Freezing Advice

freezing advice

Throughout the weaning process you’ll have lots of options on the type of food you feed your baby - pre-manufactured pots and jars, ready-made goodness like banana or avocado and freshly prepared foods created from scratch.

In all of these examples you might want to freeze what’s not used or what you cooked in a batch.

Is it safe to freeze, and how should I do it?

In my experience, you can freeze food that’s been freshly prepared from scratch as most of the bacteria will have been destroyed in the cooking process. Also, this food will almost certainly freeze well.

When you combine this with the knowledge that any bacteria that might be left within the food will become dormant when frozen - and will remain harmless when thawed - you'll see that freezing is a good, safe way to preserve foods so they’re fresh when you need them.

How about re-freezing after thawing?

This is the big question - can you re-freeze any unused food that was frozen by you in the first place? This may happen if you cook a puree from scratch, batch freeze a few pots, thaw them ALL out to give ONE to your child, then re-freeze the remainder.

For me, re-freezing is a complete no-go area, and should never be done for two reasons. Firstly, when you defrost food, the bacteria I mentioned above comes out of its dormant state and starts to multiply.

The second reason - less harmful but potentially as important - is that freezing takes away some of the freshness of the food, meaning your baby is missing out further down the line.

How long should I keep the purees in the freezer for?

It’s a good idea to buy some freezer bags that you can write the date and contents on. This way you can see with ease what’s in the bag and when it was made.

I suggest you try to rotate the foods on a FIFO system (First In, First Out), allowing for around 8-10 weeks in the freezer at a time.

The above is only my recommendation rather than a necessity, as frozen food can keep for years.

However, over time the purees can get freezer burn and lose their freshness. By keeping to the above timelines, this is unlikely to happen and will provide your baby with the freshest food possible.