Freezer cooking for babies!

So, I haven't really managed a lot of freezer cooking for the whole family this month (which I can't believe is more than half over already!).  Instead, freezer cooking for the baby seems to be this month's theme!

One day yielded a HUGE amount of baby food:

All that squash and yams yielded over 180 ounces of baby food!!  That's equivalent to more than 51 Gerber baby food containers!  (You can click here for more detailed directions on how I make everything.  I love making our own baby food!)

Then, another day yielded a mass of apple sauce!  Just over 10 pounds of apples (for just under $5) turned into over 100 ounces of delicious homemade applesauce!

If you've never made homemade applesauce before, you really should give it a try--especially this time of year when you can find such a great price on apples!  The hardest part is just the peeling/cutting.  Seriously, all you do is peel, core, and cut the apples (and I highly recommend getting one of these if you don't have one already!! I didn't have one for these 10 pounds, but now I do! :) ) 

Put your peeled apples (chunks/slices/etc) into a large pot & add a little bit of water (I didn't even add water to the half-way mark...maybe about 1/4 of the way up?).  Cook on low heat (stirring occasionally so the bottom ones don't burn) until the apples have cooked down some and are really tender.  Then, mash/puree to your desired consistency.  You don't need sugar or any other ingredients (though cinnamon is good and I've heard applesauce with redhots is pretty fun as well, but neither were good for the little guy just yet).

So, for the little guy (he's 6 months), I pureed with the hand blender to get really velvety-smooth sauce.  (Just like in this post).  That made him over 48 ounces of apple sauce.

For the rest of us, I just mashed with a potato masher for a chunkier sauce.  So, we have a big container of that in the fridge and another stored away in the freezer!

Now, maybe I should focus on something aside from baby meals! :)

For more October freezer cooking ideas, head over to lifeasmom.com.  And, if you'd like to learn some more tips about freezer cooking, check out details about a FREE online class here.  Freezer cooking definitely works for me!