the baby had variety. We used the jars when they were empty for what I made at home, some of which I froze so I always had a supply of food.

 

I also had friends with babies save their jars. I ended up with *a lot* of jars!! I wish I still had them so I could send them to you.

[NevadaRabbit]

I did what you thought of - used commercial baby food jars.

 

I also froze portions of homemade baby food in ice trays. If I was going somewhere, I could put some cubes in a ziploc, and either thaw them in warm water or microwave if there was one available.

[Alphabetika]

I used to freeze mine in ice cube trays. Then when I had to go somewhere, I'd put a few cubes into small ziplock bags and put them in a little cooler. I guess this only works if you have an efficient way to heat it up/thaw it when you get to your destination. It's been awhile, but I remember that method working quite well!

[NevadaRabbit]

I also had friends with babies save their jars. I ended up with *a lot* of jars!! I wish I still had them so I could send them to you.

 

Those little jars are a great size. Hubs has a bunch of 'em in the garage for storing small whatevers and doodads.

[Desert Rat]

This is what I did as well. I also bought some divided plates that had lids so I could easily heat/serve baby food. It worked quite well.

[Janna]

Well, I have a lot of food that I made and froze in the ice cube trays, but my experience has been that they thaw so quickly that to think about thawed, pureed food in a Ziplock bag is just...well, very messy, LOL. I think I'll just go buy some commercial and use those jars. I won't need to many because our outings aren't too often and when they are, I try to time them appropriately. However there are some things coming up that I can't manipulate the schedule for. Thanks!

[sagira]

I used all of those ideas and then I also bought tiny 4-oz Rubbermaid plastic cups (safe plastic, I made sure of that). My favorite way to transport food for dd is the Sassy compartmentalized tray with spoon included. Easy and safe wins my vote :)

[Quiver0f10]

I used a baby food mill and would just grind up whatever I was eating. So if we were traveling all I needed was the mill.

[asta]

I used a baby food mill and would just grind up whatever I was eating. So if we were traveling all I needed was the mill.

 

:iagree:

[FO4UR]

I took a banana with us quite a bit. Just peel and spoon out for baby. I also fed my babies lots of yo-baby yogurt and if I knew we were going somewhere I would save the yogurt for the outing. #1 they always ate it up - yum, and #2 they are easy to take along....unless you make your own yogurt too....:tongue_smilie::001_smile:

 

If we were at a restaurant, I ordered baked potatoes. Just mash with a fork and spoon it out. I found it's much easier to look for foods out that can be smushed and mashed than to carry one more thing in my diaper bag.

[amyinva]

If I wanted to take a full meal, I used something similar to this (which I think is what another poster suggested) and just dropped a frozen food cube into each section http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2792404

 

If I just wanted a snack, I found an avacado half to be the easiest to just spoon out- less messy than banana. I loved the food mill, too, once they started eating more variety.

[hornblower]

I used a baby food mill and would just grind up whatever I was eating. So if we were traveling all I needed was the mill.

 

I didn't even use a mill :D They just got whatever we were eating. I never pureed anything for them. I mashed with a fork sometimes - though usually if it was something like steamed carrots or broccoli, I'd just cook it a bit longer, plop it in front of them & let THEM mash it up and eat it off their fingers.

 

I did expect my kids to mostly feed themselves so it was either something they could pick up or something they could smoosh on their hand & lick off.

 

Meats I just flaked off with a fork & let them gnaw on it. If it was really spicy (we like curry a lot) I'd rinse it off under the tap & plonk it on their tray.

 

Cooked rice - cook it a bit longer until it's a bit mushy & form into balls. You can roll other ingredients into the rice balls.

 

Pasta is easy to feed.

 

Old fashioned oatmeal, once it cools, also gets gooey & can be formed into balls.

 

Bananas & stone fruits are easy to eat (remove the stone though LOL)

 

The only thing I altered at all was raw apples. I would grate a bit off an apple to give to the kids & then eat the rest myself.

 

I never actually used baby food...... I waited until about the middle of the first year, when they were sitting well. Food for the first bit was more about hand eye coordination, taste, texture etc. & not so much about the nutrition. The vast majority of their nutrition was still coming from breastmilk. And I figured that if they couldn't handle a food without a lot of altering, they weren't ready for it.....