Freeze Dried Baby Food
Learn how to freeze dry your homemade baby food for shelf-stable, healthy meals ready for your little one in no time. Perfect for on-the-go meals, or even when going camping.
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Equipment
- Freeze Dryer
- parchment paper or silicone trays
- ice cube tray or silicone mold
- freezer
- Storage Containers
- Oxygen Absorbers
- labels/marker
Ingredients
- baby food
Instructions
- Prepare your favorite recipe for homemade baby food.
- Spoon prepared food into ice cube trays or silicone molds.
- Cover trays with cling wrap and place trays in a freezer for at least 2 hours or, for best results, up to 24 hours.
- Bring your freeze dryer to the recommended temperature before removing the baby food from the freezer.
- If desired, prepare freeze dryer trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Remove trays of baby food from the freezer, discard plastic wrap, and transfer the cubes to the freeze dryer trays.
- Load the trays in the freeze dryer, put the insulating cover in place (for older models), and shut the door.
- Set the timer for 20 hours, checking when the signal goes off, and if it’s not completely freeze dried, return it to the freeze dryer for 2-hour increments until done.
- Store baby food out of direct sunlight in well-labeled containers with oxygen absorbers.
Notes
How to Rehydrate Freeze Dried Baby Food
There are different methods for rehydrating freeze dried food, but when rehydrating baby food, it’s important to consider the proper ratio of water to freeze dried product. Too much can result in diluted nutrition for your baby, while too little can make the food an undesirable texture. You can be exact about this by weighing your baby food before freeze drying and again after freeze drying. The difference between the two weights is how much water, breast milk, or other age-appropriate liquids (by weight) you want to add back in. Tried this recipe?We want to see! Tag @homesteadingfamily on Instagram.