More than 25 ways to make freezer pops for pennies!

May 06, 2008 12:00 PM by SheKnows Food & Recipe Editors

Posted in Food & Recipes / Family Recipes

Make Popsicles
For Just Pennies!

Whether you call them popsicles, ice pops, freezer pops or frozen ices -- You can make your own sweet & chilly treats cheaply and deliciously using all kinds of wonderful things -- all you need are some popsicle molds and something sweet to fill them with!

Mom with homemade popsicles

Getting started

You can pick up some popsicle molds online, at a garage sale or dollar store. Then fill your molds with any of the following and freeze:

Juice (any kind)
Leftover soda (that may have gone flat in a two-liter bottle)
Powdered drink mix (combined with water, of course)
Leftover yogurt (you can sweeten it with jelly or fruit if it's plain)
Pudding
Jell-o/gelatin (see below for some recipe ideas)
Pureed fruit
Leftover smoothies/fruit shakes
Fruit cocktail (or the juice from canned fruit)

Whipped topping and fruit
Chocolate milk (or strawberry milk)
Pie filling (probably tone this down with plain yogurt)
Applesauce (plain as well as strawberry applesauce and other varieties)
Jam (Get the last of the jam out of that empty jar by pouring some milk into the jar, putting the lid on and shaking. Use the flavored milk to fill the popsicle mold.)

Fun, creative and colorful popsicle ideas

Do you want to go a little more above and beyond already being the coolest with all the great ideas for fun frozen treats? Here are some ideas -- and the kids will love to make them on their own, too.

Striped: Layer popsicles with different-colored or different-flavored layers of pudding, yogurt or gelatin.

Parfait Pops: Layer any filling with whipped topping in between.

Party Pops: Add sprinkles, chocolate chips, marshmallows, nuts or coconut to your popsicles. You can also make them in all kinds of wild shades by using food coloring.

Pina Coladas: Whirl pineapple juice, coconut and banana in a blender, then fill molds and freeze.

Dreamsicles: Mix 1 or 2 tsp. Tang and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract with milk. (You can adjust to your taste.) Fill molds and freeze. Some people compare this to the Orange Julius shakes you can get at the mall.

Rocket Pops: Layer red, then white, then blue Kool-Aid, juice or Jell-O for festive popsicles -- reminiscent of what the ice cream man used to sell.

Rocky Road Pops:
1 package of chocolate pudding
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Mix, fill molds and freeze.

More popsicle ideas

Mix-and-match rocket pops

Red: Red drink mix, fruit punch, berry juice, red gelatin, or white with red food coloring. (Note: May turn out pink.)
White: White grape juice, milk, yogurt, coconut or vanilla pudding, vanilla fruit shake.
Blue: Blue drink mix or gelatin, or white with blue food coloring.

This is really easy if you just start off with white, then split that amount into three parts -- color one part red and one part blue. The kids won't notice it's all the same flavor.

Fizzy lifting pop

Mix club soda and gelatin (wait until it goes on sale, then stock up) to make bubbly Jell-O, then freeze in molds. You could also try mixing club soda and juice, then freezing -- the gelatin captures the bubbles when you add the club soda. It's cool! Also try it with seltzer water or soda (small glass bottles of bubbly liquid work best).

As you can see, your only limits are your imagination and the ingredients you have! Experiment and enjoy!

More great ideas for summer treats

Homemade snow cones: Make your own sno-cone/shaved ice treats
Homemade popsicle recipes: How to make ice pops at home
The best iced coffee recipes
Kids a cookin' - frozen fruit cups

Comments

Comments on "More than 25 ways to make freezer pops for pennies!"

I liked some of the ideas for popsicles. But, some of them I...well...I probably woudn't try. Others I am looking forward ot trying.

I like what I see on my Moniter. How ever when printed out it is unreadable unless you use a maginifier glass due to the size of the print. Try it and see for your self. It is for free, So I am not complaining, just makes me wonder if you are aware of the this. If so why have you not fixed the problem ? Best of Luck to you. Earl.

thanks so much been trying to find this recipe for the popsicles...one problem the ones we like the best are banana. and kool aid doesnt make banana ..any suggestions?

These ideas are good...I am hoping to try these recipes this summer.... Soon

Your ideas are great. I hope to try your idea of the colorful popsicle because it seems like it would be fun to eat.