Is anyone other than me spending a TON of money on little fruit/veggie squeezies like these, these or these?
They are such a great resource – you can throw them in your bag and they last forever. Good little snack without a ton of sugar, carbs, artificial x/y/z, etc. Also well-portioned – instead of your kids “fishing” in a bag of goldfish for 20 minutes until they’re full and have no room for your gorgeous but less-than-goldfish-delicious baked Cod with vegetables dinner, they get just enough to warn off crankiness and leave room for meals.
When I first started buying these (about four years ago), they were around $1/squeezy. Even then, it seemed expensive but I was a new mom and they filled a major need. We stopped using them for a while but my second is now 18 months and I’m in that world again. The prices have climbed quite a bit…Even in the last six months I’ve seen them go from $1.29/pp to $1.59.
So, I’ve tried to find a way to circumvent this ludicrous pricing.
Enter “make squeezy at home project”. First step, get a personal blender (using/cleaning the huge blender for a 3 oz smoothy is seriously time prohibitive). I bought this one – less than $15, not perfect but works for what I need.
Second step, Obsess over “make your own squeezy” pouches on Amazon for a few days. Add/remove items from your basket, then pull the trigger. I Have done the work for you. Here are the few I debated on and why I made my final selection.
First is the Squooshi pouch. Clearly the cutest, but also the most expensive and the comments referenced the interior pouch curves getting dirty which makes sense.
Second is the
EZ squeezes. These almost won (good price), but they’re small and lately my little one likes larger “concoctions” (I also thought the little top would get lost). Similar concerns went with the
Yummi pouches and some reviews said they leak on top (and they WOULD in my bag).
So, final decision – I went with the
Little Green Pouch. Good price, seemed to fill all of my needs, and
Daily Candy gave it an award so it must be good
On to the making. I already had some organic frozen berries, so I used those. Added some Almond Milk and Sunflower Seed butter for liquidity/protein. I can’t give measurements, because I just kept adding as I went and saw the consistency…I suggest you do the same. I skipped the ice since my berries were frozen already, and I wanted to be gentle on the cheap blender.
Filled up two little pouches with my concoction, put one in the freezer and one in the fridge (and gave my little one some of the smoothy which he loved)! BOTH were a success! I took the freezer one with us to music class so he could have it afterwards and it was perfectly “slushy” a few hours later.
For my second batch, I am going to use some yogurt to thicken it up – it got a bit watery in the fridge and am considering putting in Quinoa (though I would use those fast…grains and bacteria are friends after a few days).
I know I’ll still buy the crazy expensive ones to throw in my purse, but I’m hoping I don’t need to buy anywhere near as many. If they want a snack at home or we need snacks for the car, I’m going homemade all the way!
