Mookie has been eating solid foods since, uh, November. And I've been making some and buying some of her meals since then. When I first started making her meals, I bought the KidCo plastic-tray-with-lid combo for freezing baby food. I also, periodically, use a regular ice-cube tray...which is GREAT for storing pureed blueberries to put into Mookie's rice each morning. :o)
The KidCo tray works. Okay. But, I didn't like the portion size, quite frankly. And as Mookie has gotten older, and is eating more, I have liked the portion size even less. See, two little "cubes" isn't quite enough, and three is too many. And, by the way, the tray makes seven cubes. SEVEN. I don't like prime numbers when I'm making food. I like portions that are divisible by two. Or three. :o) But, idiosyncrasies aside, I used them anyway.
Tonight, I made red beans and rice for Mookie, and even though I've done it before, somehow the volume was much, much greater this time. So I filled my two KidCo trays, and was stuck with about 2 cups of beans-n-rice left. What to do, what to do...it didn't taste that great, but that's a lot of food to waste...
I was wishing I had some other, freezable, correct-portion-sized container to store the rest in. But, alas, I couldn't think of anything. So, I opened the door to my 'plastics' cupboard to pull out a large container for the remainder, and I found the stash of approximately 932 plastic Gerber baby food containers that I use for crackers and snacks and such. You know the ones. (I think they multiply when the cupboard door is closed.) Mookie love, love, loves to take each, and every one of these out of the cupboard and scatter them all over the house. Oh, she's fun.
Anyway, I thought those might be the solution to my problem! And, as of right now, I'm thinking I was right!!
I know the portion will be just right for her, and I just labelled the lid with the date and contents. I figure when it's time to heat up the red beans and rice, I'll just pop out the big cube into a microwavable dish, and go to town!
Yay for good ideas! Next, it's zucchini. And minced pork and pear. And whatever else I can think of! :o) Any good suggestions?
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I use those containers too! I also use the glass baby food jars. I was a little worried about them breaking, but I have had no problems. My guy is 9 months old and he eats watermelon, mango, kiwi, bananas, avacado, oatmeal, chicken, green beans, yellow squash, peas, egg yolk, apples, blueberries, broccoli, califlower, sweet potatoes, cheerios- I think that's about it for now.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I do this, too! I microwave a container for about a minute, and then give it a good stir. Yea for re-using!
ReplyDeleteOh, and my little guy (6 mo) LOVES pureed ham and split pea soup. :-)
yay, good job. i am a lover of all things organization ;)
ReplyDeleteI love this topic! Very near and dear to my heart. I wish I had more of those plastic Gerber containers, as I used those a lot but they only sell baby food in glass jars here. I make about 90% of Richie's food but keep a jar or two on hand for when we're out and about. After I use the jar, I clean it and take the label off and then can re-use it for my homemade concoctions. Richie's eating more and more of what we eat so I usually put aside a portion or two in the jar before I season the final dish for use with salt and pepper.
ReplyDeleteI've also used the smaller size jars to portion out formula powder when he goes to the sitter. And I'm already thinking of using those small jars for spices soon since I tend to buy those in little plastic bags that are hard to deal with. And you can write on the jar with permanent marker. I'll let you know if I come up with any more ideas. Sadly cubes no longer work for Richie's growing appetite and I just picked up some small Gladware containers for future use.
ahhh! babyfood makin days! i kinda miss them... sniff sniff...
ReplyDeleteif i had food left over, i'd wait until the first batch was frozen then tip em into a freezer bag and reload! but i made it a once a month all day affair. and it took forever. next time around i'll remember to use the gerber containers. i didn't even know they sold them!
wow i REALLY miss it! today she ate beef stew, with a fork, by herself...