Homemade baby food hack / cheap food pouches

I wasn't quite sure what to call this hack since it makes my life easier in so many ways - it saves a ton of money, makes a cheap yet healthy snack for my toddler, AND allows my 8-month-old baby to feed herself!

My toddler pretty much lives on yogurt pouches, and now the baby eats (and loves!) them too. They're the ultimate on-the-go kid snack. But at $1 each, or more, those little suckers add up fast.

In an effort to save money on pouches, I bought some reusable food pouches a while ago. But I never knew what to fill them with. I wanted to recreate the flavors of the yogurt pouches my son loved, but making all the ingredients from scratch was daunting.

Until I thought of this. And now it's super easy!

Ready? Here goes:

1. Buy reusable food pouches (we have this set and it's perfect and look how cute! Don't forget the valve tops so your kids can't squirt them out and make a mess!)

2. Hit up your local Aldi for a giant tub of unsweetened applesauce and a giant tub of whole-milk vanilla yogurt. (You can also save even more by making vanilla yogurt in the crockpot - incredibly easy and delicious!)

3. Combine in blender. (OPTIONAL: Throw in some extra fruit/veggies like spinach, carrots, blueberries - whatever you have on hand. I used spinach and some leftover steamed carrots.)

4. Fill your food pouches...

5. Voila! The baby can feed herself. Also she can play with the pouch and top for approximately 45 minutes and buy you ample time to cook dinner. 😂

You can also go the old-fashioned route and spoon-feed her... but I prefer letting her feed herself. Saves so much time and she has a blast!

This stuff was really good, by the way. My toddler happily downed a pouch of it at the same time. I taste tested it too, and it was delicious!

Here's an official recipe if you want one. Note that these are estimates; I just eyeballed it. You can adjust ingredients to taste.

1 cup raw spinach
2/3 cup steamed carrots
2/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt

This lazy method of making "homemade" baby food has been a game-changer for me. I hope it can be helpful to someone else! 😄