Freezing Homemade Baby Food Recipes With Formula – Can it be done?
Sam wrote to us last week asking how much formula she should use to make her baby food purees. She also wondered about freezing the purees if they had formula in them. We thought we would share our reply here on the blog:
The amount of formula you would add to your baby food purees would depend on the consistency and texture that you want for your baby. If your baby needs a more thin puree, you would add enough formula to make the puree thin enough. When adding formula, you would use formula that has already been mixed together; exactly as if you were making up a bottle as you noted.
You may freeze purees that have been mixed with formula. Formula should not be frozen in the form of bottles or cans. For example, you should not freeze formula bottles that you have mixed nor should you stock up on pre-mixed formula and freeze that. As the formula companies note, freezing formula causes a separation of the fats from the liquid and texture suffers. There is no health risk to freezing formula, just texture and quality. Think of it as the same as freezing a gallon of milk – it’s not dangerous but it makes the quality of the milk suffer! The Enfamil website notes:
“Freezing – Freezing is NOT recommended. Freezing infant formula can lead to physical property changes like fat separation. Freezing will not extend the expiration date of the formula.” http://www.meadjohnson.ca/en/faq/faq_formulafeeding.html
The International Formula Council Notes: “Should Infant Formula Be Frozen? The use of infant formula after freezing is not recommended. Although freezing does not affect nutritional quality or sterility, physical separation of the product’s components may occur.” http://www.infantformula.org/faqs.html#14
We tend to recommend that you freeze your purees without adding any extra liquids. If need be, thin your puree food cube(s) when it comes time to feed your baby!
Category: Baby Food Recipes Updated, Nutrition
