OK, this one is for the kids out there! Many parents struggle with what to put in your kids lunchbox every day. You want it to be healthy and easy to eat. My kids aren’t super picky eaters, but they can be when it comes to what I put in their lunches. For example, my older son ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch for two straight years then one day comes home from school and says he hates them now. I still put them in there thinking he was joking and then he was right, he hasn’t eaten one in about a year! That’s why I love these Trader Joe’s Applesauce Crushers. They were a pick for my Top 10 things kids like from Trader Joe’s. I never did a formal review of the Crushers and thought I should really write about them since I give them to my kids almost every day!
The Trader Joe’s fruit Crushers come in 4 varieties now. I am only going to talk about the Applesauce and the Apple/Strawberry ones. I have tried the Apple/Banana and the Apple/Carrot ones and my kids didn’t care for them and I thought they were pretty good. The Apple Carrot one is a little funky, but not too bad. I liked the Apple/Banana one better. Kids are funny that way. I explain to them that they like Apples and they like Bananas but for some reason when you turn them into paste and mix them together they don’t like them anymore!
What are Trader Joe’s Crushers you might ask? Basically, they are little pouches that have some type of fruit sauce in them. You screw off the top cap (BTW, it’s nice an big so little hands can even do it). Then you squeeze the goodness into your mouth. When you are done, throw away the pouch and there is no mess! It isn’t the greenest in terms of packaging I’ve seen. Those pouches can’t be recycled that I know of so we end up throwing them away. Oh well, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get something like this in the belly of your kids!
First up, let me talk about the Applesauce Crushers. Well, actually there isn’t much to discuss. You basically have applesauce in this pouch. Pretty simple concept! How does the applesauce taste? I think it tastes pretty darn good and by the amount of them that my kids eat, they kid the kid stamp of approval. I found the applesauce to be quite good and why not, they are a Product of France!
The next one I found even more delicious than the plain applesauce Crusher and that was the Strawberry Applesauce Crusher! In my other life, I work in the wine industry and know a way more about wine then I should. I have to say that these Strawberry Apple crushers taste quite a bit like a nice fruity young red wine like a Beaujolais! When I took my first taste I was kinda of shocked I got those flavors and now these are one of my favorites from Trader Joe’s!
The nice thing about these Fruit Crushers is that is you are only getting fruit. The ingredients are just Apples and Strawberries and Bananas and Carrots! That’s basically it! Gotta love that!
OK, for the ratings! The Applesauce Fruit Crushers get a 8 bells. They were good, but not great. The Strawberry Apple Fruit Crushers get 9 bells. Trader Joe’s really kicked this one up a notch and I really like them!
