[kylie]

This month a group of EB Members from our review panel trial Baby Cubes. Check out their reviews below;

[muser]

Baby Cubes are a baby food storage system for all that puree and mash that you make at home. It's a set of 8 70ml containers which slot into one tray.

When I received my Baby Cubes I must admit my first thoughts were that I wouldn't have bought them if I saw them at the store. Surely ice cube trays are a fine alternative? During my week of testing I've found that Babycubes are indeed, quite useful.

The lid is attached so I'm not scrounging for tiny lids in the tupperware cupboard. The lid fits snugly so I'm not losing the contents willy nilly - a common problem I've had in the past. The containers go from freezer to bag to microwave which eliminates double handling and contamination, and the stackable trays allow for easy storage in the freezer.

Though the whole idea is fairly self-explanatory there is a good set of pictorial instructions on the box, and the accompanying website has some great recipe suggestions for what to fill your Baby Cubes with. The instructions say you can write on the tray in whiteboard marker to note what the contents are and the date of freezing but the space allowed is quite small and I only had my older son's chunky whiteboard markers on hand.

My 8 month old son eats quite a lot in one sitting so I found the portion size inadequate. So perhaps best for younger babies who are just starting out with solids, or if you're little one doesn't yet eat more than the equivalent of a small baby food jar. I'll stick with my ice cube trays for mains and use my Baby Cubes for snack size purees. Their life does extend beyond that of just introducing solids, however. They're ideal for sultanas and other small snacks for a toddler or preschooler.

The price is reasonable and the stackable trays mean you can buy more as you need them. I only wish I'd had mine from the start to make the most of the convenience factor.

[traceymumof4]

I found these to be a great product

I have an 11 month old who was a bit slow on starting solids. He does now have a big appetite and I found the cubes to be helpful in preparing his meals. I use the cubes as a "base" and can add something for his dinner or lunch to the base as the containers are small.. However they do stack neatly on top of one another and are a great size for snacks.

I also tried them with my bigger kids too.. I made jelly in them and popped one in each lunchbox for day care.. No lost lids, as the lids attach and stay put when closed. My kids loved the extra treat.

I was suprised by the price as I thought they would be more expensive than they are, and the fact that they stack neatly in the fridge freezer means there is a nice easy storage system for bub's food AND I could easily see when I needed to make more food.

My little man needs plenty of medications, and I found the cubes helpful for this too as they are airtight once sealed and this means the meds stayed dry and fresh ready for use when I was out. That and formula. I can put the exact number of formula scoops into them and take that with me , take a frozen one ready for a snack and a spoon - Quick & easy and fresh rather than shop bought.

The cubes go really well from freezer, fridge, microwave and they are easily cleaned either by hand or dishwasher. The lids are fantastic as they are attached - no more hunting for lost lids. The packaging is good - simple & has good instructions, but I have to admit I didn't buy them when I saw them 4 months ago as the pack didn't "grab" my attention.
Highly recommended - I saw them for sale at a few department stores around, so they are pretty easy to find.

[shadow76]

I found the Baby Cubes to be an "Essential Baby" product.

I found the Cubes to be strong, reliable and practical. They stacked up great in the freezer, fridge or in the esky whilst travelling. The lids are great as they don't come undone like other products I've tried to use for travelling or sending in a backpack to daycare.

I have a very hungry one year old, so the only fault was that the cubes were a little too small for this stage of my babies life. If I had seen these six months ago they would have been a god-send and probably would have saved me a lot of cleaning up after some leakages when I first travelled !

In saying that, I have doubled up and can use two for one meal. I could also use it as a base to then just add vegies that I may have cooked that night. I also found it great that they had measuring levels on the side so they were useful for medications and even custard powders/formulaes so that you could make up products once you got to your destination if travelling.

Even though a little small for meal sizes, I found them excellent for a snack size. I can pass the container over to my son with dried fruits, sultanas etc straight out of the pantry for eating - he then doesn't see that they have come from a larger packet and know that there is more in there ! They were also great for travelling long distances as the lid meant there were no spillages inside the car. They aren't a toy so you still need to monitor your child while they use them - but I can say that I had no issues there.

It was practical and convenient that the product is microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe ! My husband also gave them the tick of approval as he is a part-time stay at home dad whilst I work full-time. Whilst I generally do all of the cooking and organising (in the kitchen) he is the one dishing out the food so I do have to thank him for his input into this review.

My impressions of the product after using them was that the packaging didn't do them justice. I had never noticed them at the stores until I had to review them! I've now gone and purchased several more packets of them. I would and have recommended this product to family, friends and workmates.

There is also the website: http://www.babycubes.com
which has some great recipes - as well know, variety is the spice of life

Amy Young

[fona25]

My first impression was that I wouldn't have bought the product. I actually didn't like the packaging it came in. Ridiculous, I know...but when you don't know anything about a product, then the packaging is a big thing.

The cubes are great though, and very handy. They are great to take snacks in eg sultanas etc. I also have some passionfruit frozen in them at the moment, so I can pull out and add to yoghurt, or even champagne

I love that they have the tray to keep them upright in the freezer - so handy in a messy, unorganised freezer like mine!! The lid attached is also handy..as my tupperware draw is just as messy as my freezer

As mentioned, they are a touch small...but using 2 of them fixes that for a meal. Great for when first starting solids...but then they can definitely be used for other things, so that's not a major concern.

I would definitely recommend these products. They aren't one of the essentials, but just another great product to make a mum's very busy life just that little bit easier!

[CarolL]

Overall, I think Baby Cubes are pretty handy, and not only for their advertised purpose!

My 12 month old is my third child, and was on a family diet a lot earlier than her older brother and sister. She has been a finger food baby from the start of solids and has never been keen on purees. For her, Baby Cubes worked really well for snacks - both small finger food like sultanas and for the mushy stuff like yoghurt or rice pudding. She is quite a big eater so a single container did not hold enough for a full lunch or dinner, but a couple of containers of different bits and pieces for out and about was plenty.

I really don't like buying branded baby yoghurt - I much prefer buying large containers of more natural yoghurts and I am always filling smaller containers with snack size amounts to take out. Having the lids attached was absolutely fantastic - made things much easier as it saved the hassle of looking for lids in the back of the cupboard. And, much more reliably safe in my bag!!

I also really liked the graduated measures on the side, this is really handy when you have formula or some other mix to follow.

My eldest was a fussy first starter, and when I think back to the amount of food I mashed and pureed, these would have been fantastic. With only one child who didn't eat a lot, the serving size would have been perfect and being able to stack them in the fridge or freezer very useful. I used ice cube trays which then can be tricky to get the food out of without losing other cubes, plus they are not sealed so there is always the danger of other particles getting into the mixture. These would have been really handy for peace of mind and a clean freezer / fridge!

Overall, I think Baby Cubes are a great find, particularly for the first few months of solids when everything is pureed and the serving sizes are quite small. The design is practical and suitable for all sorts of activities, and these are not the type of baby product that you throw away when your children grow. They are very versatile and with a bit of imagination, are a handy size container for all sorts of items (maybe eventually to safety pins / paper clips etc on your child's desk?).

[Scrappersal]

I’ll admit when I first received the Baby Cubes I wasn’t very excited as it meant I had to prepare food, but when I bit the bullet and did it I was actually really impressed with these guys.

My youngest is 13mths old and very much into “chunky” foods not pureed and eats pretty much what ever we do, so I had to rack my brain as to what we would make to put in these. We love making homemade yogurt in this house so I thought these would be perfect to try making some frozen yogurt treats. As I started to fill them, I was immediately taken. Flooding back out of the repressed memory as clear as a bell was the many times I made pureed food and tried filling an ice cube tray to freeze them. It was fiddley and messy and you had to find a perfect flat place in the freezer to place it, a hard ask just after shopping day. The baby cubes definitely were a winner here.

The things that I immediately loved were:
- Wide mouth for easy filling
- The ability to take one cube over at time to fill it also reduces the mess
- Because you are using one at a time, the ease of handling is so much better
- Attached lid, no loosing partners in the plastics drawer!!
- The capacity, they look small, but hold a fair bit.

Given the larger size of them and the wide mouth the possibilities of other food besides pureed are greater. My little guy loves curries, spaghetti, lasagne and so on and I can’t see any problem filling these cubes with leftovers for his lunch or for meals when we’re out visiting.

The other thing that I really like about these is that they can be used as a set giving the convenience of the tray and all the containers in one spot together in the freezer, but then the freedom to just take out one at a time and not remove the whole tray. This also allows you to just clean and reuse the ones you’ve used up and not have to empty the cubes into a larger container, to be able to use them again.

Being dishwasher & microwave safe are just even more ticks in the baby cubes favour.

So Baby Cubes, you have my thumbs up! I will be using these not only for a bubba, but bigger kids to! I can see these going in our snack bags with little trail mixes in them, yogurts and jellies. I’m even thinking of the non food possibilities for these, they would be perfect for storing small craft items in them such as beading and buttons etc.

This post has been edited by Scrappersal: 06/03/2008, 11:03 AM

[smileforever19]

I've been using the baby cubes for my DS and it's great cos I can put it to the dishwasher after I use it and I can prepare more food and freeze it for my DS...it;s been a great thing to have around my kitchen ,,I bought the 35ml and 70 ml one...I prefer the 70 ml one rather than the 35..