Baby food pouches are not cost effective. Particularly for someone like me, who has made most of baby food. I really wasn’t all that interested in them, to be honest. But someone gave us some baby food pouches. And then I got some coupons that made them almost free. So I gave them a try. What I discovered was that these were incredibly easy to travel with. Of course at home, I want Avie to learn to eat with her hands and now we’re beginning to explore with utensils. I don’t want to rob her of that… but when we’re on the go, which we are some mornings or afternoons… and she’s starving, these are handy and mostly mess-free.
Thus began the quest. I simply cannot justify buying these expensive packs at $1.20 each when I can buy a whole jar of apple sauce for just a little more. I knew someone had to have created a reusable one, so I started looking. I actually found quite a few.
There are the Little Green Pouches, which were a little pricey (per each), but decent, except that I didn’t like the spout coming out of the side. There are the Yummi Pouches, which were a cheaper version of this, which also had the spout coming out of the side. The U-Fill pouches, which were the absolute cheapest and have the spout at the top like I like, but have the zipper on the bottom and don’t stand up (annoying!). I had finally settled on The Go Fresh Baby Pouch because it was one of the cheaper options, but seemed a little better than the U-Fill. I liked the top spout and the nice open zipper. But, before I ordered them, I did one more search and I found this:
This is the Infantino Fresh Squeezed refill station and includes 10 pouches. At first, I saw it on Amazon for like $54 and I thought that was crazy, but then I found it at Target for $24. Divided out by 10, that makes these pouches $2.40, plus they have the refill station. So I changed my plan entirely and ordered it. (Target redcard debit means free shipping!) I waited. It seemed like an eternity. But then if finally came! (This was back in February, so don’t worry, not breaking the spending freeze!)
I wanted to rip it open and try it right then, but I had to work for another few hours. :( But at the next opportunity, I did just that.
Basically, you slide the pouches in, twist the little funnels on and then fill. Then there’s a plunger that pushes it down into the pouch. Untwist, pop, it out, cap it and then wha-la..
A pouch, filled with vanilla yogurt!
She was a happy girl.
But it’s not quite as neat and tidy as I’d like it to be. It didn’t spill out of the sides while it was connected, but once you unattach it, it gets a little tricky. It could be operator error, as it has gotten better with practice. Also, the plunger doesn’t seal well at the top, so you always get a little seepage when you first start pushing down. I’ve tried to have a steadier hand and to be sure to push straight down. It helps, but doesn’t fix it entirely. That just seems a little wasteful to me.
Here’s my first go at filling. Several apple sauces, a couple of yogurt and 3 squash.
The only real problem (apart from the slight messiness) is that these are actually NOT reusable pouches. Or at least, they’re not intended to be. I didn’t realize this until I read on the pouches, “Warnings: Do not microwave or boil pouch in water. Keep cap out of reach of children. Adult supervision is required. Pouch is not insulated – keep pouch cool. Do not use damaged pouch – do not reuse pouch.” Bummer.
I’ve been reusing them so far. Because they’re clear, you can see if you got them completely clean and you could tell if something started growing in them (yuck!). The problem is that they don’t dry well. Because the spout is so narrow and there isn’t another opening (like the real reusable pouches), there is no air flow and thus, the water doesn’t evaporate. My initial solution was to refill them immediately or rewash them. My brilliant brother-in-law suggested filling them with water once they’ve been washed and then storing them in the fridge until I’m ready to fill. That’s been working, so I think we’ll keep it up.
Have you found a cool system you like? Let me know!
*Just a little disclaimer, this is just a personal review, simply because I think other moms might want to know. I am not being paid by any of these companies to endorse their product. Nor did I receive any free products from any of them.*