Freezing Baby Food – What Type of Container Do You Use?
Apr 15th, 2009 by Christine
Many parents are wary of freezing their baby’s food in regular plastic ice cube trays. This is particularly true in the US and Canada, where concerns over potentially harmful chemicals such as BPA and phthalates leaching into baby food from plastic containers has led to a gradual elimination of their use in baby feeding equipment.
Fortunately, there are some great options for parents looking for BPA and phthalate free ice trays, such as the Baby Steps Freezer Trays and the wonderful
BPA Free Baby Cubes, which come with their own, individual little lids to keep baby’s food fresh. We also like the
Green Sprouts Silicone Baby Food Freezer Tray, which is made from food-grade silicone and avoids the hazards associated with plastics.
This week we received an e-mail from Jasmeen, who told us about yet another option – stainless steel ice trays which will soon be available from www.thetickletrunk.com. These may make another excellent alternative to plastic if you’re trying to avoid undesirable chemicals and they look pretty stylish, too!
So what do YOU use to freeze your baby’s food?
Have you tried stainless steel yet – if so, how did it work out? Alternatively, do you use ‘purpose built’ ice trays like the one from Babysteps – or have you found another way of freezing baby food that avoids it coming into contact with the potentially harmful chemicals found in conventional plastics?
I use traditional ice cube trays for freezing, then when its completely frozen, I pop them out and put them in Ziploc freezer bags. I use a straw to draw out as much air as possible for sealing.
Maybe not the most eco-friendly option, but definitely the most budget friendly.
I have two methods for freezing baby food. I like to freeze mine in silicone muffin cups and then pop them out of the cups and store them in zip top bags or if the food is thick enough I sometimes use a disher (similar to an ice cream scoop) to portion the food out onto a silpat on a cookie sheet. I then stick them in the freezer. Once the food is frozen, I pop the perfect little mounds off of the silpat and store them in zip top bags.
To freeze baby food I buy the ready baby food jars with the wide opening and use those to freeze. I also put them in one of her bags to cover the jars in case they break – works out great so far.
I just wanted to say I have starting freezing my baby food purees in stainless steel ice cube trays and they are great. So for your readers that might shy away from plastic there is an alternative. I ordered them from http://www.thetickletrunk.com
I usually store baby food in Ball glass jam jars with metal lids. They are freezer safe and hold about 4 oz.
I use the little stainless steel condiment cups from walmart, they are 2.5oz and cost 4/$1. Solo brand condiment cup lids (PL2) fit on the ones I have–the lids are NOT BPA free but I don’t fill the cups full enough to touch the lids. The lids come in a sleeve of 100 for about $2. I like stainless steel the best, I can warm them by floating in my hot coffee while I wrangle breakfast for the older kiddos
I also have a silicone icecube tray from IKEA but find I don’t reach for it very often…I’m more inclined to freeze blobs of tomato paste in that.
Lol – we love the coffee trick – multi-tasking at its best