This is it…the moment we’ve been waiting for! Drum rolls! Huzzahs!
It’s a GIVEAWAY!!
If you’d like to try the Squooshi pouches that I reviewed yesterday (click here if you missed it), this post is for you – thanks to generous mom (and Squooshi founder) Shannon, we have an Assorted Four Pack of washable & reusable baby food pouches to give to one of our lucky readers.
Look! It’s Animal Squooshi Pouches! At the ZOO! How cute is THAT?!
Since this is our first giveaway I’m gonna get all crazy controlling about it and make some rules. ‘Cause my house, my rules.
First: You have to read my review.
Second: You have to post a comment on THIS giveaway blog entry, telling me what you’d put in your Squooshis, should you be the winner. You may also say nice things about my review and/or make further suggestions for how to thicken my smoothies (I have already been schooled in the frozen fruit trick).
[note: just saying “Squooooooooooooooooshi!” will not qualify you – but it will make me laugh]
Third: I’ll pick a recipe to try. If my kids like it, you win!
Ha ha just kidding. They like everything in a Squooshi. You just win if I like your idea the best.
Yeah, I’m not doing any of this random number generator crap. That just leads to people posting asinine “Pick me!” comments and leaves luck up to … well … luck. And frankly I believe in effort and creativity over luck!
Plus yes I am a little bitter that my many pithy and fantastic comments have always been overlooked by evil random number generators which I am pretty sure work for my enemies and will one day take over the world.
(I reserve the right to use a random number generator if I can’t decide what comment is best. So please don’t let a lack of energy to come up with something be the reason you don’t enter. If you want to enter without a recipe, just leave a comment about your favorite part of my review. Kissing up is always welcome.)
So leave your comment below and let’s help each other fill our Squooshis!
On that vaguely naughty-sounding note, I think we’d better wrap this up.
Congratulations to ERIN who has won the Four Pack of Squooshis!
FoodiEvangelist 
Thank you so much to everyone who entered!! The giveaway is closed and Erin is our winner. I hope everybody else will go buy a Squooshi too!
I would LOVE to try these out with my two little linebackers in training (18 mo and almost 3 years) who are not always so willing to eat their greenies or new things, but love to squooooooshi just about any of the single use pouches! And way back when I was a person in the world not named Mom, I used to do some pretty cool things like gardening, canning, pickling, and making jam, so as these two goobers get bigger and I can do more things without barnacles stuck to my bum maybe I can get some of those goodies into some squooshi pouches LOL!!!! And I have always been good at coming up with combinations, so maybe I can become a super cool contributor to someone’s blog and recipe lists!
I’m not very inventive with food recipes and I have had many smoothie ideas fail. My kids inhale store-bought pouches like its a Capri Sun so I’m looking forward to Squoooooooooooshis! I would stick with fruit, starting off with just plain apple sauce and then slowly branch out with adding additional fruits.
last post, i promise and i’ll keep it short but what about hummus? squeezed onto veggie sticks/crackers/etc? perfection! i can’t tell you how many times i have packed the entire container of hummus, then neglected to clean out the lunch box upon arriving home. next morning, ice has melted, hummus, being left out without refrigeration, is suspect and the whole thing gets thrown in the trash. waste of money!
okay, just had another idea. not sure if it would work, since i don’t have squooshie experience, but what about filling a small with some organic peanut butter and jam? our homemade jam is sometimes a little on the runny side and i don’t use it if we are packing peanut butter and jelly to be eaten while out–the jam can make the bread a bit soggy. would it work to put a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter and another couple spoonfuls of jam? (i remember begging for “goober grape” from the grocery store as a kid–it was pb & jelly in the same jar). then kiddo could squeeze it out onto bread on location for a freshly made pb&j. both my kids are in that “must do everything myself” phase, which we try to encourage for the most part. something like this would probably be a real treat for them!
That’s a really interesting idea! You’d have to get the two mixed together pretty well b/c the jelly would probably leak around the edges of the PB otherwise. But it could work.
great giveaway staci. you have me seriously intrigued on trying these. lucy just entered a nature program in which she has to carry her own backpack for 3.5 hours. i have therefore been hell bent on packing her as much as she needs, as lightly as possible. sadly (for me and my wallet) that means buying a lot of single serve, prepackaged items so that i don’t have to factor in the weight of our kids konserve containers in her pack. i have seen bigger containers that are similar for holding water, and the squooooooshies have reminded me of them i probably should look into those as well!
with the squooshies i’d be able to get back to buying bulk yogurt and applesauce. lucy’s also big on green smoothies right now (like another poster mentioned we use avocado or banana to thicken). baby tucker is just now getting the hang of the plum organic pouches as well (he got a bunch for christmas) and while i like them for the ease of packing and serving, they are pricey and when he doesn’t finish i feel like it’s a lot of waste, moneywise and for the landfill.
jeremy made me warm oatmeal smoothies everyday while i was pregnant with lucy. he’d cook the oatmeal then toss it in with a few handfuls of frozen fruit. so yummy and simple! i have a TON of fruit i put up last summer (blueberries, cherries and apricots) that are begging to be used before the coming spring and the return of berry season. therefore, we are totally on the smoothie track!
oh! just realized that the small sqooshies would probably be great for taking guacamole in the backpack. she could squeeze it out onto her chips/tortillas/packed tacos–it would probably keep from oxidizing that way and you just know it would be super fun to do. as playing with food often is.
thanks for the heads up on this product!
I could definitely see doing the warm oatmeal thing – with the frozen fruit, that makes a lot of sense. All of your ideas are really awesome. Stuff I would do, too!
Loved your review very informative with great feedback on how to not over full and info o. Cleaning! For thickening of our baby food we’ve used plain Greek yogurt works really well! Would love to try some spinach and fruit smoothies. I love sneaking veges into the things our little one eats without him even knowing. SOme of our little guys favorites tht ive made are fresh apricot, banana and Greek yogurt, or avocado and banana, or fresh spinach with frozen raspberries and strawberries. We’ve always just spoon fe him but he loves his pouches do being able to fill my own would be great! These would be amazing to have around! The other thing we like to add to purées now that our kiddo is bigger is things like quinoa you can cook it up and add to any
Mixture to get some extra nutrients in there!
Good thought on the quinoa. Earth’s Best recently made a line of pouches with grains. One of the great ideas from Squooshi’s blog was to just go to the store & look at the pouches for recipe ideas.
I would fill the squooshi with a spinach pear mixture and maybe another option would be a greek yogurt and selection of berries (strawberry, blackberry, bluberry) for a triple berry smoothie! I love the fact that I can watch what my son is eating, and I’m able to take food anywhere without having to worry about him having a healthy snack option!
These Squooshi things look awesome! My kids would have theirs filled with my Healthyish Banana Split. To make the Healthyish Banana Split you need to cut up a ripe banana into chunks and freeze (it blends up much easier if it isn’t one big piece). I combine the frozen banana, cocoa powder, milk (can be dairy or a substitute as it is just for the liquid) and a couple maraschino cherries and blend until smooth. My kids LOVE it!
For the parent’s version, substitute Cabana Boy cherry rum for the maraschino cherries! I would probably (as in, most definitely) reserve two for my husband and me to drink the parent’s version of the recipe all incognito like. Obviously my husband and I would be holding our squooshies tightly (not so tightly that the squooshie squooshes) to avoid a catastrophic mix up!
Thanks for the review. I was wondering how the little bits and corners would be cleaned. I will have to save those old toothbrushes! If you want to thicken the “smoothies” with something healthy you can use ground flaxseed or wheat germ. Here is what I normally puree for my kid: raspberries, spinach, wheat germ, tofu and coconut milk (silk brand, refrigerated stuff).
Loved your review & all the helpful hints for using squooshis! Very thorough & much appreciated.
I would put my son’s favorite smoothie in his squooshi. It just takes almond milk, a frozen banana, & spinach. Quick & easy with a good green veggie!
I was going to ask you to try them out with water to see if they “hold water” hehehe. But I don’t think that counts as a recipe? I have bananas and oranges in the freezer waiting to be Squooooooooooooooshied (with ice cream for thickening) 🙂 Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever used an actual *recipe* to make a smoothie. Maybe that’s why my kids don’t like them!
I would totally try to imitate B’s favorite from Trader Joe’s — apple and carrot. So I would roast the apples, because yum. Can’t go wrong with homemade applesauce. Steam some carrots and blend them both together. If it wasn’t thick enough what would I add? Um, I’d try some plain yogurt me thinks.
Ack! So much cooking!! 😉
I think this sounds like a great product. Having 2 boys that love squooooooooooooooosssssssshhhhhhhiiiiiiiiis, it would save on a ton of landfill contributions I would be making anyway.
Other thickener ideas: mango, greek yogurt (Wes loves it right now), avocado, and vitamin powder I would try. My friend just had jaw surgery, so I’ve been hearing of her smoothie mixtures that I could totally try for the boys.
Your review was great, it addressed the issues I was wondering about the product, specifically how the cleaning process was, if the size was too small and how the seal was. I also appreciated the break down of pros & cons.
*fingers crossed*
I hope that even if you don’t win, you do try them. It’s not that expensive to get a starter pack (like I said, the cost of what I’d spend on 2 weeks of pouches). And I’ve been seeing coupons & giveaways for Squooshis (and similar products) here and there lately. I think they are catching on!
1. Buy a blender
2. Buy Ingredients
3. Nicely ask for recipe from Stasi
4. Think of how to change recipe to impress her
4. Add ingredients
5. Blend
5.5 Borrow Swoooooooooooooshies from Stasi to make sure it all works as directed???
6. Use Sqooooooooooooshies!! (IOW, feed kiddos.)
7. Follow cleaning directions in order to save landfills
8. Win Sqoooooooooooooooooshies (more ooooo in that one) so I can have my own set which I don’t have to work extra Saturday Schools in order to be able to purchase. 😛
Ha ha you’re cute. I can definitely loan you my small ones since they’re not getting much use around here. See if you like them!
Sorry, I didn’t see any frozen fruit in your picture (it’s quite possible that it was obviously there, my brain fails), and I’m always having to tell Nick the banana needs to be frozen so it was a reflex! 😛
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your review, it was rather entertaining. I want a Squooshi pouch mostly so I can use the word “squooshi” on a regular basis (in 3+ months), but also because those pouches look interesting and fun and convenient and as you pointed out, they didn’t exist 4 years ago! I am all kinds of excited about some Weelicious recipes I’d put in there (I don’t want to post long links all over this comment, so I’ll FB message you one?). Particularly the Peach and Cherimoya purée. Mostly because I have no idea what a cherimoya is, but Mark Twain says it’s “the most delicious fruit known to man.” And also I should win because my daughter is also named Margaret. And that’s twinkies. 🙂
You make many excellent points. Which iPad originally changed to “pints”. Which is also good. Mmmmmm….pints….
I just saw cherimoya on an episode of Chopped! The seeds are poisonous (used in making insecticides!) so be sure to get those all out:)
I don’t really want to win. I just want to be the first person to comment 😉 My kids haven’t been exposed to pouches so I’ll let someone else win these so they can save the landfills. ❤
Well thanks very much for commenting! Get the ball rolling!!