Working Moms that make their own baby food...

A few questions... how do you transport the food to school since it has to be refrigerated? I have a 4 bottle bag with a top compartment but the top compartment is not kept cold like the bottle section. Do they make a larger cooler bag that also has a bottle compartment? Also how do you label the food? I was thinking just post it notes or did you come up with a better idea Today I just wrote on the daily sheet what food item was in what color container. But that would be annoying to have to do that every day and remember what item is in each.

And was I doing something wrong since it pretty much took me most of the day yesterday to make a few weeks worth of food. So many people said "oh it's so easy!" Help a sista out! Thanks!

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

We never used a bottle bag, just a regular lunch cooler bag that we got at Target.

To label, I would write on scotch tape with a thin sharpie. The trick is to fold one end of the tape back on itself so it's not flat on the container KWIM? If not let me know Then you can just peel it off easily. I used to label the containers in the freezer that way too and it worked great.

It takes a bit to get a hang of it, but now that you have a good stock in the freezer it is just upkeep. Every few days when you are running low on a certain "color" just steam and puree. I always kept a couple in the fridge to give fresh but would freeze the rest right away after it had cooled down.

Good luck and have fun!

ETA: Here is what I mean about the tape. It's actually a technique I picked up in lab. Yeah, I know

Quick video about tape

Message edited 11/28/2011 11:43:36 AM.

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

I used ice cube trays for the baby food and simply put a few cubes in for daycare. Daycare kept it in the refrigerator til lunch. It would melt by lunch and the daycare would nuke it in microwave for a few seconds.

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

Transporting food:
We use a regular small cooler. I have this ice pack (from Medela)
that works great with our bottles. For the food, I use either a take and toss, or the little ziploc round containers. They fit in the cooler too. At daycare, they heat up the food in there (they use hot water and time to heat everything, no microwave), and then transfer it to the bowl they keep at daycare.

Labeling:
We use a sharpie and painters tape We happened to have a roll of it kicking around, and realized the night before he started daycare that we had no bottle labels. All we do is put his name and date on it, not what it is. If I have a special instruction, I just write it onto the daily sheet. If I have something long term (like now I send in meat, and I tell them to make sure that is his lunchtime meal), I just write a note and they leave it on his clipboard.

Making the food:
The first time it took me about 4 hours...and I only had about 1 1/2 or 2 weeks worth of food. It gets quicker. I have a system of when to cook things so it doesn't take nearly as long now. I can do the same amount in about an hour and a half. It's kind of like making a holiday meal...you figure out when to start the potatoes so they are ready at the same time as the green beans

If I'm making 'everything' I throw the sweet potato in the oven first, since that takes like an hour. I get the green beans going in the steamer next since they take like 30 minutes. While those two are cooking, I peel and cut up the apples (I'm reallly slow at it). When the green beans are done, I transfer them to the blender, and quickly clean out the steamer. Then I throw the apples into the steamer while I blend and 'pack' the greenbeans. I give the blender a quick cleanout, and cut the pears while the apples finish cooking, and cycle everything through the blender and steamer, etc. It definitely took a few times to get the timing down to something that works for me. This is my Sunday routine (if I need to do the whole big group).

I try to be better about it though, and cook as I run out of something. Like a pp said, freeze and defrost as you need to. I usually pull about two days worth of food out at a time. By the time they're ready for it at school it is defrosted.


ETA sorry that was really long

Message edited 11/28/2011 9:20:38 PM.

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

Thanks ladies! This was really helpful. I used the scotch tape trick today and it worked great and will be easy for them to pull off.

Is there an easier way to get the cubes out of the trays? I was twisting the tray and they were not budging. I then ran the bottom of the try under how water and the banana defrosted so fast they were not solid anymore. Had to put them back in the freezer.

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

I usually twist a little bit and then put the tray in the bigger ziploc bag and then do a full twist inside the bag so they all just pop out into the bag. If they are still stuck I just wait a few min and then try again. Does that make sense? Lol.

Re: Working Moms that make their own baby food...

Posted by KPsquared

Thanks ladies! This was really helpful. I used the scotch tape trick today and it worked great and will be easy for them to pull off.

Is there an easier way to get the cubes out of the trays? I was twisting the tray and they were not budging. I then ran the bottom of the try under how water and the banana defrosted so fast they were not solid anymore. Had to put them back in the freezer.