I am wanting to buy fresh fruit for my baby to eat instead of the canned stuff or even the glass and plastic containers because those are all packed in "light syrup" The only ones that I have found with just 100% juice in them are canned. I was thinking of getting fresh fruit and prepping it ahead of time and storing it in pear or white grape juice in the fridge, in the hopes that it will last three or four days. I don't really have the time to cut up fresh fruit two or three times a day, so I'm looking for solutions. I already steam and freeze fresh veggies once a week but thawed fruit is just mushy and messy. I'd love to hear what other moms are doing and how it's working. Also, are there any Farmer's Markets or orchards around midcoast Maine, I'm in Brunswick, that we could check out? Thanks, Ladies
They should be fine in the fridge for just a couple of days. If you do have to get the jars (good fruit is hard to find here), just rinse the syrup off. It is still sweetened, but there is less of it. That is my compromise. I also give my son meals in waves if I have too. I give him what is ready if he is impatient, and continue chopping fruit if needed. I usually have to anyway because he eats through it so quick.
I live in Brunswick too, and there is a good winter farmer's market at Fort Andross on Saturday mornings. Then in spring (early May I think) it moves outdoors to Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick. They don't have much fruit since most of the food there is local to Maine, but the veggies are great.
Morning Glory Natural Foods has some choices of frozen organic fruits, and I just bought a bag of organic local apples there recently. You could also trek to Whole Foods in Portland to get more natural fruits in jars or cans. There you can get organic fruit in cans packed in natural
juices. Good luck!
I try to feed my son fresh if at all possible, but I just wanted to let you know that if fruit is not ripe and in season, the canned and frozen stuff is supposed to actually be better than out of season fresh. If it isn't in season it is lacking lots of the vitamins and nutrients that are supposed to be in fresh fruit, whereas canned and frozen are harvested and processed immediately on site and at the peak of their season. So when things look nasty and bruised and mealy in the grocery store, you'd be better off using canned. (Frozen is better than canned, but not the same consistency, I agree.)
I have found a few things that do well in the freezer just for you to know about. The frozen peaches you can buy in the store do really well with just being thawed in the fridge. If you cut them up while they are still frozen, they are easier to deal with. Also mango does well. You can get in the bags, but when it is in season it is cheaper fresh, and you can just cut it and freeze it yourself. I lay it out on a cookie sheet to freeze, then put in baggies and thaw it in the fridge when I want it. You don't say how old your baby is, but if it is younger, apples also do well. They are mushier when thawed, but for littler babies they are a good consistency. I dont do them now that my son is 2, but I did until he was about 18 mos. And pineapple is pretty close to the same after freezing, just not as firm. It is more like canned pineapple. Those are the ones I've had the best luck with freezing.
A tip on freezing fruits so that they don't get too much moisture in the container and get freezer burn (and all foods actually) is to chill it completely in the fridge before freezing.
A couple things we do:
buy frozen blueberries. eat them frozen and they taste like candy.
freeze grapes. same as above.
freeze bananas. use for smoothies or pre"dip" in yogurt and put it on a stick.
I buy bags of apples and oranges. They stay fresh for quite a while.
Pear and white grape juice are full of sugar, too, so I'm not sure what the issue is with light syrup. It doesn't really take that much time to cut up fruit, but if you think you'd like to do it 3-4 days in advance, it should keep just fine in Tupperware in the fridge.
