Tree Hugging Family

One Small Step: Make Homemade Popsicles

by Jennifer on April 2nd, 2008

Summer is on the way, and with summer comes a garbage can full of wrappers, plastic, wooden sticks, and cardboard. If you have kids you know what I’m talking about. Their massive addiction to all things icy and lickable.

Sure you can recycle some popsicle trash, but rarely all of it. Plus if you want organic pops, they’re hard to come by and expensive. It’s far better to make your own popsicles - or ice pops I suppose, since popsicle is really a company name.

You have a few choices when it comes to molds, but in my experience, molds that stick together are used less frequently because they’re a pain. No one want to have to stick the whole mold under running water. Not to mention that stuck together molds are harder to clean - especially if you don’t have a dishwasher.

The last issue to consider is plastic. We don’t want plastic molds that leach chemicals. I’ve been looking for a while for alternatives to plastic molds, but really few options exist. Some people bring up the paper cup option - which of course I don’t like. You can sometimes find old school tin molds, but ice doesn’t exactly pop right out of metal or tin based materials.

Here are a few options.

I like these Tovolo Star Molds (Star shaped).

These molds are plastic, but do have some nice perks. One they’re single molds, making them easy to freeze, serve, and clean. Two the handles are designed to catch drips.

They also have a huge array of shapes. I like the star shape best but also like the Tovolo Groovy Molds:

Your next option is Silicone.

These Lekue Silicone Ice Pop Molds are really unique. They’re also singles, but more like push pops, and are flexible besides. The only issue I have with these is the color. I can’t stand red - if you look around you might be able to find them in another color. Also, I don’t like the fact that they’re not clear - my son likes to see his icy treats.

Two other ideas (which you can go view) include:

Cuisipro Sailboat Ice Cream / Ice Pop Molds - cute, but it looks like the holder would take up extra room.

SiliconeZone Popsicle Mold: Not single molds.

Some people worry about silicone safety, just like people worry about plastics. My pal Marye did some research on it a while back and found nothing scary about silicone bake ware. So far as mold material - that’s honestly going to be your call. Some of the sites I visited said the Tovolo pop molds are non-toxic. True? I’m not sure. I’ll be looking into it more and reporting back.

That said, you have to weigh stuff sometimes. Using the same molds all summer (and for years to come) will save literally buckets of trash, depending on the types of ice pops your family likes. I like molds because they save on resources and garbage - even plastic molds, because you can use the same molds for years and years. It’s not the same energy drain.

It’s a toss up. But when it comes down to it, I’ll go with molds over not, it’s one small step that saves resources, and saves you money, along with everlasting trips to the store.

Up next: the fabulous mega ice pop recipe post (woo hoo).

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