As a new mom, I can always relate to other moms in that we all want our kids to be happy and healthy. But most of us also need to stick to a budget, so as much as we’d love to buy 100% organic fresh foods and feed our kids homemade deliciousness, sometimes convenience and our own sanity win in the end.
How Did We Do It?
One of the things we love is the fruit and veggie pouches. If you’ve never used them, they’re great! Not only do they provide great nutrition in an easy package, but they’re great for quick snacks, especially before bed and on-the-go. I used to buy the organic ones for $.50 each at Big Lots, which was great because our Walmart usually sells them for at least $1.00 each. But recently, our local Big Lots store has stopped carrying them. So in an effort to save money and still have the convenience of the pouches, I found the Infantino Squeeze Station, which is essentially a system that you can use to make your own pouches.
I’ve dabbled with making baby food in the past and it really can save you a lot of money buying in bulk, as long as you make time to actually make the food. Otherwise, it just ends up as a waste. I was excited to find that I could purchase the entire system, including the traveling spoon attachment and an extra bag of 50 empty pouches for about $30 on Amazon.
It’s Showtime!
I ordered it last week and broke it out of the package as soon as it arrived. I purchased about $20 of produce from apples to bananas, peaches to peas to make my food and spent about 3 hours doing it. (This included setting up and figuring out the system).
Overall, the system is pretty easy to use. It was easy to figure out how to set it up, but also comes with instructions for those who use such things…hint hint, I usually don’t. Anyway, the only thing that I found to be a little difficult was trying to figure out how to push the food down into the bags and then pull the piece back out of the tube without sucking the food back out of the bag. After my first few attempts, I ended up pushing the food to the bottom and then unscrewing the whole tube and taking the piece out at that point.
I also struggled a little bit at first with getting the food into the tubes without including a lot of air. I found that the smoother you puree the food, the less air gets trapped in the tube in the first place. Also, if you tilt the pushing piece until you get to the top of the food, you can push it in without building up a lot of air with it.
Tips and Tricks
In addition to these few tweaks I used to make the process more successful, I wanted to recommend a few things you might want to keep in mind if you decide to try this system for yourself. First, because the opening of the tubes is small, the smoother the consistency of your food, the better. In other words, I would recommend removing the peels of whatever you’re making your food out of because if you include the peels, it makes the mix thicker and a little more difficult to get into the tube. I learned this the hard way after splattering two different shirts because I tried to push the food into the pouch when it was too thick.
Also, once you click the pouches into the holder, they can be a little tricky to get back out after you fill them. I ended up loosening them while they were still in the holder, after I unscrewed the tubes off the top and then I would lift the entire tray out to get all the pouches out. Then you can easily screw the caps on.
One last tip I have is when you’re filling the pouches, it helps to slightly squeeze the pouches and expand the bottom so that it can stand up on it’s own. Otherwise, when you unscrew the tube off the top, the food may start to come back out because it’s pressurized.
What Does My Son Think?
Most importantly, we have to consider what the children think. After all, you can make the most amazing food in the world, but if they won’t eat it, it doesn’t matter. And as much as I wish I could say that my son gave it a glowing review…as much as a one-year-old can…so far, we’ve had mixed feelings. Most of the mixes I’ve tried, I’ve had to really prompt him to eat. This is not typical for him because with the pouches I used to buy, he would suck them down faster than I could open the next one.
I’m not sure if it’s because these pouches have to be stored in the fridge or freezer, so they’re colder when he eats them, or if the transparent pouches are throwing him off, but he’s been pretty tentative to try them. He definitely prefers the fruit mixes instead of the vegetable ones, but I’m still working my magic to get him to eat them. Most of the mixes are the same or similar to the ones I used to buy, so we’ll see how it goes.
Let’s Sum This Up
Overall, I really like the Infantino Squeeze Station. It’s very easy to use and clean up and once you get used to it a few times, it’s easy to make a ton of pouches in a short amount of time. While the cost of the food I bought to make the pouches is comparable to the price I used to get at Big Lots, there is a small additional cost for the empty pouches which makes the overall cost slightly higher. But, considering our local Big Lots is no longer offering the pouches, it is cheaper than buying them at Walmart.
The other benefits I really appreciate about making the pouches is that I know exactly where the ingredients are coming from and I can see through the packages to make sure they don’t get moldy (which is sometimes a concern with the store-bought pouches).
I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes to make their own baby food and maybe if we had started our son on these pouches instead of the store-bought ones, he would be more receptive to them, but that fact aside, try them for yourself and see what you think!