Apples to Apples
It’s that time of year – when I find myself limping to the finish line by the end of each week. Bus stops, teacher conferences, homework, more homework, making lunches, making snacks, squeezing in playdates, another birthday party?! How many days left of school? Are we in the single digits yet? Before I was a parent, I used to wonder why Moms would be happy to see the school year come to a close. Now I know! While summer brings it’s own set of challenges, I am looking forward to a little break in the routine and some less-structured weeks.
In the meantime, I must make lunches. And snacks. Snacks that will stay fresh in a warm back-pack until the designated 2 pm Snack Time in my son’s first grade classroom. By Thursday night, my husband and I are tempted to throw shelf-stable fruit products (snack packs of applesauce, canned peaches, pears or pineapple) into our kids’ lunches in hopes that we might get to sit down and enjoy some Instant Netflix before 10 pm. The thought of pulling out a knife and cutting board to slice up a fresh apple is overwhelming.
I work for NuVal so I know that the best thing to give my kids is a fresh apple. Duh!
You are not going to find an applesauce that beats a 96!
However, on my last visit to Price Chopper, I was pretty amazed to find that there is an applesauce that scores very high:
Full Circle Organic Apple Sauce gets a 50 on the NuVal scale!
That is much higher than Mott’s Natural Apple Sauce & Vitamin C with No Sugar Added. That only scores a 26.
I checked in with Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN, CSSD to find out why the Full Circle brand scores so much higher than Mott’s. She checked it out for me and it’s because the Full Circle brand has more fiber and less sugar than the Mott’s. You would never know that just looking at them, would you? I mean, you could stand there in the aisle and try to figure that out from the nutrition facts panel. But who has time for that. There’s homework to do and playdates to make! That’s why we need NuVal in every supermarket in America!
So, while nothing beats a fresh apple, sliced with love and carefully packaged up in your child’s lunch box, give yourself a break once in a while and buy some applesauce – the high-scoring kind, that is. Just be careful – there are some duds out there!
In case you can’t tell, the score on the Mott’s strawberry is a 5! Yup, a 5! Cheetos score higher. And fresh strawberries get a 100.
For more on apples and applesauce, be sure to check out one of my favorite blogposts from Dina Rose, Ph.D. who writes It’s Not About Nutrition (the art and science of teaching kids to eat right). I helped her with ths scores when she wrote this post back in August of 2009, and at that time the highest applesauce we had scored was only a 30. Good to know we have now found one that is a 50!
How ’bout them apples!
Posted by: Melissa 7 comments
Posted in: Apples
Tags: Apple Sauce, Apples, applesauce, Full Circle
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 8:01 am
This is great to know! Applesauce can be deceiving with words like “all natural” and “organic”…buyer beware!
Oh, and speaking of Apples to Apples…it’s also a board game that your kiddos might like. But you probably know that already!
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 10:04 am
We made our own applesauce last fall. Homegrown apples from my uncle’s yard. No sugar, no preservatives. Just apples.
Best stuff ever. Sweet and simple. My son is now ONE and loves it.
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 11:28 am
WOW, That’s pretty scary that Cheetos scores higher. An appla a day is obviously a good thing
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Apples do get pricy too! I buy lots of varieties of organic apples and give them to my fruit picky hubby. You can bet I do not like to see him take a bite, say kind of soft and throw them away! (happens all the time) They do get soft and bruised:( Imagine if an adult does this what the kids will do with the apple in their lunch box. I think I will try FullCircle. Do you know if they carry that brand at Stop N Shop or Dave’s?
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
My daughter eats applesauce every day, usually Motts. I didn’t know there was such a big difference in the scoring. We will definately try out the full circle applesauce. Thanks for the information. She also likes diced peaches – have you scored those yet?
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Did NuVal Score GoGo Squeeze Applesauce? Its such an easy on the go snack that I must go through 2 boxes a week…. I’m hoping that’s not bad!!
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Yes, me too Heather, LOVE GoGo Squeeze- all natural and no messy spoons to deal with.