Homemade Food Pouches
Can I just say that food pouches were one of THE best inventions for babies and toddlers? They are a perfect and healthy on-the-go snack that seems to be a no-fail, unless you buy a flavor your child doesn’t like (been there!) Again, thanks to Aldi, they have inexpensive options for CHEAP, like around $1.79 for 4! Where at some stores, they can cost up to $1.00 each!
One night my friend and I were talking about how much we love the squeezable food pouches and looked into buying the food pouch “station”. Of course it was out of stock EVERYWHERE, but we figured, why not try to create our own little station? Call us cheap or innovative, but who needs the squeezable station when you’ve got a frosting tip and baggie instead?
I found 50 disposable pouches for 14.99 at Wal-Mart (which at the typing of this post, they are out of stock, but cost $.30/pouch then), but you can also get them on Amazon for around $20 for 50. I know you can get reusable pouches, which I’ve tried, but not having a dish washer, I must say that I had a hard time getting them completely clean. Hence why it was worth getting the disposable ones for me personally.
I know Aldi’s food pouches are cheap, but unfortunately in the cheap 4-pack version, they only have a select few flavors. Mazy loves her strawberries and bananas, so I wanted to create a strawberry, banana, and yogurt pouch. She also loves applesauce with cinnamon (which Aldi carries), so wanted to do a few of those as well. Really, you could create ANY combo you want, whether it be vegetables, fruit, or you name it! That is the joy of making homemade pouches.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Attach frosting tip to ziplock bag
2. Cut a small hole at the bottom of tip
3. Pour mixture into ziplock bag, let out air, and zip shut
4. Place tip into top of food pouch and hold tightly
5. Squeeze mixture in slowly
6. Remove tip and wipe rim of food pouch with wet rag
7. Secure tightly
8. Write what mixture it is on food bag with date
9. Refrigerate or freeze
I used not even half of the jar of applesauce and made 4 pouches! Granted my pouches are 4 oz. pouches and there are 24 oz. in each, so by default, you’d think I could only make 6, but I also did not want to fill them too full where if Mazy gave it one squeeze, I didn’t want it to squirt all over her. So, I would estimate that you could make 8 pouches out of one jar of applesauce. Using the applesauce was more of a test run, but Mazy LOVED it!
Then I decided to go out on a limb and make a strawberry banana flavored food pouch. As I was making it, Mazy kept asking for her “shake” because she knew the minute I took out my handy-dandy blender, that meant a shake was on the way (this girl knows my routine). I added some vanilla yogurt to make it a bit more liquidy, and had just as much success! I found strawberries on sale at Aldi (even out of season), had bananas that were going bad, and yogurt, well of course is cheap at Aldi. I made 6 of these pouches and Mazy wanted one immediately.
Call me bored or call me cheap, but I must say, this was well worth the effort! I will continue to buy the Aldi boxed food pouches, but when I need a different flavor, I will definitely go this route! I know this process would be easier with the station, but when they are unavailable, it calls for drastic measures. Plus, I saved money because no station is needed with this homemade method!
And Mazy is one happy camper too!
