Need advice on best way to freeze zucchini/squash

[lkmiscnet]

I have a 3 month old, and am anticipating making my own baby food.
I have lots of organic yellow and green zucchini from my garden, which I would to like to freeze for later pureeing. My understanding is that you shouldn't feed zucchini/squash until a baby is 7-8 months old (I think it had to do with them being able to digest it with the skins left on, which I planned to do).

What is the best way to prepare it for freezing?

Should I shred it? Slice it? Freeze it whole? Do I need to blanch it first before freezing? Should I puree it and then freeze it?

Also, what size batches would you freeze it in? I have pyrex bowls I had planned on using. I don't have ice cube trays.

Thanks for any advice.

Linda

P.S. I have lots of tomatoes too! Can I freeze them for baby as well or are they too acidic for baby digestive systems?

[zinemama]

I freeze lots of zukes to use in muffins for school lunches during the winter. Here's how I do it:

I grate the raw zuchini, then fill up a cup measure with it. I up-end the cup measure (like turning your bucket upside down to unmold the sand when building a sandcastle) onto a cookie sheet. Repeat until the sheet is filled with 1-cup portions of grated zuke. Freeze, then pop them off into plastic bags.

Since I need grated zuke for my muffin recipe, I'm good to go.

But if you are making baby food, I would just go ahead and make your puree and freeze that, so you will have it ready when you need it. Get a couple of ice cube trays - they really make the best size portions. But after they're frozen, pop the cubes out and store them in a freezer bag. You don't want to store the puree in the ice cube trays.

[maryeliz]

I would strongly advise freezing everything in portion sizes. I made the mistake of freezing big bags of shredded zuc and squash and when I defrosted I had a huge mushy bag that I couldn't use up before it went off.

[Alyantavid]

I shred zucchini in 2 cup portions to make bread and muffins all winter. You can go ahead and puree the squash and freeze in portion sizes. I do that with pumpkin in the fall and can use it all winter. The ice cube tray idea is how I made all my baby food. Once its frozen, you can just throw all the cubes in a bag to store in the freezer.

[lkmiscnet]

Do you leave the skins on when pureeing squash/zucchini?

I take it I need to steam/cook the veggies before pureeing, right?

This is all new to me.

Linda

[LemonPie]

I do mine in two cup portions too. Some shredded for bread, and some cubed for soup. I still have one or two in my deep freeze. It freezes beautifully, though I did notice my cubed stuff started getting a little rubbery after it had been in the freezer too long.

As for baby food. . . I never used summer squash until they had the teeth for it. Winter squashes tend to be better for new solid-food eaters. Check out the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. A bit on the fanatical side, but she has a great reference in the back for prepping/freezing tons of different kinds of fruits and veggies.