Freezing Baby Food & Legumes

[Yazzie]

I just discovered that I may be freezing ds's food in a very wrong way..!...We buy our meats/chicken on a monthly basis, so they're all frozen. When I cook for ds, I defrost, make the meals & then freeze in ice cubes??...That's wrong because of re-freezing, right?

Another thing, when did you give your little ones legumes, like lentils?

Thanks

[Lolly]

Re-freezing is fine provided you have thoroughly cooked the previously frozen raw food - as far as I know. If not I've been doing it wrong too!

Some of the stage 1 baby foods have lentils etc in so from 6/7 months here!

Laura

[brenda2]

if the food is raw and frozen and then you thaw and cook it and then refreeze it then it's fine.

[kimbo613]

I have heard that meat that is thawed in the fridge is fine to refreeze, but if you microwave or thaw on the counter, it's not a good idea.

We waited until 9 or 10 months to try beans with DS, but he had gas issues already and we didn't want to compound them   Has anyone tried freezing beans?  DS will eat a few at a time, but not nearly enough to warrant opening a whole can for him.

[Yazzie]

I'm worried about gassiness here as well, but am running out of meal ideas & ds is becoming very fussy to feed..

Thanks about the freezing tips, will defrost in the fridge, usually did that on the counter.

[brenda2]

have you tried tofu?  great source of protein.  if you buy the soft kind they can eat it as finger food, or mash with fruit as puree.  you can freeze it once mashed and mixed with fruit or veg in cubes.

[squeakersmum]

I heard that they can't digest lentils etc... until they are around 8 months.

DS loves them cooked up with sweet potato and carrot with a dash of curry powder, and has done since he was about 10 months!

[First Time Mom]

All frozen foods should always be thawed out in the fridge. You can refreeze meat that you cook, you are not supposed to thaw uncooked meat and then refreeze the same uncooked meat.

I haven't heard of lentils/beans being hard to digest until 8 months, I know with dd we gave them to her in month 7. The latest info out there by some doctors is that solids should be held off until 6 months (not 4) and that you can start with a protein. With this said, I still didn't feel comfortable starting with a protein, I still have it in my head that their systems can't handle "longer to digest" foods, like proteins, until they get used to the easy stuff first.

I have frozen beans whole in the past. I made chili once and had too many cans of beans open as I wanted a variety of beans so I froze them and used them later in another batch of chili.

[Yazzie]

We're having lentils for lunch tomorrow, so will see how that will go..

One more thing, has anyone frozen mac&cheese or spaghetti bolognese in ice cubes?

[First Time Mom]

I have not, but I am currently, this very minute, cooking a pre-made, pre-bought, frozen mac&cheese dinner so I'm sure it's fine to freeze if they sell it frozen! OK, I'm too tired to make all the food today, but (pointed out to redeem myself) I am making a big veggie dish to go along with it .

[Yazzie]

You NEED a break every once in a while..

[brenda2]

i have made mac n cheese and frozen in a big tray for all of us, haven't done in ice cubes but you could.  it freezes well.  i make and freeze chili too (with beans) and it is a big hit with dd1.

[squeakersmum]

I freeze spag bol all the time - both in adult sized portions for when DS was born, and baby/toddler portions for DS now!!

[wardy]

I have been giving my LO beans and lentils from 6 months when I first introduced protiens - slowly of course.  He loves them.  I use the canned ones, and just make sure I heat them to piping hot before I make the food and freeze them - the gassiness is supposedly just from the preparation - they need to be thoroughly soaked and cooked... so canned ones are pretty safe I think because thats done.  I then freeze them in serving portions and defrost before each meal.  I mix them with lots of veges.  
I put a few of the recipes I've used on a post a few days ago.
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=169416.0

[Yazzie]

Thanks alot for that, will check the link as we ds still won't have beans & to be honest I haven't pursuing the matter much.

Thanks again:)