Storing foods when blw

[Hattie05]

Hi all, i have been reading with great interest about BLW here at Mumsnet and Aitches blog. It has kept my confidence up as everyone else i encounter seems to think i'm being evil to my child.

My confidence did waiver when i first returned to work and after experiencing a few scary gags from dd, and i spent a day pureeing veg thinking - thats it, i'm sticking with what i know. DD has since clammed her mouth shut at the sight of a spoon that she is not allowed to hold. And so my senses have returned to be brave and stick with BLW.

With new found enthusiasm i am off shopping this morning.
DD has tried a lot of steamed veg, bananas, pears and the odd bit of toast and she enjoys sucking a way at them.

My question for you wise expert mumsnetters, is now i'm working three days a week and leaving dd with a childminder (and also have less time on those days to prepare fresh meals for us all.) What are good ideas of food that i can freeze for dd and let childminder just heat in microwave?

Whilst i find freezing pureed veg easy enough, i'm not so good at whats ok and whats not to freeze of solid foods.

I have frozen cooked parsnip and carrot sticks. I'm not sure about other things like broccolli etc cos i imagine it could end in soggy mush once defrosted?

Can i make up batches of the wonderful potato cakes seen on Aitche's blog with varied fillngs, freeze them and just let childminder reheat in microwave?
What other suggestions are good for making batches of and freezing?

Thanks in advance.

I wondered this too

bump

Hi alex,

I just accidently made some delicious savoury pancakes to freeze.

I read someones suggestion on Aitches blog earlier about making potato cakes, with a bit of flour and mashed potatoes, then add veg or fish or cheese and fry.

I wasn't sure on the consistency so added an egg, milk, and too much flour, and hey presto i have delicous pancakes some with grated cabbage and some with sweet potato and parsnip in.
They are lovely and thick and i've cut it into wedges and frozen a massive batch of them.

I figure if i find a new recipe every couple of days and freeze a batch i could have a good variety in there to keep me going whilst i'm at work!

Still looking forward to hearing from others suggestions ...

if the CM's happy to reheat stuff in the microwave, would it be just as easy for her to mircowave veg sticks etc from raw?

I freeze lots of finger food. Fish and potato cakes are fine to freeze, I then leave them out to defrost or defrost in the microwave if too disorganised. Either reheat in the microwave or fry them.

Mini beef or lamb burgers work well too. Mine esp like lamb with apricot.

I've found the lentil bake recipe on Aitches blog freezes well - my two love it. Separate the pieces with clingfilm though otherwise can end up with one big cake! This heats up well in the microwave.

Sweet potato or butternut squash freezes well and reheats fine in the mw. I chip them and roast in olive oil with a splash of orange juice, yum.

I didn't go down the finger food route by choice either but one of mine started to refuse food off a spoon so seemed logical.

Thanks glamourbadger, i shall try the burger idea,

I have done the chopped veg, i'm just struggling, for more interesting stuff!

i often just steam veg then freeze it and 2 mins in a mug of boiling water perks it up.

some ideas:

spag bol
lasagne
mousakka
shepherds pie
savoury pankcakes
home mad fishcakes
home made pizza
home made burgers
pasta in a sauce
fish pie
quesadillas

also she can microwave jacket potatoes.

also soup and mac cheese.

other quick things she could make are:

omelette
scrambled/boiled/poached egg on toast
cheese on toast

also kedgeree, risotto, mild chicken curry?leftover roast dinner?

how about cheese pudding?

cut 4-6 slices of bread (crusts removed) into cubes and place in a casserle dish.

add layers of tomato and onion over the bread.

lightly beat 2 eggs and add seasoning and 250ml milk. pour over the bread.

sprinkle 100g gareted cheeze over the top. bake for 40-50 mins until risen and golden.

or

melt 25g butter and stir in 15g flour and cook for a few mins. gradually stir in 125ml milk and bring to boil, stirring continuously.

cool slightly and add 75g of a grated cheese, ham, mushrooms, tomataoe, onions mixture.

whisk egg whites of 3 eggs and fold into the mixture.

pour into a greased dish.

bake for 35-45 mins.

ds loves mashed potato and cheese pie too.

i also do a cauliflower, broccoli, onion and leek thing covered in melted cheese.

oh and pasta and meatballs.

lol, i think what nappyaddict is saying is 'anything you eat'... she's right you know. just freeze a baby portion of whatever you're having (see enormous list below) and hand it over to the childminder.

i've got a drawer of the freezer filled up with little bags of food, so handy when you get in late of an evening and the baby is screaming for food. and i almost always know what they contain, which is even better...

Thanks

you all make it seem so simple .

I think i have a phobia of freezing stuff! i don't know why but anything leftovers i freeze end up in the bin cos they don't seem so appetising once frozen.

Anyhow you're right, i did used to keep stocks in the freezer for no.1 so not sure why i'm finding it so difficult this time round.

Is there anything that i shouldn't freeze? I know now to refreeze stuff.

it deends what kinds of things you eat, i think. things like pasta sauces go into the freezer quite happily but i tend to make the pasta fresh as i don't think it freezes well (apart from lasagne). and any veg that takes a short time to cook, like mangetout or sugar snaps, is imo a bit yuck because it'll be overcooked by the time it's been defrosted. but luckily it's the work of two mins to steam a mangetout anyway. broccoli freezes well, so do carrots apparently although i never bothered. as i say i mostly do it when there's a bogoff on broccoli.
you should try the veggie moussakka recipe on the blog because a. it's delicious, b. it's mine, and c. the remainder of the sauce it brilliant in pasta shells as the lentil stick in the shells and there are loads of veggies in it. that's dd's favourite 'oh shit what's in the freezer?' dinner.

I shall give it a go, i havn't been brave enough to give 'messy' stuff yet. Done a shepherds pie for tomorrow night. I was just a bit worried, as this is obviously smaller bits and up until now, shes mostly had hold in the hand chunks that she sucks to death.

I like the pasta shells idea sounds good, thank you.

You can buy bags of frozen broccoli and cauliflower in the supermarket - it only takes a few minutes to cook and it's perfect for a baby and just as quick as heating cubes up. Also, toast (with butter or cottage cheese or something), breadsticks, soft fruit, polenta (made the night before with added spinach/tomato/cheese) and cut into sticks, green beans are all easy options.

lucicle, can you give me your polenta recipe? i'm not wholly in love with ours...

Eek. I'm very much of the chuck it in a pan and wait until it looks/tastes okay school. I don't really have a recipe as such.

Sainsburys do a quick cook polenta that has worked really well for us and my daughter loves it.