As parents, it can be challenging to find a way to keep the kiddies well-nourished without having to resort to commercial options laden with sugars and preservatives. That’s where the benefits of freeze drying come into play – a quick and effective preservation method without having to lose out on the nutritional value your kids’ need.
What is Freeze Drying?
Freeze drying, or lyophilization, is a preservation technique involving freezing food items or breastmilk at extremely low temperatures and the subsequent removal of moisture through sublimation. This process converts water from a solid state directly into a gas, bypassing the liquid phase. The result is a lightweight, shelf-stable product capable of retaining most of its original nutritional content and flavor.
Can You Freeze Dry Breastmilk?
Breastmilk has a general shelf life of only 4 hours, maybe less if it’s hot and humid out. But freeze drying your breastmilk gives it a shelf-stable lifetime of between 6-12 months. Your breastmilk is hyper-cooled at temperatures between 104 – 122 Fahrenheit to preserve all its nutrients. These solids will be exposed to a light heat under vacuum to facilitate sublimation – where solid moves directly into gas phase. There are a few commercial companies that specialize in this, like Boobie Juice.
BoobieJuice’s cGMP certified, CDC-compliant freeze drying process ensures a completely sterile process from start to finish. Simply pump into the sterile milk bags provided and get them ready for pickup. Highly trained, professional staff will handle pickup and place your breastmilk at specific temperatures throughout transit so your it remains stable until it’s time for processing. Your milk is then lyophilized and packed into sterile bags with your own special reconstitution ratio, giving you the benefit of shelf-stable, travel-friendly breastmilk, with your original nourishment quality.
What are the Benefits of Freeze Drying Food & Breastmilk?
As a busy parent, here are some benefits of the shelf-stables option of freeze drying food and your breastmilk when it comes to giving your kids the best nutritional value possible in each meal.
Retains Nutritional Value
The biggest advantage of freeze drying is its ability to retain the original nutritional value of food. They’re dehydrated using quick periods of extremely low temperatures. This then helps preserve the nutritional value, alongside its vitamin, mineral, and essential nutrient content, especially with nutrient-rich mediums like breastmilk. Unlike preservation methods that use high heat, freeze drying significantly minimizes nutrient loss to ensure that your child receives the full nutrients out of each feed.
Preserves Natural Flavors
Freeze drying also helps preserve the natural flavor, taste, and smell of the food or milk, making it more palatable to the little ones. The extremely low-temperature freezing process helps to lock in the aroma and texture, allowing children to enjoy 100% natural flavors without the need for added sugars, flavorings, preservatives or artificial ingredients. This is particularly important if you have picky eaters who are more inclined to eat foods that taste and smell familiar.
Extends Shelf Life
Another significant benefit of freeze drying is the extension of shelf life. Freeze drying employs removal of moisture in food – a key contributor to spoilage and bacterial growth. This process helps dehydrate foods and milk quickly and effectively to prevent the growth of bacteria, yeast, and molds that speed up the process of food spoilage. This extended shelf life allows parents and caregivers to stock up on nutritious meals and snacks or even bag their breastmilk having to worry about a quick expiry.
Freeze Drying vs. Other Food Preservation Methods
Canning and dehydration may be a great commercial option when preserving food for adults. But here’s a contrasting of why freeze drying stands out as the best choice when preserving more natural foods for kids, even breastmilk.
Freeze Drying vs. Canning
Canning resorts to heating in cans and jars at very high temperatures to kill bacteria and other microorganisms that lead to spoilage. This extreme heat exposure affects the taste and nutritional value, especially of something with high fat content like breastmilk. In contrast, freeze drying manages to dehydrate enough to preserve it, while maintaining the original nutritional content and natural flavors. Additionally, freeze dried products are lighter and take up less storage space compared to canned foods.
Freeze Drying vs. Dehydration
Although similar in principal, dehydration removes moisture from food by way of heat. While effectively preserving the food or milk, exposure to heat causes changes in texture, taste, and the nutritional content of the food. In breastmilk, the natural antibodies in it can be affected by heat. With freeze drying, you’ll still enjoy the benefits of preservation by dehydration, without the significant loss of flavors, nutrients, and even the antibodies in the natural makeup of foods.
The Convenience of Freeze Drying
In the age where parents struggle to find a time between their career and their role as full-time caregivers to their little ones, freeze drying offer quite a few perks when it comes to food prep.
Easy Meal Preparation
Freeze dried foods are an amazingly quick and healthy alternative because they require minimal effort and time to prepare or rehydrate. Even freeze dried breast milk allows you to store milk at shelf stability for up to 6 months. This gives parents the freedom to mix and match these dried options to create healthy, well-balanced meal times for their kids, without having to spend endless hours in the kitchen.
On-the-Go Snacking
Freeze dried foods make excellent on-the-go snacks for children. They are lightweight, portable, and do not require refrigeration, making them convenient for outings, travel, and school lunches. Whether it’s freeze dried fruits, vegetables, or even meat, these snacks offer a nutritious alternative to processed snacks while providing the convenience of grab-and-go options.
Freeze Drying at Home
Believe it or not, freeze drying isn’t just a commercial process. If you’re an on-the-go parent looking for cheap, simple cheap ways to get your hands on freeze dried foods for the kiddies, these home freeze drying methods might just be the hack you need.
Freeze Drying in a Home Freezer
Although not as effective as a dedicated home freeze dryer, your freezer can be a quick way to freeze dry your children’s meals.
- Clean and prepare the foods you want to freeze dry. Be sure to remove the skin, seeds, or anything that can contribute to swift spoilage. Cook meats thoroughly before freeze drying.
- Cut them up to thin, even sizes. (strips and small cubes work best)
- Set your freezer to the lowest setting to ensure a better quality of freeze drying.
- Place them uncovered in the freezer overnight.
- Pack them into resealable bags or thin-walled plastic containers and store them in the freezer for future use.
Freeze Drying with Dry Ice
This is a great option for freeze drying small batches of food and takes less time than the freezer. But be sure to handle dry ice very carefully, especially while the kids are around.
- Prepare your food for freeze drying. Cook all meats through. Skin and deseed your fruits.
- Place them into a thin plastic bag.
- Use insulated gloves to place dry ice pieces into a large container or cooler.
- Place the open bag the cooler for 24 hours and leave uncovered to allow moisture and CO₂ to escape
- Remove the bag and store the food in airtight containers or vacuum-sealed bags.
**We suggest using a proper home freeze dryer or the service of a commercial freeze dryer like BoobieJuice for mommies who intend to freeze dry their breastmilk.
Freeze Drying Safety Considerations
While the benefits of freeze dried foods and breastmilk are many, it’s important to consider these few safety precautions when handling them as quick meals for children.
- Ensure freeze dried products are stored in a cool, dry place to maintain quality and shelf life.
- Clearly label and date homemade freeze dried food.
- Thoroughly check the packaging for any signs of damage or spoilage before consuming
- Follow recommended rehydration instructions from the manufacturer to ensure proper food safety.
- Be aware of potential allergens present in freeze dried products and read the labels carefully.
Incorporating Freeze Dried Products into a Child’s Diet
Mixing with Other Foods
Freeze dried fruits and vegetables can be added to home-cooked meals for that added flavor and boost in nutritional value. Some ideas include sprinkling freeze dried berries on top of cereal or yogurt, or adding freeze dried vegetables to soups, stews, or pasta dishes.
Using Freeze Dried Foods as Snacks
Freeze drying food or fruits is that it makes excellent standalone snacks for children. They’re lightweight, crunchy, and packed with nutrients. Freeze dried fruits are a great alternative to common, processed sweet treats while giving kids the balanced nutrition they need. For the younger ones freeze dried breastmilk bites make a fabulous quick and healthy treat, especially if they’re teething.
Freeze Dry Your Breastmilk at Commercial Standards
BoobieJuice is the way to go if you want to retain your breastmilk at the highest quality, even 6 months down the road. Its cGMP certified process allows you to the benefit of your natural nutrients packed into a shelf-stable, ready-to-go powder form. Plus, BoobieJuice’s innovative process can freeze dry breastmilk in a way that it still retains the natural fat, vitamins, minerals, and colostrum content of your milk, so your baby can enjoy mama’s best – anytime, anyplace. They even offer PCS discounts to military families!
Conclusion
Freeze drying comes with numerous benefits where baby and child nutrition is concerned. Not only does it preserve food and breastmilk, it even manages to retain their natural nutritional composition, ensuring only the best or your kids. Aside from that, there’s the added convenience of ready-to-go freeze dried foods which can be heaven-sent when you’re in a crunch for time. But as with other food preparations, be sure to adhere to the food safety precautions that come with serving up freeze dried meals.
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