Lots of questions about homemade food

[Snuggle]

Hi all,

I am going to start cooking for Maddison rather than using jars as I'm a SAHM so dont have an excuse not to
Whats the best way to do this? Batch cooking one day a week then freezing the food? Should I use ice cube trays or is there something better someone can recommend? When I cook meat and veg should I store them separately then when I defrost them I can mix them together or mix them before freezing? Whats best to use to blend food?

Sorry there's so many questions

 

[valentine]

Hey Snuggle,

Whats the best way to do this? Batch cooking one day a week then freezing the food?
I do a mixture of both. Now I'm more into a routine, I tend to cook one big meal for DD each week and freeze 10+ portions. From doing that for a wee while, I've ended up with enough meals in the freezer that I can give her something different every night of the week. That makes it not so expensive too. For example:-
Week 1: chicken casserole (freeze 12 portions)
Week 2: bolognaise (freeze 9 portions)
Week 3: stovies (freeze 11 portions)
Week 4: cauliflower cheese (freeze 8 portions)
Week 5: pasta dish with hidden veg (freeze 7 portions)
Week 6: smoked haddock fishcakes (make 10 mini fishcakes)
etc etc

Also, I'll freeze extras for her in small pots from our meals. Tonight we had macaroni cheese with basil (no salt added) and I got 3 small DD sized portions from that.

Should I use ice cube trays or is there something better someone can recommend?
I used to use these but I am now using so many ice cubes per meal, that its more hassle than its worth. I would recommend buying some cheap small tupperware boxes or plastic food pots (next to dummies, bibs etc in the baby aisle of the supermarket) and freeze Maddison sized portions in them. Much, much easier and not as much faffing around. Easy to stack up in freezer drawers too. I only use ice cube trays for small fruit puree portions for defrosting for breakfast

When I cook meat and veg should I store them separately then when I defrost them I can mix them together or mix them before freezing?
I tend to freeze meals together (as above), but I do also occassionally just steam or oven cook some veg (butternut squash or root veggies are faves) and freeze small portions of these. Then I can just flake a bit of my main meal (ie salmon, cod, chicken etc) into one of these defrosted or buy a bit of plaice or sole from the fish van and cook it and mix with one of these.

Whats best to use to blend food?
I used to use a bog standard £5 hand blender when DD was younger to make stuff a bit smoother - stick it in the pan and whizz up. Now she's on lumpy food, so I just mash it a bit with the potato masher before freezing.

To be honest, its trial and error to see what works for you, like everything, you'll soon work out your own ways of doing things.

I hope that helps! Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Valentine Xxx

 

[beanie]

At about 8 months Seren was eating most of the stuff that we were having for dinner - I would just take out her portion before the end i.e. if I was making a curry I would take hers out before I added all the chilli powder (she only had a pinch) etc, and I never add salt to my food when cooking anyway. It saved me having to make lots of different meals.

 

[Redshoes]

I think V's said it all really

Like Beanie says, Isaac too eats a lot of what we eat and so there's no need for freezing batches up anymore, but in the early stages it did help as if you cannot get out and buy fresh food every few days you may have to freeze. I'd always suggest steaming over boiling, not only does it retain more of the nutrients and vitamins,the food it also then mushy enough to squish with a masher/fork, no need for blending, but initially she may like it thoroughly blended, Isaac was never fussed

Remember some frozen veg and fruit you can buy will actually be fresher than if you make it yourself because of the strict timelines its prepared in, so worth looking on the net at that, homemade is not always the only best option. We stopped blending/mushing at 7months as he prefered to feed himself so we needed holdable food, so mush went to sticks

Have fun!!!

 

[Snuggle]

Thank you very much girls

Valentine, many thanks for your reply, it is very helpful Will give it all ago and like you said, trial and error til I find my way

 

[andreag]

I'm like beanie and Charlotte eats what we eat. At lunch we eat the same (pasta and tomatoes today) only she gets pudidng and I don't . then for dinner tonight she is having risotto, which we had last night, and a pudding. We have dinner after C has gone to bed, so I tend to keep some what we have for C the next night. If I do something like shepherds pie or spag bol, I make a couple of extra portions for the freezer and C will have these if our dinner is unsuitable for her - like tonight we are having salad with chilli feta which won't be nice (or suitable) tomorrow. I don't cook with salt anyway so I haven't had to adapt how I cook either.I find this a totally stressless way of feeding.
All the best
andrea