J.G.
Annie's makes a fruit snack made with pectin and not hfcorn syrup. My son LOVES them. Expensive, but yummy and better for you.
My kids get fruit snacks in the car if they get ready and out the door ontime (in the morning). This usually only happens once or twice a week.
I got to wondering if there is a healthier, but still fun treat that I could offer them. Keeping in mind that it is eaten in the car on the way to daycare...
Any ideas?
Thank you all for the ideas. i really like the freeze dried blueberries and mango, they love both of those fresh.
Just to clarify, I don't use food as a reward for anything else at all and for the most part I am completely against it, BUT they love fruit snacks and I don't like the idea of them having them just randomly, so I started using them only in the car, then thought I could limit their consumption of them by offering them only if they are on time.
I think I will try the freeze dried fruit, thats a great idea.
P.S. I SO WISH WE HAD A TRADER JOE'S CLOSE TO CC, I WOULD SHOP THERE A LOT!
Annie's makes a fruit snack made with pectin and not hfcorn syrup. My son LOVES them. Expensive, but yummy and better for you.
My kids like dried fruit like apricots, raisins, blueberries and craisins. Sometimes I'll mix it with cheerios and chex so it's like a trail mix.
Find something that isn't sticky. Raisins, fruit snacks, fruit leather, dried fruit, etc are just as bad for teeth as chewy candies.
My kids love freeze dried fruit (it's crunchy not chewy like regular dried fruit) mango is their favorite.
Trader Joes sells freeze dried blueberries with no added sugar that are delicious.
Try a baggie of blueberries or raisins
baggie of dark Chocolate chips mixed with pretzle fish
If I think of more I'll come back to you:)
Target sells organic fruit strips that are made with 100% fruit (Archer Farms brand). I have stopped giving my kids fruit snacks and started giving them these. They have no high fructose corn syrup or added sugar. They are a little more expensive probably, but I feel a lot better about it, so it's worth it to me!
Also, you could just give them a small baggie with some grapes or blueberries in it. The other thing my kids like are yogurt covered raisins. Hope this helps!
Trail mix is healthy and tasty. Super easy to make your own and cheap too. You can put dried fruit, nuts, etc. Anything you want.
My kids love freeze dried fruit too, strawberries, mangoes and peaches are their favorites! They also love the Annie's fruit snacks. For a while I was buying half of those and half regular kind, b/c the Annie's is really expensive, but slowly they started figuring it out and won't eat the other kind any more. The "bunny" ones as my daughter says really are amazingly delicious, we just eat fewer fruit snacks now and I stock up when they go on sale! Yogurt pretzels is another good snack around here.
yogurt covered raisins, fruit leather (Target has generic), Gerber yogurt bites.
We only eat bananas and apples (cut up if in the car) for snacks...or other fruits like grapes. Oh, and they eat sandwiches too. My kids love them.
My kids also love fruit snacks, and I always look for healthy fun alternatives when I can.... freeze dried fruit like apples and strawberries and bananas (you can get at Costco) are a hit with them.Also Annies makes a more healthy version of the fruit snack (the bunnies) which I have seen at Target.
I would stop using food as a reward and feed them fruit at breakfast. I don't let my son eat in the car.
Fruit leather? I love them! I will say though, healthy or not my dentist has cautioned me that fruit snacks and fruit leather are the worst for teeth, right up there with caramel or taffy...the sugar sticks to the teeth, they should brush after eating them.
Fruit leather is good. Also fruit roll-ups make a 100% fruit snack that looks the same as regular fruit roll-ups. I got mine at Costco
Actual fruit cut up in pieces. Dry cereal. There are snack sized Gladware containers for travel and lunch sacks that are perfect for car rides.
Kiddo loves the fruit crisps from BrothersAllNatural.com. Esp the cinnamon fuji apple variety. I've purchased them from our Costco, but lately I've been ordering online in bulk (get on their email list and they often send discount codes and free shipping offers).
fruit or fruit smoothies.
You are giving them fruit itself. Don't change. That is the best snack.
raisins, grapes, apple slices, trail mix, dried fruit, small crackers, gosh...there are lots.
i don't allow the snacks in my car (don't see the reason, he eats breakfast as soon as he gets to school anyway) but the way to motivate my son is through his stomach - he gets a healthy snack IF he gets up and dressed quickly enough to eat it before we leave. maybe get them up a few minutes earlier? just a thought....
Try buying some banana chips or cutting up pieces of apple (dice depending on their ages); just sprinkle some lemon juice on the apples to avoid oxidation. Good luck