Easy Squeezy! Yummi Pouch Review

[I received a set of Yummi Pouches to review. This post contains affiliate links.]

The Yummi Pouch is a great way to reduce the waste and expense of store-bought disposable "squeezy fruit" pouches. And while you can choose to buy a big tub of yogurt or applesauce to fill the pouches, you could also choose to make your own baby food, applesauce or smoothies. Save money AND be in charge of all the ingredients!

 

I have a hard time filling these types of pouches, since my smoothies tend to be thicker, so funnels don't work. (Check out my DIY pouch smoothies post over at MOMables!) So I got myself an Infantino Squeeze Station. It is designed to work with pouches that have the spouts sticking out of the top, since you load them into the tray and lower it down onto the frame. So it took a little creative maneuvering to get these side-spout pouches in and out. I had to kind of fold the empty pouches to get them in, and then after they were filled, I had to put the lids on so that my smoothie didn't spill out when I bent and wiggled the pouches enough to lift the tray up. Then caps back off to slide the spouts off. It took a little trial-and-error the first time, but now I'm a pro! Laziness pays off!

Yummi Pouch also makes a fantastic addition to a packed lunch for school or camp! If you freeze one the night before, you can even use it as an ice pack to keep the rest of the lunch cool.

Uncured ham and organic cheddar on a GF bun with mustard, organic strawberries and peas,
Yummi Pouch with  blueberry-beet-kale-Greek yogurt smoothie

Pros

• Very affordable! Only $14.99/6 pouches and caps - best price I've seen for these!
• Nice wide opening across the top
• Dishwasher-safe
• Freezer-safe
• BPA and phthalate-free
• Re-usable, but recyclable if you manage to bust it or something.
• They have a space where you can write notes, like date or contents, or who they're for. And they sell dishwasher-safe stickers to help jazz them up. Fun!
• "Fill to" line so you don't accidentally over-fill and have it all sploot out the top when you try and close it. Not that I would know...
• Kid-friendly, and unlike many baby feeding items, they can "grow" with your child - start with baby mash, then move to fruit mash, yogurt, or smoothies for the older ones! Or Mamas!

Cons

• Says it holds 6 ounces, but it was tricky to close without making a mess.
• Same as any of them - lids can get easily lost, they can be annoying to clean if you don't rinse them soon after... that kind of thing.

E and Z Approved!

 

In fact, these were so popular, I have to fill them at night now. I can't pull them off the filling station faster than they can slorp them down!

Mama Tip: If you have any disposable squeezy pouches, save the lids. They are compatible. And make a fun way to color-code. You know. In case you forgot which ones had plain applesauce, and which ones had a cube of frozen blueberry baby mash added in for fun. That one child refuses to eat. Oops.

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MOMables Monday - A Flower-y Twist on some MOMables Classics!

 

Because I'm lazy, I tend to stick to the simpler MOMables menu items, like the MOMables Cracker Stackers. But I promise, the MOMables lunch planning menu service offers recipes, ways to prep ahead, dinner ideas and ways to repurpose leftovers into lunch, shopping lists, and more! If you want to give it a try, this link will get you 33% off a 3-month subscription! And now, all menu items have gluten-free, nut-free, and vegetarian options and sub suggestions!

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Little Z's Classic PBJ - with a Flower-y Twist!

Organic strawberries, GF PBJ, cheese, organic sugar snap peas and carrots

 

I used a pink silicone divider cup to separate the sandwich bites from the strawberries. To jazz up the sugar snap peas, I added some carrot flowers cut with a flower veggie cutter. The sandwich bread and the cheese were cut with a mini flower cutter. I tend to cut the bread first, then add the fillings, both to keep the cutter clean (because I'm lazy,) and also so that the scraps remain "clean" to re-use for stuff like home-made croutons or bread crumbs... aw, who am I kidding? I only make Bento Scrap French Toast Casserole! YUM!

Baby E's Cracker Stackers

Uncured ham, cheese, Van's GF cheese crackers; organic sugar snap peas, hummus, and strawberries

I opted for Cracker Stackers over a sandwich for E because she hadn't been eating her bread very often, but would eat crackers. Plus I had leftover ham flowers (cut with a many-petalled veggie cutter) from a potluck meat and cheese platter we took to her preschool.
The cheese was cut with a mini flower cutter.

Tools of the Trade

    

May 2013 Preschool Snacks - Week 3

Monday, 5/13 through Thursday, 5/16/13

Only three snacks this week because we had a field trip to the zoo on Thursday.

Monday

Freeze-dried banana-strawberry-raspberry mix, organic corn chips, vanilla seed mix

[This post contains affiliate links.]

I tried a mix of freeze-dried berries and bananas in her snack, but Z was having none of it. She's hit-or-miss on eating dried fruits like raisins, and freeze-dried fruits. I also included a sweetened vanilla seed mix with sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a cow-shaped Easter egg. All in a snap-close bento snack box.

Tuesday

HappyCreamies, GF sandwich cookie, Ranch, organic green beans

Both girls love freeze-dried yogurt drops, but HappyFamily makes a non-dairy version with pureed fruit and vegetables. In an attempt to entice her to eat her green beans, I included Ranch dressing in a Smidget plus a gluten-free sandwich cookie. Didn't work. Punk.

I mix-and-matched blue, pink, and green 2-tier bento boxes to make three multi-colored ones.

Wednesday

Dried seaweed snack, BBQ PopChips

A hastily-thrown-together snack in our little squirrel snack box. I was probably in a hurry. Or just feeling lazy.

Tools of the Trade

       

Food for Thought