Imagine a scenario where you open up the fridge and you’re met with an acrid smell of sour milk, you look for the offending item and you see that the milk had expired six months ago! And then in shock, you remember that you used it to make a chocolate drink the day before.
Near misses and accidental situations like this can be prevented by proper storage, especially when it concerns your baby’s diet, storing breast milk, blended fruit purees and in general other baby foods have to be done with extra care to prevent the growth of bacteria in the milk and to ensure no nutrients are lost before the food is given to the baby. It might look like a lot but it can be done in the following easy steps:
Store in air tight containers: This is one of the first things to consider when choosing a storage container, check if it’s airtight, washable, saves space in the fridge and doesn’t have harmful chemicals in it.
Glass jars and bottles are the best options for storing either freshly pumped breast milk or other baby foods as they possess all the properties listed above. Unlike plastics, glass bottles are free of chemicals. These glass jars should also have a tight lid to prevent leakages.
Plastics are not a really good choice as they’re hard to wash and are not entirely free of chemicals that can enter the food when it is stored for long periods. If you have no other option but to use them, always choose the ones that are BPA free.
Other noteworthy air tight containers to consider are freezer (Ziploc) bags that can be used, although for storing breast milk and other liquid or semi liquid baby foods, they’re not reusable.
Freeze in ice cube trays: These ice trays are compact and time saving when you use them as an avenue to preserve food especially when used to freeze fruit purees. It makes it easier for you to freeze large batches in a short period and once they’re frozen properly, the fruit cubes are placed in freezer bags and can last up to three (3) months. Whenever you want to serve the baby, you don’t go through the whole process of washing and blending, you just let the fruit cubes thaw, 1-3 of it is ideal and the rest is kept for another time.
Always label the food: Attaching a tag that has the name of the food and the date when you placed the food in the freezer helps in the long run. Proper labelling will ensure that you don’t keep food that is past it’s expired date in the fridge and it also reminds you of how fresh the food is.
Labelling is essential for your baby’s food to avoid having a mix up happen with the other food items of the house that can be consumed by everyone.
It is important to note that breast milk doesn’t keep for a long time and so it must be frozen till it is solid and should be kept that way till the time for its use. Experts suggest that frozen breast milk can stay consumable for up to six (6) months, all the pumped milk stored should be used up before then. Freezers are perfect for this job and help to keep these liquids in good condition. When you’re not sure how long the baby food has been stored, dispose of it as quickly as possible.
These tips would help to prevent a lot of diseases for the baby and also help to make sure that your child is not consuming contaminated food. These storage techniques save a lot of stress for you too which is a win-win in this situation.
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