Jenna Brown - Environmental health practitioner Archives | Annabel Karmel

Top tips for thinning baby purees

Lara Karmel — Wed, 26 May 2021 10:29:28 +0000

As you start preparing those first few purees for your baby, you are likely to find that you need some extra liquid to help loosen the consistency.

There are so many options available when thinning purees for babies over 6 months and rest assured you can use anything from tap water, cow’s milk or plant-based milks as well as a splash of your baby’s usual breast milk or formula milk; which will not only help loosen the consistency but also adds a familiar taste.

Whatever you choose to thin your baby’s puree, there are a couple of things you might need to keep in mind if you want to keep the puree for another day…

Thinning baby purees with formula milk

Whilst you shouldn’t keep leftover bottles of formula milk, it IS perfectly fine to use freshly prepared formula milk as an ingredient within a meal or puree that you wish to keep and reheat another day! Just make sure that if you choose to use formula milk to thin your baby’s puree, you follow these simple guidelines to make sure the leftovers are safe:

Before adding to food, make up formula fresh – don’t use leftover milk from a previous feed
Make sure any leftovers are cooled quickly and put into the fridge or freezer as soon as possible; ideally within an hour and half but no more than 2 hours
Ensure you follow the shelf life guidance in the table below

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Purees made with formula milk	1 day	Yes	3 months
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

Thinning baby purees with expressed breast milk

Breast milk is great for your baby for so many reasons, its ideal for thinning baby purees too, especially in the early days of weaning!

You can either….

Add fresh breast milk – this is the best option if you’re adding to the puree when cooking as it means you can keep the leftovers in the fridge or freezer

Add a small ice cube of frozen, or a splash of defrosted breastmilk – the most important thing to remember here is that breastmilk must never be refrozen. So, if you’re using previously frozen breast milk, it’s best to add just a splash to the portion you are serving so you don’t end up wasting more than you need to

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Thinning baby purees using freshly expressed breast milk	2 days	Yes	3 months
Thinning baby purees using previously frozen breast milk	Dispose of leftovers	No	N/A
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

Thinning baby purees using water or cow’s milk / plant-based milk

You can also thin baby purees using cow’s milk or plant-based milk. Using cow’s milk or plant based milk in cooking is absolutely fine for babies over 6 months. Just don’t substitute their usual milk (breast milk or formula) for any of these varieties until they are at least 1 year old.

Does the water need to be boiled?

No. Tap water is fine for babies over 6 months – although if you can, make use of the water you used to cook your veggies in as this will also help to sneak in an extra splash of nutrients that leached from the vegetables as they were cooked.

Here’s a quick summary of the guidelines…

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Thinning baby purees with cow’s milk or plant-based milk	2 days	Yes	3 months
Purees without additions	2 days	Yes	3 months
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

See our next article for more advice on preparing, reheating and freezing food for baby.

The post Top tips for thinning baby purees appeared first on Annabel Karmel.

Weaning Equipment – Getting your kitchen ready for weaning

Lara Karmel — Wed, 19 May 2021 15:35:37 +0000

Beginning your weaning journey with your baby is such an exciting time for so many reasons but it can also be a bit overwhelming with so much to think about and prepare for.

Get ready to wean by getting organised in the kitchen, it will make your life so much easier… and I’m not just talking about the dreaded Tupperware cupboard! In this article I have put together your weaning equipment essentials, as well as a few tips to help you get ready to wean and make sure your kitchen is as prepped as possible! This will help make sure the food you serve your little ones is safe, allowing you to relax and enjoy the weaning process!

How to organise your fridge

How to get ready to wean? First things first, start with organising your fridge. Knowing how to store food once you get it home from the supermarket and organise your fridge correctly will help you avoid food poisoning by reducing the risk of cross contamination between raw and ready to eat foods as well as helping you to reduce food wastage.

Did you know? The average household with children could save around £60 per month by reducing their food waste and saving food that could have been eaten from being thrown away?![1]

So, how exactly should you organise your fridge and what else do you need to know to help keep the food in your fridge safer for longer?

Most importantly, check the temperature of your fridge. To reduce the risk of food poisoning, make sure your fridge is running between 1-5⁰C. If your fridge doesn’t have a built-in thermometer, then you can check this using a fridge thermometer or a food probe.
Organise your fridge to make sure you store raw meat and fish separately from ready to eat foods. The best place to store raw meat and raw fish is the bottom shelf – not only does this prevent cross contamination of juices dripping onto other foods below, but is also the coldest part of the fridge
Keep cooked and ready to eat foods higher up, saving the doors for condiments, jams and juices as the doors are most at risk of temperature fluctuations
It’s best to store eggs in the fridge for safety and freshness as this ensures eggs are stored at a constant temperature below 20⁰C.
First in, first out – when returning from the supermarket, put new foods at the back so using older products first will come naturally!
Don’t forget to also keep an eye on packs in the fridge that have been opened! Opening a product with a ‘use by’ date (more on these next) such as ham or milk, will change the shelf life and usually means it will need to be used within the next few days, or popped in the freezer.

Plan ahead when preparing your baby’s meals

Planning ahead the meals you want to cook for baby (and yourself!) for the next couple of days will help you decide what foods you can keep in the fridge, and which foods to freeze!

The good news is that it is perfectly safe to cook or freeze food right up until (and including) the ‘use by’ date. So, if you’re not going to use something before it’s ‘use by’ date, either pop it in the freezer or cook it and use the leftovers within the next 2 days.

Don’t be put off freezing your foods as this has no impact on being able to freeze the leftovers.

Did you know? Even if you use previously frozen raw meat when cooking, you can still portion and freeze the cooked leftovers to reheat another day?!

It’s important when planning your meals to be aware of the difference between ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates. Put simply, ‘use by’ dates are there for your safety and mustn’t be ignored whereas, ‘best before’ dates are about quality. Whilst food is safe to eat past its ‘best before’ date (but might not taste as good), food past its ‘use by’ date is not safe to eat especially as you often can’t tell if a food is unsafe by its appearance, smell or taste, so it’s not worth the risk; particularly when there are little ones involved.

Kitchen essentials for weaning your baby

Get ready to wean by making sure you have all the kitchen essentials.

When you start out on your weaning journey, there are so many weaning ‘essentials’ covering everything from choosing the right highchair, spoons, bibs, plates (and so much more…) but don’t forget to stock up your kitchen with essential items that will help make your food prep easier and safer.

I’ve put together a list of my top 10 weaning kitchen essentials to help make sure the food you serve is safe, that little bit easier!

1. Food probe

I consider a food probe a must-have for any kitchen. You can’t tell from the outside whether food is cooked, so a food probe eliminates the guesswork whilst also helping to prevent overcooking – it’s a win-win!

2. Colour coded equipment

Choosing colour coded chopping boards is the simplest and easiest way to reduce the risk of cross contamination between raw and ready to eat foods.

3. Freezer labels

Ever pulled a random container of food out of the freezer having no idea what it is or how long it’s been in there?! No, me neither……. I’m a huge fan of batch cooking with a little one at home so keeping track of what is in your freezer is a must!

4. Portion pots

Babies have small appetites so being able to portion their food is a must! Remember, when grabbing food from the freezer you can only reheat food once so having small portions will help make sure you are only reheating as much as you need and reducing your food wastage.

5. Antibacterial cleaner

Make sure you have a decent cleaner to help keep your kitchen counter clean before cooking and after handling high risk foods such as raw meat and poultry

6. A selection of cloths and tea towels

It’s best to make sure you have enough cloths and tea towels so you can change these daily. If you can, I would always recommend that when cleaning up after preparing raw foods such as raw meat, poultry and soiled vegetables, that you use a paper towel squirted with anti-bacterial spray. This will help make sure that you don’t pick up food poisoning germs and spread them around the kitchen.

7. Airtight containers

These containers are great for storing dry food items as well as leftovers in the fridge. By keeping moisture out, airtight containers help keep food fresher and safer for longer.

8. Food cover

A mesh food cover is a must have for any kitchen to make sure those pesky flies don’t land on your food – whether you’re dining alfresco or cooling your leftovers.

9. Fridge thermometer

If your fridge has a built-in thermometer, you might not need one of these but if not, then it would be worth investing in a fridge thermometer to make sure your fridge is running below 5⁰C and the best part is, you can usually pick one of these up for less than £5!

10. Colander

Okay so you probably do already have one of these but don’t forget that you’ll need to wash all fruit and veg before giving it to baby!
Did you know? Even Norovirus (the most common cause of gastroenteritis) can be found on foods such as lettuce and raspberries?[2]

[1] WRAP, ‘Food surplus and waste in the UK – key facts’ (2020)

[2] Food Standards Agency, ‘Assessing the contribution made by the food chain to the burden of UK-acquired norovirus infection’ (2019)

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JENNA BROWN

Jenna is a fully qualified Environmental Health Practitioner specialising in food safety and public health.

She obtained a first-class Batchelor (BSc) degree in Environmental Health and has since qualified as an Environmental Health Practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH). Over the past 12 years she has worked in both the public and private sector advising businesses on all things food safety and public health.

Since becoming a Mum to her 2-year-old little girl Mia, she understands first-hand how much things change when you have a little one to think about too! She has always been passionate about food safety and her mission as Food Safety Mum is to help give parents confidence when cooking at home or when eating out and about!

For lots more food safety advice, follow Jenna on Instagram @Foodsafetymum

The post Weaning Equipment – Getting your kitchen ready for weaning appeared first on Annabel Karmel.

Go to guide: preparing, freezing and reheating foods for baby

Lara Karmel — Mon, 17 May 2021 15:45:31 +0000

There’s no doubt that there are so many exciting things to think about when you begin your weaning journey with your little one; choosing a highchair, shopping for snazzy bibs, debating which cup and cutlery is best and deciding what amazing tastes to expose your baby to first… but it’s important not to forget that amongst all of this, any food you serve needs to be safe! Babies and young children don’t have the same immune system as us adults (or even older children) so food safety is essential. We need to make sure we’re extra careful with their little tummies!

It is estimated that there are 2.4 million cases of food-borne illness in the UK every year but it’s not just restaurants that cause food poisoning – cooking at home can also make you (or your family) sick. The good news is that there are so many things you can do whilst preparing food to prevent this happening. Below, we give our top tips for baby food safety.

Keep it clean

When it comes to food safety, keeping clean is so important. In reality, this doesn’t mean having a ‘spotless’ kitchen but instead, a clean environment where you prepare food, with clean hands, using clean equipment! Here are some top tips to help you organise your kitchen and help you safely prepare meals for your baby and the rest of the family:

Wash your hands – always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing any food, and particularly after handling raw meat
Clean work surfaces – disinfect food preparation surfaces using a clean dishcloth before starting any food prep. If you can, use a paper towel squirted with antibacterial spray to clean surfaces after preparing raw meat and poultry as this will help to make sure that you don’t pick up food poisoning germs and spread them around the kitchen
Clean utensils – make sure equipment is clean before you start using it and if you can, opt for colour coded equipment to reduce the risk of cross contamination between raw and ready to eat foods. Never prepare ready to eat food such as salad on a board that was previously used to prepare raw meat
Wash fruit and veg – they might be low risk foods, but bacteria can also be found on fruit and veggies too so don’t forget to wash these thoroughly under cold running water before serving to baby. If you’re using frozen veggies in baby’s food, make sure that these are cooked according to the back of pack information before serving to your baby.
Don’t be tempted to wash raw chicken! – washing your chicken will not ‘wash off’ the bacteria (only cooking will make it safe to eat!). If you wash chicken, instead you are more likely to cause food poisoning by inadvertently spreading more bacteria around the kitchen.

Food Safety – Cooking food for your baby checklist!

Cooking veggies by steaming, boiling or roasting is pretty straightforward, but those first tastes don’t last for long and you’ll soon be branching out to more exciting foods for your baby to try, many of which may include meat or fish. Regardless of how you serve meat to your little one, it’s important to make sure that it is thoroughly cooked.

Remember – just because it’s cooked on the outside, doesn’t mean it’s cooked on the inside! Here’s how you can check that meat is safe for your baby to eat…

Use a food probe - checking the temperature of the thickest part of meat is the most accurate way (and the way I would recommend) to check food is cooked, whilst also making sure it is not overcooked! If using a probe, make sure the probe is clean and the meat has a core temperature of 75C for at least 30 seconds.
Cut into the thickest part of the meat to make sure there is no pink meat visible
The meat must be steaming hot throughout
Meat juices run clear

If you find your baby puree needs thinning after cooking, check out Jenna’s article Top tips for thinning baby purees

Cool foods quickly

I am a huge fan of keeping leftovers to use as an easy meal another day! After cooking, make sure you cool any leftovers and pop into the fridge or freezer as soon as possible. Never allow food to sit out on the side for more than 2 hours after cooking.

Be aware that simply putting your hot food in the fridge may not be enough to make sure it is cooled down quickly and safely. There are lots of things you can do to help speed up the cooling of food, such as dividing into smaller portions, using an ice bath or stirring regularly.

Keep leftovers for another day

Whatever your situation, whether you have children or not… reheating leftovers is always a good idea! As a rule of thumb, leftover food can be kept in the fridge and used within 2 days (1 day for rice) but if you want longer than this, then pop your leftovers in the freezer.

Even if you used raw meat or veg which was previously frozen, once cooked you can freeze the leftovers. Freezing “pauses” the growth of bacteria, locks in nutrients, prevents spoilage and ultimately helps reduce wastage!

Defrosting baby purees

If defrosting baby purees, the best way to do this would be overnight in the fridge and use within 24 hours. But, did you know that you can cook baby purees from frozen?!

Reheating baby purees

Baby purees are often best served at room temperature, but don’t be tempted to partially reheat food for your baby to avoid having to wait for it to cool. Unless served cold straight from the fridge, baby purees should always be reheated until piping hot, which means steaming throughout, to kill off bacteria.

The best ways to reheat baby purees are:

On the hob
In the microwave

If cooking a portion of baby puree from frozen, make sure you increase the cooking time and stir regularly (every 20 – 30 seconds) to ensure there are no hidden hot spots and that the puree is evenly heated so it is piping hot throughout.

Remember that foods can only be reheated once so make sure you divide your puree into baby friendly portions before storing in the fridge or freezer!

We hope these tips and tricks have helped you become more confident when it comes to food safety for your little ones!

Jenna is a fully qualified Environmental Health Practitioner specialising in food safety and public health.

For lots more food safety advice, follow Jenna on Instagram

@Foodsafetymum

The post Go to guide: preparing, freezing and reheating foods for baby appeared first on Annabel Karmel.

Go to Guide: Handling Leftovers Safely

Lara Karmel — Mon, 17 May 2021 14:27:04 +0000

Anyone on the weaning journey will appreciate all of the meal planning and prep work that goes into each and every meal (parenting is exhausting isn’t it?!) and none of us want to see a meal we’ve prepared go to waste! But as babies have small tummies and ever-changing appetites, this can leave us wondering what we can do with their leftovers…

In the UK, it’s estimated that 25% of food wasted at home is due to cooking, preparing or serving too much food[1] so knowing how to use leftovers and following my will make all the difference to help you start reducing your own family wastage! However, it’s important to know how to handle leftovers safely, particularly with little ones in the house as babies and young children don’t have the same immune system as us adults.

[1] WRAP, Food Surplus and Waste in the UK – Key Facts, January 2020

Cool Leftovers Quickly

The most important thing to remember when handling leftovers is to cool them quickly!

Regardless of what you have cooked, it’s important to make sure you cool hot foods as quickly as possible, ideally within an hour and a half as you want the food to be cold within 2 hours of cooking.

To freeze… or not to freeze?!

The good news is, providing you haven’t already reheated the meal from another day, you can keep your leftovers for another day and freeze almost anything!

Use any leftovers kept in the fridge within 2 days (1 day for rice dishes). Remember that the fridge will slow down the growth of bacteria whilst the freezer acts as a “pause” button on food so if you don’t think you’re going to use your leftovers in this time, pop them in the freezer as soon as possible!

Just make sure that don’t keep leftovers on the side longer than 2 hours!

Do you always need to reheat leftovers?

No! Providing you have cooled your leftovers safely and kept them in the fridge, it is absolutely fine to eat your leftovers cold straight from the fridge….

However, if you like your leftovers warm, it’s important that you reheat until piping hot throughout. Don’t be tempted to reheat to a lower temperature to avoid having to wait for the food to cool down. Once heated, allow to cool a bit before giving to your little one!

Only Reheat Leftovers Once

Remember that you can only reheat leftovers once!

But… it is safe to freeze the leftovers of a cooked meal that used previously frozen raw meat. It’s important to remember here that you aren’t ‘re-freezing’ the meat as it has been cooked in between.

And remember to always freeze leftovers in baby-friendly portions to make it easier to only use what you need when defrosting, as once you have already reheated your leftovers you won’t be able to reheat again.

What about leftover rice?

Rice is a high-risk product so if you’re keeping leftover rice it’s important you know how to handle it safely.

This is because rice contains a spore forming bacteria which can survive the heat of cooking. If rice is left at room temperature for too long, then the bacteria can multiply rapidly and produce toxins; which will not be killed by further heating.

So, how quickly you cool rice after cooking is critical in ensuring that your leftover rice will be safe to use. Always aim to cool as quickly as possible, but always within an hour and a half. You can help cool rice down quickly by;

Stirring regularly
Divide into smaller portions, or spread out over a larger surface area (for example, spread rice onto a plate vs a bowl)
Using a homemade ‘ice bath’
Running under cold water (this is the quickest method to cool rice if you’ve not added anything to it!)

Once your rice has cooled down, either pop it in the fridge and use within 24 hours or pop it in the freezer to use at a later date!

Hopefully this blog on Handling Leftovers Safely has given you some tips to help you use your leftovers confidently and safely, reducing your food wastage. In a world where a third of all food produced globally goes to waste, with the average UK household wasting an equivalent of 8 meals a week[1], anything we can do to reduce our wastage is a win-win all round!

[1] [1] WRAP, Food Surplus and Waste in the UK – Key Facts, January 2020

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