The Battle of the Pouch

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cmb-the-battle-of-the-pouch-2By now, you’ve probably seen the Facebook photos of store bought baby food pouches with mold in them. Whether these were true or not, before I even became a mom I decided my future kiddos wouldn’t eat any store bought pouches. Luckily for me, you can purchase the equipment now to make your own pouches, and you better believe I had one on my registry! Enter actual life as a mother, and it took a good year after my kid was eating food to actually make my own pouches.  And yes, in the mean time, he ate the kind from the store! What can I say, real life happens!  I picked a few that he liked, went to Pinterest for recipes, and, in my opinion, duplicated exactly what Kroger was selling.

Or maybe not.

My pouches (all three flavors, 7-8 pouches of each flavor) were met with a look of disgust from my normally charming 16 – month – old.  You would think he was being served dog feces.

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Freezer drawer full of ‘inedible’ pouches, made with love, by mommy.

Well, that was 3 hours of cooking, steaming, blending and siphoning – wasted.  My feelings were hurt, and I felt like the harder I tried, the harder I failed.  (Let’s also keep in mind, I was 7 months pregnant and hormones were on full steam!)  So I decided I would regroup and see if I could save my sanity and make the pouches more edible for my junior Bobby Flay.  One recipe was sweet potato and apple, so I added more applesauce and bingo, he liked it.  Another was spinach, peas and pears.  So I squeezed out two pouches, added some pear juice and a jar of pureed baby food pears, and he liked it. I even went so far as re-blending it in my smoothie maker and then re-squeezing it into new pouches.  He hasn’t tried the new recipe in the pouch, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be acceptable.  As for the third variety, broccoli and apple, adding more applesauce hasn’t worked.  I’m planning to add apple juice and re-blend in the smoothie maker and see what shakes out.

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The new spinach, peas, and pears – wish me luck!

I think the pouches needed more fruit and less veggies so it would be sweeter and more appealing since there is no added sugar in my versions.  It also seemed like the second round, which I blended in a smoothie maker instead of the food processor, had a better texture to it.  Round two went into the pouches easier, so maybe Jake was having a hard time squeezing the original round out.

Our next ‘challenge’ is going to be smoothies into the pouches.  I plan to tackle soon, hopefully it goes smoother! I really love making his food, and the ease of the pouches for play groups, so I’m not giving up just yet!

PLEASE (yes, all caps on purpose!) share any recipes you’ve had success with so I can give them a go with Jake! He would be most appreciative!

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ericariggall
Originally from Rochester, NY my husband and I moved to Cincinnati in 2011 for his job. I am a stay at home mom to two boys, Jacob and Lucas, who are 18 months and 2 days apart in age!. My husband and I also have a dog named Freckles. As a family, we enjoy time outside at parks, going on walks, the Bengals, and exploring all Cincinnati has to offer a young family! I also enjoy reading, catching up with friends, being crafty and scrapbooking in any free time I have.

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