Frozen v. Fresh food

[Edie]

My baby boy is 8.5 months. He is eating solids + formula. I'm only feeding him organic foods right now. But organic fresh meat/fish is so expensive. I'm thinking of switching to frozen organic products - which are cheaper. I'm also currently freezing all baby food (except stuff that's been frozen before) so that I can make them in large batches ahead of time.

Is it ok to feed frozen organic meat/fish? Will it substantially decrease the nutrients available?

 

[MLBW]

It can slightly decrease the nutritional value but frozen food is the next best thing--much better than canned food. My father was was an organic vegetable grower when we were growing up--he had a large garden. We also ate wild game that we hunted ourselves and since where I grew up had a short growing season it was almost impossible to get good-quality fruits and vegetables in the wintertime--also the price was really high. So, in the autumn my mom and dad would process all the vegetables at home--some got sold--others got frozen (corn freezes really well) and a lot got canned--then we could eat them all winter long. Where are you buying your organic vegetables from? Just this week I found a local farmer here and started buying directly from him--eliminates the middle man (the grocery store etc.) so the price isn't as astronomical--plus it gives more benefit to the people who are actually doing the work. Anyway....I freeze my food with confidence. :0)

 

[Edie]

MLBW - thanks so much for your reply. That gives me some level of comfort. I'm currently buying my org food (e.g. fruits, chicken, fish, squash) at landmark's 360. It's darn expensive. Does your supplier offer these products? Can you forward me the contacts? I'm thinking of feeding him spinach / brocoli / cauliflower soon too..

 

[jyit]

For me, there is such a difference btwn fresh and frozen foods that I couldn't imagine buying frozen for my wee one. The big thing for me was time and the cost was secondary. Both of us work.

As for contacts, I found this site (i'm in Scarborough Ontario ~ near Toronto)

http://lorddumpling.com

I would imagine there are similar places in HK.

The deliver and the baby food is always fresh.

:gl:

 

[NYCMel]

There's Little Giant in HK:

http://www.littlegianthk.com/home.php

 

[carang]

i must say that you folks are very lucky to be able to afford such luxury food for your little ones, please keep in mind though that we all do the best by our children and that not all of us can afford spending that $ on buying organic etc. it doesn't make us bad parents.

1) i have never given organic to either of my children
2) i ALWAYS freeze food, no problems there either!
3) so long as children have a balanced diet, that is what counts
4) i am just as good a mother as if i provided gourmet organic only fresh food.

 

[carang]

mlbw, if i were to be able to buy organic whatever, i would also seek to cut out the middleman. good on you! that farmer is the one who deserves the $ not LI KA SHING!

 

[southside852]

carang, of course - organic is great if you have the means, but good fresh food also provides the same nutritional value for your baby. organic definitely does not mean being a bad parent. you provide the best you can for your little one(s)!

we give our 1 year old a mixture of both, but it's mostly with the meat and chicken that i make sure is organic. if I cannot find organic at Taste which is often not ( I go into Central), then I give free-range Australian. With other produce, i just make sure it's not from china.

 

[aussiegal]

It's a well known fact that at least as far as fruit and veggies go frozen is better than nearly anything you will find fresh. Frozen food is frozen straight after harvesting/picking ensuring the survival of most of the nutrients. Anything not frozen (even organic) takes a long time to get to a supermarket shelf thus losing a lot of their goodness on the way, in handling, washing, transportation etc so unless you are getting food straight from the grower's market within a couple of days of picking I would not worry one bit about choosing to buy frozen instead.

Canned food on the other hand is just bad!

Personally I'm not a big believer in the whole organic debate. For me, living in HK the most important thing is not buying fruit and veg from the mainland or HK. I'm happy to buy non-organic from just about anywhere else just remembering to give everything a good long wash.

 

[LeahH]

Park n shop does a organic line of fruit, veg, milk, meat and salmon etc. at some stores, that is much cheaper than 360.

I used to shop at 360, but now only thing that I need from there is baby yoghurt and white fish. If I can't get organic, then I go for line caught wild fish (i.e. nothing farmed - irrespective of where it's from) and free range meat/chicken from Aus/NZ like Southside.

I freeze the meat/fish and batch-made food all the time and freeze organic bananas whole in their skin (if you microwave them, then cut them open it's like banana ice-cream for babies!)