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What to do with leftover wic baby food


WIC Infant Food Recipes - MN Dept. of Health

WIC provides pureed, jarred infant foods and infant cereal until one year of age. As babies get older, they are ready for foods with more texture. They prefer finger foods over pureed foods. This page contains practical tips for offering the WIC infant foods to older infants.

On this page:
Ideas and Tips for Jarred Infant Foods
Storing Leftover Infant Food
Recipes Using Infant Cereal (suitable for infants over 6 months of age): Cereal Pancakes | Rice Pudding | Meat Balls | Baby Finger Puffs

Related pages:
Homemade Baby Food
Other WIC Recipes

Ideas and Tips for Jarred Infant Foods

Here are some ways to offer the WIC jarred infant foods to older infants:

    Make table meats moister: Mix jarred infant fruits, vegetables, or meats with finely chopped table meats to provide moisture.
  • Mix infant applesauce with finely chopped chicken.
  • Add infant beef to shredded, slow cooked beef.
  • Bake meatballs or meatloaf made from ground meat and an infant meat. Cut to appropriate size for infant.

More flavor: Add jarred fruit to infant cereal or to regular oatmeal.

    Boost the nutrition: Mix infant fruits and vegetables with regular fruits and vegetables or other table foods that have been mashed.
  • Add jarred peas to mashed potatoes.
  • Try baked squash with jarred apple sauce.
    Add-ins for main dishes: Mix infant vegetables or meats into main dishes that the infant eats.
  • Stir in some pureed carrot to vegetable beef soup or stew.
  • Add baby sweet potato puree to a pasta dish or cooked macaroni and cheese.
  • Use a jar of vegetables as a sauce over rice.
    Make a "dinner": Older infants might like mixed dishes. Add pureed infant meat to other foods to a make a dinner. See some suggestions below.
  • Beef, peas, and small chunks of potatoes
  • Chicken, rice, and small chunks of cooked broccoli
  • Beef, squash, and macaroni
    Easy snacks: Use jarred infant foods for quick snacks.
  • Mix jarred fruit puree with yogurt or cottage cheese.
  • Dip small pieces of soft fruit into fruit puree.

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Storing Leftover Infant Foods

If you have placed a spoon in an open jar or container after it was in your baby’s mouth, you need to throw it out. If it’s unopened, unused, or untouched; it can be reused!

Store your leftover WIC infant food in small containers with a tight seal. This allows you to portion out just a bit at a time to avoid waste. You can refrigerate leftovers for 3-5 days or freeze them for up to 4-6 months. Use ice cube trays to make small cubes, once they are frozen, transfer the cubes to a freezer-safe bag. Labeling the bag with the date and what is inside is helpful.

Reheating
Completely reheat refrigerated or frozen baby food to at least 165° before feeding. Allow food to cool until lukewarm. Stir the food and test its temperature to make sure it is not too hot before serving to baby. Throw out any uneaten leftover food in the baby's dish or the serving dish.

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Cereal Pancakes

1 cup flour
½ cup baby cereal (rice or oatmeal)
1(4 oz) jar of infant bananas (may use another fruit)
1 Tablespoon melted margarine or butter
3 egg yolks (the yellow part of the egg)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 cup water or apple juice

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except the water/juice in a bowl. Slowly add the water/juice to make a batter. Lightly oil a skillet or frying pan, and then heat it up on the stove. When skillet is hot, carefully pour about ¼ cup of the batter into the skillet. When the pancake starts to cook, it will form little bubbles on top. After you see a few bubbles and it starts to look dry on top, take a spatula and flip the pancake over so it can cook on the other side, about 2-3 minutes.

Allow it to cool before you serve it to your baby. If your skillet is big enough, you can make more than one pancake at a time.

Makes approximately twelve 4" pancakes.

Store leftovers in a container or freeze for later use.

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Apple Rice Pudding

1 cup prepared infant rice cereal
1 cup vanilla (or plain) yogurt
2 (4 oz) jars infant applesauce (may use another fruit)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the rice cereal and applesauce. Stir in the cinnamon and yogurt, mixing well. Spoon the pudding into dishes and serve.

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Meat Balls

1 ¼ pound lean ground beef or turkey or chicken
½ cup baby cereal (rice or oatmeal)
1 cup of shredded white cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 (4 oz) jar of pureed baby food vegetables.
1 egg beaten
Pinch of spice such as pepper, garlic powder, and oregano

Instructions
Place cereal and jar of vegetable in bowl and mix together until smooth. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix with hands until well combined. Scoop out small portions of the meat ball mixture and form into balls the size of small eggs.

Place the meat balls on a baking sheet and bake in a 400° oven until brown and cooked through (approximately 20-25 minutes). Wash your hands and kitchen surfaces well before and after working with raw meat.

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Baby Finger Puffs

Spinach & Apple Puffs
1/2 cup rice cereal, single grain
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup or 1 (4 oz) jar of pureed applesauce
1 cup spinach
2 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 teaspoon baking powder

Sweet Potato Puffs 1/2 cup rice cereal, single grain
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup or 1 (4 oz) jar of pureed sweet potato
1/4 cup or 1/2 (4 oz) jar of pureed applesauce
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions for making either puff recipe
Preheat oven to 350 F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
Pour batter into a plastic zip-top bag and cut a tiny tip off one bottom corner.
Squeeze the batter from the corner hole onto the lined cookie sheet in small dots.

Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 250 F and bake 20 minutes more.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Pick up the parchment paper to loosen the puffs and pour into a glass storage container. Repeat steps 6-8 until you've used up all the batter.

Be sure the puffs are cool completely before storing in a zip seal bag or covered container.

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Using Leftover Baby Food – Ashtabula County WIC Program

Posted byAshtabula WIC

Posted inbaby, Baby Food, Food, Recipes, Video

Tags:baby food

GOT LEFT OVER BABY FOOD?  HERE IS WHAT TO DO….

Look how fast your baby is growing!  It seems like just yesterday you were bringing her home from the hospital and now she is doing something new every day, including refusing to eat her baby foods and wanting to eat what is on your plate.  It’s exciting that she is trying new things, just one problem….what to do with all the left over baby foods.  Here are some ideas to make use of all of that left over baby food.

Leftover veggie purees:

  • Add to spaghetti or pasta sauces
  • Add into meatballs
  • Add into macaroni and cheese
  • Marinate or glaze meat
  • Add to soups or stews
  • Use as dip for crackers

Leftover fruit purees:

  • Blend with plain yogurt
  • Mix with cottage cheese
  • Use as a fruit spread on toast or English muffins
  • Add to baked goods such as muffins or pancakes
  • Use as dip for biscuits or sliced fruit

Leftover infant cereal:

  • Make pancakes
  • Make teething biscuits
  • Use as breadcrumb substitute
  • Use to thicken sauces or soups

Baby Cereal Pancakes Recipe 

Recipe from wholesomebabyfood. momtastic.com

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (this will make a dense pancake; you can use 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, if you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup uncooked commercial baby barley cereal from the box (or rice commercial baby cereal)
  • 1/2 cup uncooked commercial baby oatmeal cereal from the box
  • 1 cup formula (or another liquid such as milk)
  • 1/2 cup mashed banana (or fruit of your choice)
  • 1 tbsp melted margarine or butter (unsalted type)
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup apple juice or use water, if you prefer
  • Add cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla or other flavorings, if you wish.

Directions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together and add enough juice to make pancake consistency.
  2. Cook on your cook top in a frying pan as you would with “regular” pancakes. Cooking these baby cereal pancakes on a griddle will work better as you will have more control over the temperature and will be better able to keep the temperature at a constant heat. (I used a pan on my stove, because that is what I had.  Use what you got.)

*Note:  When I made these, I used the jar banana food.  My daughter and I did love them.  We then made it with apples and pears jarred food, and we LOVED it.  So remember to experiment.  What I like, you may not.  If you don’t like it the first time you make something, try it again a little different.

J&J’s Baby Meat Balls – This recipe is a great way to use up infant cereal.

Recipe from wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup lean ground Turkey, Beef or Chicken
  • 1/2 cup plain baby cereal (boxed type) – you may use bread crumbs, oat or wheat bran if you prefer
  • 1/4 cup Wheat Germ
  • Pureed veggies or fruits – enough to moisten and make the meat/cereal stick together – like meatballs
  • Spices as desired

Directions:

  1. Place lean ground beef/turkey or chicken into a mixing bowl
  2. Add the cereal and wheat germ to the meat and combine
  3. Add pureed veggies and/or fruit to moisten the mixture – as much as needed to moisten and bind the mixture
  4. Mix together as you would when making “adult” meatballs.
  5. Bake in an oven at 400 degrees until brown and cooked thoroughly – Cover with tinfoil, be sure not to burn the meatballs as they will become tough on the outside and baby may not be able to eat them.
  6. Enjoy the meatballs with your baby.

Be creative when using up your baby foods.  If you have questions on how to use the baby food or introducing table foods to your baby, make sure to give the dietitians at the WIC office a call!  We love answering questions.

Have fun! Post pictures of what you make.  We love to see what you are doing in the kitchen.

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Posted byAshtabula WICPosted inbaby, Baby Food, Food, Recipes, VideoTags:baby food

Baby food leftovers - Encyclopedia Baby food

Victoria Levchuk©

Offering tons of ideas and recipes for using leftover baby food, as well as tips on how to safely store leftover baby food.

Store-bought puree can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. At the first feeding, a jar of baby food is opened each time a new one, with the introduction of 2-3 new products, you can store baby puree in the refrigerator for 24 hours and give the baby during this period. The main thing is to let the child adapt to a new product without pathogenic organisms inside the baby puree for the first time, which appear during long-term storage in the refrigerator.

Usually, when a certain amount of complementary foods is introduced into the child's diet, mothers transfer the baby to homemade baby puree, which is prepared every day, after 8-9 months - every other day.

Good to know!

  • How to make baby puree thick in consistency
  • Clean Plate Syndrome - why it is harmful to force a child to finish eating.
  • Tasty tales, if the child does not eat well - fairy tales that can be read to the baby.
  • Fish food is all about introduction to fish food.
  • Day 1: Child's breakfast - a step-by-step guide for parents on how to return healthy food to the family.

Leftover baby food, both industrial and homemade, can be easily frozen and used within 3 months of freezing. The main thing is to follow all the rules and regulations for freezing baby food, which can be read here.

And now let's get down to the fun part, how to use leftover baby food, we'll describe everything in more detail.

Table of contents:

Can leftover baby food be reused? Yes, if the product is not a first food and is not contaminated. If the baby was fed directly from the jar, and a spoon that was in the child’s mouth often fell into it, you need to throw away the baby food or finish eating it yourself. Microbes from a child's mouth can make baby food an ideal breeding ground for pathogens.

If the jar was warmed up with baby food, then it is also better to refuse long-term storage of baby puree. But if the right amount of baby food is laid out with a clean spoon on a plate, and then immediately closed with a lid and put in the refrigerator, then baby puree can be used within 24 hours from the moment the jar is opened.

Leftover baby food can be used within 24 hours or frozen for up to 3 months.

How do I store leftover baby food? Homemade baby food is best stored in small containers with tight lids. Store-bought baby food is best stored in the same glass jar it was sold in. It is best to freeze baby food in special freezer jars or ice molds to make small cubes. Once they are frozen, transfer the cubes to a bag and leave in the freezer. Be sure to note the date of freezing baby food.

What can be made with leftover baby puree:

1. Leftover fruit baby food can be used as a regular breakfast jam, or simply spread on bread or toast with baby puree. Various spices can be added to these baby purees to enhance the taste, for example, cinnamon can be added to applesauce.

2. Mix baby food fruit puree with oatmeal, yogurt, cottage cheese or milkshake. Perfect for smoothies, the remains of baby porridge for thickening, will also add nutrition and nutrients.

3. Add leftover fruit puree to a cake or any other pastry. Baby food adds moisture and extra flavor to the flour product. You can make cookies, cake, pancakes or bread.

4. Use the fruit puree as a jam and dip crackers or other pieces of fruit into it.

5. Use leftover applesauce to make homemade ketchup.

6. Add leftover vegetable puree to the tomato sauce and mix with pasta or use on pizza. For example, zucchini or zucchini baby food pairs perfectly with spaghetti sauce.

7. Use leftovers to make mashed potatoes.

8. Use leftover mashed vegetables to make zucchini, carrot or other vegetable pancakes.

9. Mix mashed vegetables with rice to make rice balls or rice cakes.

10. Add leftover vegetable puree to the omelet.

11. Add vegetable, meat and fish purees to soup, stew.

12. Use leftover mashed meats to make baby meatballs or baby burgers.

13. Use baby food puree to make savory meat, vegetable and cheese muffins.

14. Marinate meat in leftover baby puree for a rather savory dish.

15. Fish complementary foods are ideally combined with cereals, for example, if you mix the leftover red salmon from a jar with boiled buckwheat, you get an amazingly tasty adult dish. Sometimes we just buy a couple of cans of salmon to eat with buckwheat, although we are already big.

Where else can you use leftover baby puree?

1. The leftover baby porridge can be used as a face mask, or put in the leftovers directly into the bath and take it. For example, oatmeal is good for soothing irritated skin, and is suitable as an excellent light peeling.

2. Mix any leftover baby food with essential oil (a couple of drops) and add a scrub ingredient, mix everything. Use within a week. Sugar, salt, coffee, coconut flakes, tangerine or orange peels, etc. can be used as a scrubbing ingredient.

3. Use leftover baby food as sensory material, the baby can get used to the textures and feel the food in a small basin.

4. Use instead of paints, give the child a sheet of paper and baby puree, let him draw with his hands. True, the works of the young artist are best thrown away after, and the baby himself is well washed.

Remains of baby food and the older child

Also, don't forget about the older child, if complementary foods are introduced for the younger one, then the first baby can safely eat up the baby purees, especially those he likes. And leftover baby puree is a great way to add some vegetables to your older child's diet. After all, you can do it very discreetly and almost imperceptibly, cook pasta with a unique vegetable puree sauce. Fruit purees can be served to a child with pancakes, hash browns or cookies for breakfast.

You can serve the puree in a separate bowl for dipping the product, or pour the puree over pancakes or make funny faces, etc. Also, oatmeal porridge with a natural sweetener, in the form of fruit puree, is perfect for breakfast. Moreover, baby puree can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days without loss of taste and quality, the main thing is to follow the rules for use, and the older child who has gone through kindergarten is not afraid of such pathogens.

What else to do with leftover baby puree?

Baby food is perfect for losing weight and sick people who, for one reason or another, need to eat pureed food. After childbirth, women are put on a mashed diet temporarily so that the body recovers.

Also, do not forget about pets who will like the leftovers of baby food, not only meat purees, but also vegetable and fruit, the main thing is to offer.

I also heard that fishermen use baby food as bait for fish, mixing it with cereals and other products.

And also if a bodybuilder lives in the house, then you can safely feed him with the remnants of baby food, especially milk mixtures and baby cereals, which for some reason did not go into the baby's complementary foods.

I hope I have fully answered the question of how to store and use leftover baby food, what to cook with leftover baby puree, whether leftover baby puree is thrown away, what to do with leftover baby food, etc. Everyone has their own way of using the leftovers of baby purees, someone finishes eating after the child, someone throws it away, someone, in order to save money, uses the leftovers of mashed potatoes in the preparation of new delicious dishes, it’s up to the parents themselves to decide what to do, we offered only a couple of practical ideas, that can be applied in life.

What can be prepared from baby puree

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30 September 2019 16:56 60 thousand

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Cooking

Baby puree is a favorite food for the little ones. Complementary foods begin with it when babies are transferred to regular food. First, mom gives one spoonful of vegetable, then meat puree.

So the child tries other foods, evaluates the taste of zucchini or carrots, and parents carefully observe the reaction of the body. Unfortunately, the remnants of delicious food remain in the jar. Even the next day, doctors do not recommend giving what has already been opened, because the children's stomach is very weak, it will not cope if pathogenic microorganisms get inside.

Many young mothers are concerned about what can be made from baby puree so that it does not disappear. And there are a lot of options. True, these dishes will not be for those who could not eat a healthy snack, but for the rest of the family.

Cupcakes

You can use baby food to make delicious homemade cakes. If you are planning to bake small cupcakes or muffins, both vegetable and fruit puree will certainly fit there. You can prepare the dough according to the usual recipe. And you will have to adjust its density by adding flour.

You can add meat puree not only to the dough, but also as a filling in the middle of the product. You will get interesting snack cupcakes that men will like.

Pie

Delicious pies with fillings come not only with jam or marmalade, but also with baby puree. They are prepared according to any proven recipe. The ideal option is grated pie. First, a layer of dough is laid out on a baking sheet, then mashed potatoes are spread, and the rest of the dough is rubbed on top.

It will turn out very tasty, however, one jar of puree, and even a non-whole one, may not be enough, you will have to take more. In this case, you can collect 2-3 jars by keeping them in the refrigerator. It is dangerous to give an open product to a baby on the second day, and it will be perfect in baking.

Fritters

All kids love fruit pancakes. Even if your family still has one small child, you can cook delicious pancakes for yourself and your spouse. Their feature will be that the remaining mashed potatoes are added to the dough. By the way, both vegetable preparations from zucchini, carrots, pumpkins, as well as meat or berry, fruit preparations are suitable here.

Not a single open jar of baby food will be wasted, because every day there will be a new treat for tea. The recipe can be shared with friends who will also drop by the tea party to discuss the secrets of raising young children.

Cookies

No time to run to the store for cookies for the older child? Do you want to treat your girlfriend to something tasty, but you didn’t know about the arrival before? It will take only 30 minutes to prepare the simplest fruit-flavored cookies based on baby puree. You can also take food made from berries.

You will need products that are found in every home:

  • flour - about 2 cups;
  • butter or margarine - 50 g;
  • eggs - 1-2 pcs.;
  • sugar - 50 g;
  • baby puree - leftovers;
  • soda - ½ tsp;
  • vinegar - a little for quenching.

Cooking the liver is easy, using the following recommendations:

  1. First, you need to replace the dough in a bowl. Butter is crushed with a knife, then rubbed with sugar.
  2. Gradually, flour and salt are introduced into the dry mass. All ingredients are ground.
  3. A whole egg and the protein from the second are added, the yolk can be left to lubricate the top. Everything is mixed up again.
  4. It remains to put in a mass of mashed potatoes and add slaked soda. At the exit after mixing, you will get a dough that can be rolled out.
  5. On a table sprinkled with a little flour, the dough is rolled out. It can simply be cut into rhombuses, triangles, small squares, or cut out with a mold of asterisks, bunnies, flowers.
  6. The top of the blanks is smeared with whipped yolk, you can sprinkle a little sugar.
  7. These cookies are baked for about 14-20 minutes.

Spread for toast or sandwiches

And here you don't need to cook anything. The main thing is to fry croutons or cut a fresh loaf, offer cookies or crackers. And mashed potatoes are spread on top, which will perfectly replace jam or preserves. You can serve breakfast with tea.

Pancake filling

Apple or pear puree will perfectly shade the cottage cheese. By combining the two masses, you get an amazing taste and usefulness curd-fruit filling for thin pancakes. Proportions are not important at all: you can take the product in the amount that is left.

If necessary, sugar or small pieces of fresh vegetables are added to such a filling. If applesauce is taken, it is good to add fresh apples. And lovers of experiments can safely cut bananas and oranges into such a filling, it will also be very original and tasty.

Pastila

Not every young mother, having a tiny child, will decide to cook fruit marshmallow, which takes a lot of time to prepare. Having baby puree will simplify the process. No need to cut fruits, boil them. You can start cooking right away.

  1. A couple of jars of mashed potatoes, of which only a little has been eaten away, are combined in a saucepan.
  2. The mass is brought to a boil, you need to add a spoonful of sugar to it and wait for it to dissolve. Boil no more than 5 minutes if the puree is thick.
  3. Spread the resulting mass on parchment in a thin layer, send to the oven to dry (temperature 70-80º).
  4. After 3-4 hours, you can roll it into a tube if the layer does not stick to your hands.

If the puree is rare, experienced housewives advise adding a little gelatin dissolved in juice to the puree. However, you need to eat such marshmallow quickly, and from one meal it will be stored for several months.

Puree soup

On the day when the baby is given complementary foods, you can cook puree soup. To add, the remaining food from zucchini, carrots, broccoli, turkey, beef is suitable. Enter into the bulk at the very end, because it is already ready for use. This way you can save vitamins.

Mashed potatoes

We are all used to the fact that mashed potatoes have a light yellowish tint. And you can make it tasty and attractive at the same time. When the potatoes are already grated with a blender or pusher, you can put baby food out of the jar. By adding a carrot product, it is easy to color the potato mass in orange, broccoli will make it greenish.

Atypical use of baby puree

You can cook not only delicious dishes from the remains of half-eaten baby puree, but also other useful things: