Do you ever get stuck for recess snack ideas? While there’s plenty of inspiration for sandwiches and salads, it can be a bit harder to figure out a quick, easy and energy-boosting breaktime snack… that’s nut-free, of course!
That’s where food manufacturers come in – providing squeezie yoghurt pouches, fruit roll-ups and bite-size biccies in brightly coloured packaging.
And (surprise, surprise!) they’re often full of sugar, too. That’s not the kind of energy we want to give our kids! Here are some of the sugariest recess snacks we found (and what to pack for kids’ snacks instead).
Kids yoghurt.
While yoghurt is a great source of gut-friendly probiotics, the ones marketed at kids can be shockingly sweet.
- CalciYum Peppa Pig Strawberry Yoghurt 95g: Considering the age group that watch Peppa Pig, we don’t see the need for 2.75 teaspoons of sugar in this yoghurt.
- Vaalia Kids Banana Yoghurt Pouch 140g: While some of the sugar content comes from banana purée, added sugar brings the total up to four teaspoons per serve.
- YoGo Mix Chocolate with Mini M&Ms Dessert 150g: Despite the name, we’re pretty sure this isn’t technically yoghurt. It is, however, a dairy dessert that contains seven teaspoons of sugar and multiple additives.
You don’t have to stop buying yoghurt, just maybe avoid the ones emblazoned in cartoons. Instead, fill a tub with a natural full-fat variety, some smashed berries and coconut flakes. (Leave the walnuts out to make this recipe nut-free.)
Fruit snacks.
With the liquid or fibre stripped out, dried and puréed fruit is often a shot of sugar to the system.
- Hot Shots Scooby Doo Iddy Biddy Fruity Bits 20g: We stumbled upon this in a previous supermarket sweep. We’re still shocked, at everything from the “free magnet”, to the 2.8 teaspoons of sugar, to the claim that it’s 70 per cent fruit juice, when in actual fact, it’s 20 per cent fruit concentrate. We just don’t understand.
- SPC Fruit Crush-Ups Tropical Naturally Flavoured Fruit Puree: While we can appreciate that SPC hasn’t added any artificial ingredients or preservatives, this purée still contains 3.7 teaspoons of sugar.
- Sunbeam Australian Sultanas Blinky Bill Collectible Pack 40g: The pack says “1 serve of fruit”, but could you really eat that many grapes in one go? We know dried fruit seems like a better option, but there’s an easy six teaspoons of sugar in here.
The best swap is, of course, real fruit. But if your child is particularly fussy (or you just want to give them a “treat”), whip up a batch of fruity gelatin gummies instead.
Muesli bars.
To the naked eye, muesli bars look pretty healthy… so much fibre! But they’re often stuck together with honey, dried fruit, yoghurt drizzles and just plain sugar.
- Kellogg’s LCMs Kaleidos Bars 22g: We’re not sure if this technically counts as a muesli bar (or food, for that matter!). Glucose, candy-coated choc chips, choc compound, fructose, invert sugar… we’re surprised this is just 1.8 teaspoons of the stuff!
- Uncle Tobys Yoghurt & Apricot Wholegrain Lunchbox Bars 31.3g: We know Uncle Tobys can make low-sugar muesli bars, so we’re not sure why these “lunchbox bars” contain more than two teaspoons of sugar each.
- Nature Valley Crunchy Maple Crunch Muesli Bars 42g: Maple syrup is not “sugar-free”, but it’s only two per cent of these bars anyway. The second ingredient is sugar, taking the total up to 2.75 teaspoons.
Check out our list of low-sugar muesli bars instead, or have a go at making your own. For a really simple recipe, check out our nut-free I Quit Sugar: Superfood Coconut & Vanilla Muesli Bar Mix!
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