Travelling with frozen baby food...

[clairebear3]

anybody done it?

We are going tot the UK next weekend which means a car/boat journey totalling 7 hours.

I can either...

...take my steamer and silicon ice cube trays with me (we are staying with family) but this would mean going shopping for groceries straight away and spending a whole afternoon steaming, purreeing and freezing.

...buy baby food from here and take it with us, don't really want to though, I don't want her to get used to very fine food as mine is quite lumpy and I'm worried she then won't like what I make, I also want her to have everything home made so I know what's in it.

...take my home made food with us.  I have a cool bag and ice packs but my food is in ice cube portions and I'm worried that I will get there and everything will have thawed.  This would mean I would then have to resort to one of the above plus I will have wasted an entire weeks worth of food.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping it frozen?  It's a big cooler bag that won't have a lot in it, would packing it will towels or something help?  If I took only vegetables and no meat would it matter if they a tiny bit defrosted and then re-frozen?

Thanks

[sageowl]

I've traveled with homemade baby food.  I don't remember having any trouble with thawing, but I stuck with "safe" items, so if they did thaw, they'd just go into the refrigerator on the other end, and no big deal. 

One thing that may help prevent thawing is to consolidate what you have-instead of small containers, use large ones so you don't have to worry about them thawing so quickly.  (Of course, if you're bringing something out of an existing freezer stash, you won't be able to do that).

[shagonarock]

There are special shopping bags that are designed to keep food frozen for a few hours so your icecream won't melt on the wasy home.

They're not ice bins/eskies, they're flexible and insulated.

This sort of thing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trader-Joes-8-Gallon-Insulated-Reusable-Cooler-Tote-Bag-16-X-18-X-13-/290797721781?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b4e518b5

[clairebear3]

Originally Posted by shagonarock 

There are special shopping bags that are designed to keep food frozen for a few hours so your icecream won't melt on the wasy home.

They're not ice bins/eskies, they're flexible and insulated.

I've got one of those but when I suggested using it DH said it wouldn't be as good as a regular cool box.  I think I have tracked down a good medium size cooler, not easier to find in the middle of winter!  I am going to fill it full of loose ice and put all the vegetable cubes in one bag and all the fruit in the other (it will be a pot luck!).  I will leave it closed and just hope when I get there that everything is OK.

We are going Sat-Sun, if I give DD meat on Sat, then egg once and mushed up fish once do you think that will be OK or is it not enough meat for a week?

Thanks for the tips!
 

[JudiAU]

We've traveled with frozen food many times but I do so accepting that some of it will be wasted and that we will buy some food on the road. I take the most nutrient rich foods with me and then accept that I might need to supplement with purchased goods. If you really are worried about feeding only homemade have you considered something like this: http://www.amazon.com/KidCo-F700-Food-Mill/dp/B000067Q6J which is great for table food. 

If we were going to be traveling for awhile and had a kitchen, then I would plan on microwaving any food and using a stick blender which requires less prep/clean up than a steamer/food mill