Many mums will cheer at the though of a return to school - it's a welcome return to structure and less crys of 'I'm bored' and 'I've nothing to do'. But one downside of back to school is the return to lunchbox planning and making. At MummyPages HQ, I simply refuse to make lunches the night before and before you say it, I know I'm crazy. But I wouldn't eat a sandwich made the day before so why should my kids?
One of other occurances which is probably more mummy mainstream is that the return to school, inevitably means the lunchbox that returns home every day after school with an apple, squashed banana or orange still sitting inside untouched. When kids refuse to eat their fruit, it's very difficult to ensure they are getting their five-a-day as I believe they need a little at each meal occasion.
Since their brand launch, I have depended on the guys from innocent to fill the boredom gap with their fool proof ways to get more fruit into the kids diet.
Smoothies - they are made from 100% whole crushed fruit, pure juices and absolutely nothing else. Each little carton (180ml) contains one whole portion of fruit and 100% RDA of vitamin C. Yes I could blitz my own smoothies but seriously I barely get out the door in the morning so that is not going to happen no matter how much I try.
Fruit Tubes - I have to admit, we really like these. They remind me, I mean the kids of when they were little and I had time to puree their fruit. They are a blend of 100% crushed fruit in a smooth squeezable puree. We regularly freeze them and pop them in their lunchbox.
Juicy Drinks - these guys are new. They are 100% pure fruit juice with a splash of natural spring water. Unlike many other kid’s drinks on the market, these fruit drinks have no concentrates, additives, flavourings or any nasty stuff at all. The 'no concentrate' part is important to me - I just refuse to buy and use 'juices' made from concentrates. Did you know they are made by taking the fruit juice, heating it to a very high temperature and evaporating off the water. This leaves a thick syrup that's a small proportion of the original volume (as low as 12% with oranges). When the drums of concentrated juice arrive at their destination, water is added back to restore the juice to its original volume. As a result a concentrated juice will often taste 'cooked'.
The innocent juicy drinks range includes apple juice and orange juice. They come in packs of five, which makes them kinda handy for the school week. Plus each carton contains one of their five-a-day.
