Popsicles - Cheap summer treat

As a kid our family didn't always have a lot of money and my mom used to make some really good cheap food. One of my favorite things was Kool-Aid popsicles. They were always so good and refreshing when we lived in Florida because it always got so hot. What's better than a cold popsicle on a hot summer's day? I just recently began making them for my kids and us and they are definitely better than those expensive brands at the store and you can make an endless variety of flavors. It cost me 20 cents or less I think to make maybe 18 popsicles I think. Of course it depends on the size of your popsicle mold and the brand of soft drink mix you buy. Here's the recipe. Hope you like it!

Kool-Aid Popsicles

1 unsweetened Koolaid or other brand soft drink packet (.14 oz.)
1 cup of sugar
1 quart of water, or more if it's too sweet for you

Mix all ingredients well in a pourable pitcher. Pour into molds, insert popsicle sticks, and freeze thoroughly. Run mold under warm water and twist and pull until popsicle comes out of mold. Enjoy! To save time, unmold all your popsicles at once and keep in large ziploc freezer bag so they're ready to go.

Try mixing and matching flavors and see what kind of popsicles your kids like best.

Pudding Popsicles

You can also make cheap, delicious pudding pops that are better than store-bought and very cheap to make. Just make up a box of instant pudding and pour into the popsicle molds and freeze. You can also mix in chocolate chips, shredded coconut, or nuts. You can also do two different flavors and layer them and make a vanilla-chocolate pudding pop for example.

Fruit Popsicles

A great way to make delicious fruit popsicles that are very similar and in my opinion better than Edy's Whole Fruit popsicles for example is to make them from frozen fruit at home. You could take slightly thawed (so it can be easily blended in a blender) frozen mixed berries, sugar to taste (if at all) and enough water to blend it. Blend in blender until thoroughly blended. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze and voila, delicious fruit popsicles at a fraction of the cost.

Yogurt Popsicles

A healthier alternative is to take yogurt and freeze them into pops too. A really yummy popsicle is to fill your popsicle mold 3/4 of the way with yogurt and top the rest with the fruit puree from the fruit popsicle recipe. Swirl it with your popsicle stick and freeze. So yummy!! You can also make a yogurt pop topped or swirled with granola and chopped bananas for a yummy breakfast treat. The options are endless!

When I make yogurt pops, I use a 32 oz. container of strawberry yogurt and 2 chopped up bananas. This makes 16 popsicles, the size you see above.

Here's a website that sells popsicle molds similar to what I had as a kid. You can do a search on google for "popsicle mold" and find lots of others too. This site sells them cheaper than what I paid for mine. http://www.crafthobbywholesale.com/default.aspx/General/FreezeItems/


Cheap popsicle molds can be hard to find. There are fancier molds but they can be rather pricey. These have those flimsy plastic popsicle sticks like mine did. I had to throw my sticks out because they just snapped too easily. When I was a kid we bought wooden craft sticks (popsicle sticks). I bought a box of 1000 for like $3.50 at Walmart about a month ago. It's cheap and you don't have to worry about them breaking or having to wash them. Plus you can make a ton of crafts out of them too. I used to make houses and all sorts of stuff out of popsicle sticks when I was younger. Let me know how you like them.


Popsicle/Craft sticks



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