The packet of Zipzicles.

The kids love icy poles, especially in the summer, but they are usually full of sugar and the plastic wrapping becomes rubbish, so I only buy them sparingly. Our family prefers to use products that are not disposable where possible, such as hankies, cloth nappies, re-usable food pouches and washable dish and cleaning cloths. So when I found some re-usable icy pole pouches, I got excited. The icy pole pouches I bought are called Zipzicles and I purchased them from Apikali, an online modern cloth nappy and eco-wares store. The little collapsible funnel we use to fill the icy pole pouches also came from Apikali. They have a wonderful range of products and excellent customer service.

Zipzicles ready for filling.

A and I could hardly wait to try out our new icy pole pouches, so as soon as they were washed we filled them with flavoured milk. A mixed milk with chocolate Nesquik and then helped me fill up the pouches. Once we had run out of chocolate milk, A mixed up some strawberry Nesquik in milk to fill the remaining pouches. She needed help to get the milk as close to the fill line as possible without overfilling, and then I sealed the pouches.

Using the collapsible funnel to fill the pouch.

Ready for freezing.

We popped them in the freezer and then waited (rather impatiently) for them to freeze. That took several hours, but when they were finally frozen, A and L both enjoyed them a lot. They have had many icy poles since those first ones, we just wash out the pouches, dry them upside down, and then refill them. They are a little awkward to clean, but we normally rinse them and then use a small bottle brush, and that does the job. To dry them we prop them over the ends of the cutlery in the cutlery rack.

Frozen, ready to eat.

The kids particularly like them filled with milk or juice, but they are also good for cordial, yoghurt and pureed fruit. The kids love them, and I always know what is in them!