Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Healthy On the Go Snacking - Stretch Island Fruit Co and Bear NakedFoods

We have a very busy schedule.  It seems like we are frequently running from one event or practice to another, and often the kids need a snack in between so we frequently grab a quick snack on the go.  Unfortunately,  quick and healthy don’t always go together especially when you are trying to find something to keep in the car for those unplanned “snack emergencies.”  So I’m always excited to find easy, healthy snacks that we can eat between activities.  So I was super excited to try some items from Stretch Island Fruit Co. and Bear Naked Foods.

Stretch Island Fruit Co. has all natural fruit strips that are the nutritional equivalent of ½ serving of fruit in tons of flavors (Apple, Apricot, Grape, Mango, Cherry, Raspberry, and Strawberry).  All the flavors are good, but my favorite is the apricot or the cherry.   These are one of my new favorite “on the go” snack foods.  They are designed for more “grown up” tastes since they are a bit more tart than the FruitaBu Fruit Rolls that they make for kids (which have a full serving of fruit) in the flavors apple, grape, and strawberry.  Unfortunately, I have competition for the fruit strips because my kids love those more than the fruit rolls.  I have to hide them in the pantry or they would eat them all, lol.   Both the fruit strips and fruit rolls are great for snacking on the go, and can be kept in the car or in a backpack much easier than fresh fruit can.

Stretch Island Fruit Co has also partnered with the Fruit Tree Planning Foundation to make “Fruit Tree 101” which plants schoolyard fruit orchards to education students about the importance of eating fruit and caring for the environment.

Bear Naked Foods is an all-natural food company with a line of granolas, trail mixes, cookies, and cereals.  My favorite is the granola.  I love can’t decide between the “oats and honey with blueberries” or the “triple berry crunch” – both are delicious.  One of the snacks I love is vanilla yogurt with granola.  Both of these are perfect for that.  Trail mix is another great snack I love to keep in the car for the kids when they need a little something while on the go. Their Chocolate Cherry flavor trail mix is great - it’s cranberries, almonds, cherries, raisins and chocolate granola clusters.

Another awesome thing about Bear Naked Food Company is their partnership with TerraCycle in a program that encourages people to save their used bags that are then “up-cycled” into eco-friendly products such as shower curtains, umbrellas and other accessories.

I’m very happy to have found both Stretch Island Fruit Co and Bear Naked Foods to add to my list of healthy on the go snacks.