I am all about packing my kids a healthy lunch (or rather, giving them the tools to pack themselves a healthy lunch), but sometimes the prep work involved as far as fruits and vegetables is a bit daunting. And my kids can only eat baby carrots so many times as a side dish before they’re ready to start throwing them at me.

Thanks to Revolution Foods and their organic fruit Mashups, my kids can have a serving of fruit—and multiple fruits at that—without the washing, peeling, slicing and dicing. I know, fresh is best, but when you’re going on 5 hours of sleep a night, fresh isn’t always an option at 7am.

What are Mashups? Mashups are 100% organic fruit purees without any added sugar. They also don’t contain any trans fats, HFC or artificial ingredients. Mashups come in squeezable packs with a kid-safe, resealable cap, so they’re perfect for lunches and on-the-go snacks. Mashups are available in four flavors: Grape, Berry, Tropical and Strawberry Banana.

Revolution Foods sent us a sampling of the Mashups for the kids to try. My 13- and 11-year-olds weren’t brave enough (or cool enough) to give them a test run, but George and Livi did. Note: One of the flavors was a carrot one, which I don’t see offered on the site yet. Perhaps it will be offered soon, as these are super new! (By the way, iIt was George’s least favorite.)

Here’s what the kids thought of the Mashups. This video is one of my favorites—gotta love the honest of kids!

George actually really loved the Mashups in his oatmeal. For a few days straight he had me make him a bowl of oatmeal and then he doctored it up with the berry and strawberry banana Mashups. You could even add the Mashups to yogurt, smoothies or probably even as a substitute for oil in some recipes. You can buy them online and in select grocery stores. They’ll run you just over $1 a piece, so I’m not sure I’d use them in my kids’ daily lunches, but I would totally consider them a great option for food storage and our emergency food supply. My kids would rather eat these than reconstituted applesauce any day!—Emily

*** Giveaway! Revolution Foods is giving away a gift box of Mashups samples and a Revolution Foods t-shirt! ***

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•Visit RevolutionFoods.com and leave a comment telling us which of their products you think your kids would like the most.
•“Like” Revolution Foods on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you did.
•Follow Revolution Foods on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: June 2, 2011 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

I rarely buy my kids those prepackaged lunch meals. I find them seriously overpriced for the sad little options you see through the plastic cover. I do have one exception: the “Jr.” ones that come in a two pack and designed specifically for toddlers. At about $1 a piece they are a perfect little snack. Of course if I were  a good mom I’d be more concerned about the ingredients in those aforementioned lunches rather than the price, but we all know by now I’m not necessarily a good mom. But I digress as usual.

Why am I bringing up the subject of ready-to-eat meals in September? Perhaps the sound of a school bell is still fresh in your ears; it is around here! And just in time for back-to-school lunch is a line of ready-to-eat meals, or should I say ready-to-picnic meals, from GoPicnic. When I heard GoPicnic offered a complete line of “nutritious, high-quality shelf-stable meal solutions.” In other words, meals that don’t require refrigeration and yet are healthy and filling. GoPicnic is serious about health and nutrition and offers vegan, Halal, gluten-free, vegetarian and kosher options. The story behind the company is pretty cool:

GoPicnic’s founders developed the concept of the shelf-stable picnic meal in 2004 for a major US airline whose existing buy-on-board fresh food service program was costing it millions of dollars annually due to high levels of waste from unused meals. ... The shelf-stable snackbox solution that the GoPicnic founders created to address these issues generated profit for the airline for the first time in its food service history and provided customers with a reliable quality product at a good value.

Does that ring a bell? Anyone flown lately and seen those ready-to-eat meals some people buy while on the plane? I thought so! By the way, those people must not know you can buy a whole Cinnabon and carry it on with you.

GoPicnic sent our family three of their regular meals (GoDeli, GoPower and GoEnergy) and three kids meals (SafariMunch, ExploreMunch and SportsMunch). Each of my girls took one to school and both came back pretty happy about their ready-to-eat GoPicnic meal experience. Though one daughter wasn’t a fan of the white cheddar cheese in the ExploreMunch, she was pleasantly surprised by the Snapea crisps and ended up sharing her all-natural gummy bears with her friends. My other daughter was pleased overall with her SportsMunch, though I don’t think she was a big fan of the pumpkin seed crunch.

As for me, I tried the GoDeli and the GoPower meals—not all at once, mind you, but I did have one for lunch and one for a late-afternoon snack. My husband was supposed to take one with him to work and spaced it as usual, so I was more than happy to try his sample. I absolutely loved the GoDeli meal with its pepperoni slices and asiago cheese spread but didn’t enjoy the dried apricots so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love apricots but the texture was a bit hard for me to swallow. The chocolate chip cookie reminded me of those Grandmother’s cookies only healthier and not five gillion calories! The GoPower meal was pretty tasty too. I ran out of veggie spread for my bagel chips (those ratios are important!) but the flaky, buttery shortbread pastry more than made up for my disappointment. Note: I would’ve taken photos of the yummy treats inside each box but I ate them too quickly. Sorry.

With such high-quality, healthy ingredients that also taste good, GoPicnic is definitely a wonderful option for school lunches. They’re also great for work lunch, road trips, emergency preparedness and even as a private-label meal option for organizations. (Yes, they do that too!) The one downside is the price. Though some of the meals are only $4, a few are upwards of $6 and $7. For me that’s a bit too much as far as a school lunch option goes, but at around $4 (some of the meals go on sale) GoPicnic’s ready-to-eat meals are a good way to prepare for emergencies. I’m thinking a couple in the car for those “one hour turned into four hours” tire rotation trips to Costco or a few in the pantry for last-minute field trip lunches!—Emily

** Giveaway! GoPicnic is giving away six (6) sets of meals to three (3) winners! Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway:

• Visit GoPicnic.com and leave a comment telling us which meal you’d most like to try.


• Join the Friends of GoPicnic group on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you joined.


• Follow GoPicnic on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.


• Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.


• Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winners from the comments and contact them via email. Deadline: September 10, 2009 (midnight). The winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Charity, Spoodles, and Diane, the winners of the GoPicnic giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

So far our family hasn’t had to deal with any food-related allergies. The closest we’ve come is Livi being sensitive to peanut butter while younger but since about the age of 18 months she’s been just fine. But food allergies are a part of life for many families and though allergen-free food is easier to come by these days, allergen-free treats that taste good can be a bit harder to find. That’s why I’m a big fan of companies like Enjoy Life Foods and today’s reviewee, HomeFree. HomeFree offers a line of kid-friendly treats free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, wheat and dairy. You will also be hard pressed to find soy in their products (except soy lecithin, which is tolerated by most people with soy allergies). Not only is their food free of the aforementioned ingredients but their kitchen as well: “No peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, wheat or dairy are permitted in our facility for any reason at any time.” And HomeFree goes even further; their selection of ingredients are chosen for quality but also how they are processed and packaged to help prevent allergen cross-contamination. HomeFree even “conduct[s] allergen testing for peanut, almond, egg, and milk proteins on incoming ingredient batches and on random product batches as well.” This attention to detail is no surprise when you learn a mom is behind HomeFree. I love her philosophy about why she started the company:

As a mom, and a clinical psychologist, I realize how important it is for kids with food allergies to feel included at social occasions, where a sweet treat is often part of the fun. I created HomeFree™ bakery, with a line of delicious, wholesome cookies and cakes, as well as a cook book full of easy to make allergen-free recipes, so that kids with food allergies can enjoy treats along with everyone else. Seeing the smiles on the faces of kids eating HomeFree cookies and cakes, you’ll feel good knowing that these really are treats you can trust.

We received a sampling of HomeFree’s cookies, which included their organic chocolate chip cookie, organic oatmeal raisin cookie and organic mini chocolate chip cookies. Though they weren’t nearly as decadent as, say, a Mrs. Field’s cookie, for a healthy, allergen-free, organic, whole grain treat they were definitely a hit! My kids devoured the mini chocolate chips in one sitting and asked for more, so you know they tasted good! (My kids are pretty discerning when it comes to goodies.) It’s hard to believe a treat can taste this good when it’s also free of corn sweeteners, artificial colors, artificial flavors, MSG, cholesterol and trans fat. The start of the school year is all about new backpacks, school supplies and lunchboxes, but for kids with food-related allergies, it’s probably the same ol’ school lunch. Start the school year—and their lunch hour—off right with a tasty treat from the HomeFree bakeries.

** Giveaway! HomeFree is giving away five boxes of their yummy cookies (1 box to each of 5 winners)! Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like; each one is worth one entry into our giveaway:

• Visit HomeFreeTreats.com and leave a comment telling us which product you’d most like to try.


• Follow HomeFreeTreats on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.


• Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.


• Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post. Include a valid email address for our drawing.

We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: September 1, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to lise and Tricia Z, the winners of the HomeFree giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

I haven’t purchased a lunchbox for my kids in a really long time. I was tired of en ever-growing collection of lunchboxes in various shades of pink and it seemed a waste to buy a new one every year when last year’s model still in perfect condition. Other than our newer Kids Konserve lunch bag, our current selection of lunchboxes don’t come with any sort of containers for food and snacks, which means we go through quite a few plastic bags, and in a world where we need to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible, it seems there are better alternatives out there. Fortunately I found one…and it’s stylish to boot!

I first discovered OOTS! when I reviewed their bbib back in October of 2006. It’s almost three years later and we’re still using our bbib—it’s one of our favorites because of it’s nearly full-coverage design. (I kind of wish they had a size that would fit my nine-year-old…) Because I’m already an OOTS! fan it was an easy decision (okay, I jumped at the chance) to review their newest product line consisting of super functional yet coolly modern lunchboxes.

We received the Deluxe version of the OOTS! Lunchbox in green, deluxe meaning it includes one large and four small containers. I love that those containers will cut down on our use of plastic bags so we can do our part to keep our carbon footprint in check. I love that the design offers a wide elastic strap that doubles as a placeholder for water bottle—a reusable one, of course! With your children’s health in mind, OOTS!’ lunchboxes uses materials that are food safe and kid-friendly; they’re made from BPA-free and phthalate-free polypropylene and safety tested for lead. Everything is dishwasher safe (hooray!) and even the containers are microwaveable.

When my son first caught hold of his new Lunchbox we had a lot of fun taking out and putting back the containers. Anything that entertains my son gets a thumbs-up in my book! The upright design proved pretty darn stable during playtime, which means it should do a great job keeping food from being tossed around. I hate when things get all mushed in a lunchbox! Here are a couple photos of George all excited about his new OOTS! Lunchbox:

I suggested washing the Lunchbox and its containers before using and George was all over that idea!

The Lunchbox comes in three different color combos: blue, green and orange. They are sold without the containers or as the Deluxe version, which is what we reviewed. (I recommend the Deluxe version; if you purchase the other you’re going to wish you had those containers!) What I love about the OOTS! lunchbox is that it’s kid friendly yet would make the perfect container for adults who enjoy packing their lunch for work or school. No hot pink stripes, polka dots or Barbie faces on these Dutch-designed, stylish-yet-functional lunchboxes!

*** Giveaway! OOTS! is giving away one Lunchbox Deluxe, winner’s choice! Please visit the OOTS! website and leave a comment telling us what other product you love. Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: August 13, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

** For a second entry tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.

** For a third entry blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

* PROMOTION! OOTS! is offering Daily Dish readers 30% off their dishes and bbibs! Simply use coupon code “oots30” (without the quotes) when checking out. Offer expires September 30, 2009.

• Congratulations to Eloise C., the winner of the OOTS! giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

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