5 OF THE BEST REUSABLE ICE LOLLY MOULDS
Ice lollies are a great way to cool down hot and whinging fractious kids on a sunny day, but I for one am starting to feel weighted down by the guilt of all the ice lolly wrappers hitting the bin. I decided to have a go at making some ice lollies to see if they would pass muster with the kids (they did, begrudgingly. To be fair, my homemade ones are never going to compete with the sheer excitement of a 'knobbly bobbly'.) and fortuitously stumbled across a set of moulds in the charity shop. The plastic handles were rubbishly too short and kept pulling out when I tried to unmould the lollies, so we've been saving up lolly sticks from those rare occasions when this mean mummy relents when we're out and about and lets them have a lolly from the ice cream van ;). They do the job, but I'm sure there are better versions out there so here's my round up, based on recommendations from the lovely lot in the Sustainable(ish) online community.
MAKE YOUR OWN MOULDS
For full on eco-points and the opportunity to smugly polish your green halo, you can make your own moulds.
Empty yoghurt pots and silicone muffin cases will suffice combined with a wooden lolly stick (or I've heard tales of teaspoons being used as sticks - not sure how that works with cold metal sticking to small hands, but you can give it a go and let me know...).
An idea I stumbled across that sounds like it could work is to line a loaf tin, and then pour in your lolly mixture. Freeze for an hour, then poke in sticks at intervals along the length of the loaf tin, freeze again, and then slice. Intrigued to know if this works!
FIND SOME SECONDHAND
If you're not sure if homemade lollies are going to be for you, there's no point splashing out on a fancy pants set - not only will it cost you hard earned cash, you're also spending the planet's finite resources willy nilly and your kids won't thank you for it in a few decades time.
Keep your eye out in your local charity shops, they turn up quite frequently.
Ask your friends if anyone has any you can borrow to see how you get on.
Ask in your local Freegle or Freecycle group if anyone has any they don't use that they're happy to pass on.
'NON DRIP' MOULDS
I've put the 'non drip' in air quotes, because I reckon that my kids could still manage to leave sticky drips and get sticky hands using these, but it might be worth a try. They have a straw at the bottom to suck off the melty bits and theoretically avoid the mess...
Try these ones from Lakeland here.
SILICONE PUSH UP MOULDS
These look great for homemade Calippo style lollies. The IKEA versions come highly recommended in the FB community, and someone made a great point that you can lay them flat and poke them individually into any gaps in your freezer - great if you're struggling for space!
METAL MOULDS
If you want to go full on plastic-free (personally I'm ok with reusable plastic things, as long as they do actually get re-used) then you can get metal moulds. They are quite pricey, but you will easily make the money back in the money you will no longer be spending on endless boxes of ice lollies from the supermarket. They also look pretty much indestructible so should last you a lifetime. Try these ones here from Boobalou (they do look kind of medical don't they...?!)
