GoFreshBaby reusable baby food pouches

I mentioned in a BLW (baby-led weaning) piece that I wrote for the Huffington Post that I made all of The K Man’s baby food purées from scratch.

And – believe me – I’m no domestic goddess. (Just ask Big B and he’ll tell you that he’s the domestic one.)

I was just one of those over-the-top first-time moms who believed that nothing store-bought could ever be as good as what I could make. It seemed like a sane thought at the time, and remembering it now, it feels a bit uptight. Ahem, OK – a lot uptight.

I may or may not be a bit of a control freak.

So there I’d be, once a month, spending nearly an entire day steaming, chopping, blending. Measuring out single doses of fruits, veggies and meat, and later creating chef-worthy concoctions. Freezing them (in ice-cube trays, not BabyCubes because although I really wanted to love them, I just didn’t). Bagging them. Sharpie-ing the date on the freezer bags. Thawing them. Spoon-feeding them.

I never did find an on-the-go system that worked well for travelling. I don’t mean the kind of travelling that involves a trip to Grandma’s; I mean the kind of travelling that involves overnight stays and cross-border shopping.

Man, would I have loved me some GoFreshBaby reusable baby food pouches! I was glad to receive a couple of pouches to review.

Photo courtesy In-The-Know Mom.

THE GOOD

You don’t need to be doing the purée thing to get value out of these food pouches. And although I’m a proponent of BLW, you just keep on doing whatever’s working for you, mama!

The GoFreshBaby food pouch can go in the dishwasher.

Freezer-safe, too; but keep in mind that if you have a younger baby and you freeze five ounces worth of food, you need to plan to use it within about a day of thawing it. So you might want to freeze baby’s favourite food – not one with which you’re experimenting.

Made of heavy-duty, puncture-resistant phylate- and BPA-free food-grade plastic. Yes, it’s still plastic, but it’s as good as it’s gonna get.

You can put just about anything liquid-y in the pouches, whether or not you’re going nuts making homemade purées or letting your baby figure out the solids thing through BLW.  Think smoothies, yogurt blends or just plain water. Mix a little cinnamon in with some applesauce (I like the no-sugar-added organic varieties you can find at any grocery store if you don’t have the time or energy to make your own), and you have a great snack for your little one.

If your kid – and I must stress that I’ve used the GoFreshBaby reusable food pouches with both my two and four year olds – can work a “squisher” (our generic name for things like those Squoosh snacks), then they’re co-ordinated enough to use these food pouches solo, too.

THE GAFFE

There’s only one size: five ounces. While this amount is fine for an eight month old, it’s on the small side for a two year old who can suck back squishers like it’s a death-row meal.

A leak-resistant double zip seal closure means that I worry about spillage. You know, the kind that’s normally reserved for your kid’s backpack that makes you go ewww. My solution is to pop the GoFreshBaby reusable pouches into Ziplock baggies – just to be sure.

While the website will tell you to hand-wash your pouches to give them a longer life, I’m here to tell you to just put them in the dishwasher. Between their spouts and double-seals, they can be real SOBs to clean by hand.

THE GEARS

4/5

So…where can you buy it?

• Directly from GoFreshBaby (yes – they’ll ship to Canada!);  sold in three-packs for USD$9.99

CONTEST

Whether you need these for a baby who’s about to start solids, a preschooler who’s got the food thing down or you plan to have no teeth and only drink strained foods one day, this is the contest for you! Win two 3-packs of GoFreshBaby food pouches – that’s a total of six! Enter here.