When my child had to do with 3, she began requesting ice pops at every meal. I’m not exactly sure how I did it, however I ‘d developed a pop-ster. And though it’s most likely not a great parenting practice to just hand your kid what they’re requesting all the time, it was simple sufficient to do.
I began with among Wirecutter’s pop-mold choices, the Zoku Fish Pop Molds, in 2022. (She remained in a sea-creature stage, and these molds offer you 6 various oceanic shapes to pick from.) I filled the molds with cranberry-apple juice, and she was delighted.
However I wished to have the ability to bring pops on the go, and the fish pops could not truly leave our home without melting all over. After rapidly burning through numerous huge boxes of the “healthy” variation of my youth preferred, Otter Pops, which are more self-contained than the pop molds I ‘d been utilizing, I understood that all I required was a portable mold to change that little plastic bag. And though I do not keep in mind precisely how I came across them, I have actually developed into a mommy hero thanks to the Chef ‘n Sugary Food Area Ice Pops.
These silicone molds with a connected cover turn anything– from remaining yogurt and healthy smoothies to juice– into a frozen pop that you can handle the go.
I have not relatively evaluated pop molds the method Wirecutter’s cooking area group has for our guide to pop molds, however this design of mold is a bit more evasive. (This kind isn’t a suitable for our guide, which covers molds that make several pops at a time in a tray.) Searching for “portable pop mold” on Amazon shows up a sea of unhelpful outcomes, however you can discover other, similar-style molds offered for around the exact same rate as the Sugary food Area molds, which are available in packs of 6 for $14.
These stood apart to me due to the fact that they had actually the leading linked to the mold itself with a small integrated tether. I understand myself, and monitoring small, coin-sized caps is not going to occur. Therefore far, my child hasn’t lost a single one.
On top of producing something that my kid in fact likes to consume, these molds have actually assisted me prevent squandering tasty food I have actually invested my hard-earned cash on.
Have a huge, expensive, newly made (or, bless your heart, store-bought) healthy smoothie, and do not wish to lose what your kid didn’t consume? Put it in a pop. Got just a number of spoonfuls left of a cup of yogurt? Put it in a pop. Berries ready to spoil in the refrigerator? Put them in a pop and leading them with some lemonade or juice. In the unusual case where my kid does not complete an ice cream, I have actually included it to a pop to let the reward live another day.
I have actually discovered that these do not leakage when I put them in the freezer horizontally, however I do choose the outcomes when I can freeze the pops vertically in between the wire freezer-shelf grates considering that this permits the pop to freeze with a flat top. The method you do it will depend upon what type of freezer you have, however I moved a couple of months earlier and have actually changed to constantly freezing the pops horizontally with no untidy catastrophes.
Washing is simple, in part thanks to that connected cap. Simply wash the mold and location it over a branch in the leading rack of the dishwashing machine. Textured components like flax, chia, and even sticking around small seeds of strawberries need a little bit more effort, however. When I consulted a coworker and mom-of-three who likewise owns the molds, she chuckled. “Flax or chia?! I’m putting lemonade straight from the Trader Joe’s container into these.”
I just recently purchased among the numerous portable pop mold dupes from Amazon, an eight-pack of Mirenlife Silicone Ice Pop Molds, for a fast contrast, and as I believed, the molds’ separated tops was difficult to monitor. They’re likewise larger than my valuable Chef ‘n pop molds, and I discover them not as simple to hold. However they’re simply as leak-resistant and rather strong.
Not all pop dishes work well in these molds, in my experience. Among my child’s preferred treats is homemade gelatin (a basic combination of whatever juice we have on hand and Thrive Market grass-fed gelatin), and I believed that letting the mix strengthen in the pop would be a genuine reward.
Sadly, it was too gummy, and it adhered to the sides of the pop, absolutely un-pushable. So my child and I dug the goop out with a supper knife– and she dragged me. “Well, that was a bad concept, mama!” Can’t win ’em all.
This short article was modified by Hannah Rimm and Maxine Home Builder.
