Review | Fill N Squeeze

They say it’s “baby food made squeezee”, so I decided to give the Fill N Squeeze a go – anything to make life a little easier when you’re a mum and weaning, right?

Toby has always loved the pouches of food that he’s had, except I’d never actually bought him any. I’d always used vouchers, or had lots of free samples, so when it actually came to buying them, I realised just how expensive pouches could be. I was actually really disappointed, because the ingredients really don’t cost that much to buy, so really you’re just paying someone else to put it in a pouch for you. Pretty lazy really.

I’d been toying around with the idea of buying Fill N Squeeze ever since I saw their demonstration at The Baby Show in May 2012, when I was 6 months pregnant. We didn’t buy one there and then, purely because we didn’t know if we’d ever actually use it and we didn’t want it to sit there and be forgotten about.

However, I made the decision to buy a Fill N Squeeze few weeks ago and start using it, especially as Toby was getting on so well with his weaning. I figured home made pouches would be handy to use now that Toby’s having regular desserts and is starting to learn to feed himself, so we ordered the starter pack.

You can basically make everything from purees to yoghurts to full on pureed meals for the babies, and use them for smoothies. This is a genuinely genius product with no age limit attached and you could actually even use a Fill N Squeeze to make things for yourself if you really wanted to!

I first used it to make apple and mango puree, and I have to say I made the mistake of not cooking the apple enough and ended up with apple and mango all over the worktop, my floor and my top! I can not stress enough that you need to cook food through until you can squish it with the masher. Alternatively, I’ve found that for chunkier foods (such as our leftover spaghetti bolognese) it’s easier to whizz it up in the food processor and then pop it in the container for squeezing in the pouches.

The pouches themselves are very robust and appear to be very durable, although only time will tell. The Fill N Squeeze comes with five pouches and I find that that’s enough for us at the moment but you are able to order more separately should you wish to keep a batch in the fridge. These are easily cleaned (yes, they’re reusabl!e) with some washing up liquid and some water (you may even be able to get a tiny bottle brush in there), although one thing I noticed is that sometimes it takes a bit of effort to clean around the spout if the food is mushed in there well enough; I just pulled a couple of bits out with a sharp knife.

They’re just the right size and have measurements on the side if you want to put a specific amount in or keep track of just how much your baby is eating.

When actually filling the pouches, you need to apply just the right amount of pressure to the food going in, if not, once you remove the pouch to attach the next one or put the stopper in, it just comes spewing out and you end up having to tilt it. It’s one of these products that you get better at using the more familiar you become with it. Either that, or I am just completely useless when it comes to these things!

The pouches can be stored in the fridge or the freezer, heated up in warm water (if you wish to serve the food warm), and babies can easily grab hold of them. Once they work out what happens when they squeeze, they’ll be feeding themselves in no time.

I also found it was really good when differentiating between milk feeds and food feeds, because they’re coming from a different spout/teat. It’s also really good for squeezing food onto a spoon if you don’t want the baby getting too messy, or you’re out and about.

I’d say Fill N Squeeze is one of my mummy must haves – baby food made squeezee (and convenient) indeed!