Easy to make fruit puree pouches – perfect for baby and toddler! My daughter is anemic, so I came up with this Spinach Sweet Potato Fruit Pouch recipe to give her more Iron Rich foods! She loves these!
Food for Anemic Toddlers
When we went to our 15 month old doctor’s appointment, we found out that Enceladus was anemic and that she needed more iron rich foods in her diet. She was drinking too much milk, which was causing iron not to be absorbed.
Iron Deficiency is fairly common with toddlers, especially when they drink a large amount of milk everyday. On average, doctors say toddlers shouldn’t have more than 24 ounces of milk, but even at 16 ounces of milk a day Enceladus was anemic.
Always being one to try to naturally cure things, I came up with this Spinach Sweet Potato Fruit Pouch, which helped her get her iron levels to where they needed to be!
Many of my readers loved my Butternut Squash baby food, Baby Pumpkin Pancakes and Sweet Potato Cookies, so I hope you love this recipe too!
Iron Rich Foods
Leafy dark greens are one of the best sources of iron, such as spinach or kale. If you wanted to substitute kale for spinach in this recipe, go for it! I find that spinach works for taste and in general, kids love it in fruit puree! Sweet Potatoes are a great iron rich food too, so that’s why I’m including both spinach and sweet potatoes!
The recipe also includes strawberries which have Vitamin C in them. Vitamin C helps your stomach absorb iron, so you want to eat a leafy green along with a food that contains Vitamin C to make the full circle.
Even though this recipe is PACKED with spinach, I can 100% confirm it tastes good. How do I know it tastes good? When I say “Enceladus, do you want a pouch?” she comes running and saying “YA YA YA!”
Fruit Puree Pouch Recipe
This recipe is easy, so easy that you can make it during your children’s nap and still have a few minutes to drink a hot cup of coffee. This was a goal of mine for this recipe – kids recipes need to be quick, because let’s be honest, Mom is short on time!
First, you’ll need 4 cups of packed spinach. Wash your spinach off before using it.
Now you’ll need 3 sweet potatoes. You’ll want to peel them and dice them up.
Here’s the sweet potatoes peeled, alongside the apples. You do not need to peel the apples – save yourself some time because it’s not necessary! These 2 ingredients are going to go into a pot of boiling water to soften.
Place the sweet potatoes in for 25 minutes. With 20 minutes left, add your apples. So total, the sweet potatoes are cooking for 25 minutes and the apples are cooking for 20 minutes. After the 25 minutes is up, drain them.
You’ll want to add the cooked sweet potatoes and apple, along with the spinach, strawberries and bananas to a food processor (or blender). This recipe makes 8 cups of puree, so you probably will need to do this in a couple batches. Just make sure you get some of each ingredient in each batch if you’re doing multiples.
To make it even easier, I often will add everything to a giant bowl after I use the food processor. I’ll keep repeating this step until I’m finished and I’m left with a big bowl of fruit puree. Then I use a spoon and mix it around just to make sure it’s mixed well.
To make fruit pouches, use reusable pouches and fill them up with the puree. I bought these reusable pouches on Amazon and we love them. I use them for a bunch of stuff, they’re perfect for snacks – at home or in the go. And yeah, they’re dishwasher safe (yay!).
The way that they work is there is a double zipper on the bottom. Just open it up there, spoon in the fruit puree and then close it. We’ve never had an accident to date!
And then zip them up and serve…. your kids are going to love these!
And do you know how I know she really loves these Spinach Sweet Potato Fruit Pouches? She feeds them to her baby too! That’s true love.
Can I freeze baby puree?
Yes, you absolutely can! Because this recipe makes a large batch, I will often make her a few pouches and then freeze the rest. I will either freeze directly in pouches (easy to defrost overnight in the refrigerator) or place in freezer safe food containers.
I like using the storage container below as it breaks them into individual pieces. When I need to make a pouch, I will defrost 3 of these the microwave and then put them in the pouch. It’s so easy to do!
And by freezing the puree, you’re going to be saving SO MUCH MONEY! Seriously, those store bought pouches are $2 a piece! All the ingredients in this recipe costs about $5!
Breakfast Ideas for 1 Year Old
Not only do these fruit pouches make a perfect snack, but since they’re packed with fruit they make a great breakfast for children any age. Also, because it’s a puree, this is great beginning baby food as well when served on a spoon.
Adult Iron Rich Foods
Even though this post is children focused, adults that need iron in their diet can easily eat it as well. It’s very much like an apple sauce, so you could eat it with a spoon, or even drink it as a smoothie!
I hope you all enjoy this Spinach Sweet Potato Fruit Pouch recipe!
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Spinach Sweet Potato Fruit Pouch
PrintIngredients
- 4 cups packed spinach washed
- 3 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 4 apples cores removed and chopped
- 8 ounces strawberries stems removed
- 2 bananas chopped
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add chopped sweet potatoes into the pot and cook for 25 minutes. When there is 20 minutes left, add the apples. When time is up, drain your sweet potatoes and apples.
- Add all ingredients into your food process or blender and blend until smooth. You will most likely need to do this in a few batches. For each batch I try to make sure I get some of everything (spinach, sweet potato, apple, strawberries and banana).
- Once smooth, place in pouches and feed to your toddler. Alternatively you could serve it in a bowl with a spoon for baby or toddler. This fruit puree freezes great and can also be frozen for later use.
Rella says
lm going to try this today! So excited. Thx for sharing.
Pamela says
So exciting! My toddler is still loving these pouches! 🙂