Kids Cuisine

My kids have an uncanny sixth sense about impostor junk food. There was the time I tried to serve them organic mac and cheese, and my daughter asked, accusingly, “What’s wrong with this mac and cheese, mom?” Or when I’ve served my junk-food-junkie toddler organic cookies, and she has shook her head in the negative, grunting, “Uh-huh.”

But, like many moms, I keep trying. And failing. And trying. This time, I spotted a couple varieties of Healthy Handfuls on the shelf and decided to toss the snacks to the kids and see if they got tossed back.

First, I tried the Lucky Duckies, cute little cheese crackers. When I served them to the toddler twins during a car ride, they loved them. They had fun yelling out “duckies,” and “quack quack!”

When I tried giving some to my older, wiser daughter later, she immediately spotted a fake. “These aren’t goldfish!” she proclaimed. I convinced her to try them anyway by insisting they were just like goldfish. She was skeptical, but did end up trying them and eating several. I tasted a few myself, and they are very similar to the popular Goldfish crackers.

I also got the Organic Chocolate Chip Chimpies. These were well received by the kids, but I personally tasted them and thought they tasted, well, like one might expect healthy chocolate chip cookies to taste. They were very hard, dry, and a little grainy. They also didn’t look nearly as much like chimps as the box cover shows. But all three kids scarfed them up without complaint, so it’s hard to question what works.

Healthy Handfuls snacks are certified organic, use no hydrogenated oils, no GMOs, no preservatives, and contain no trans fats. Healthy Handfuls snacks are kosher, low in fat, and low in sodium.

The story behind Healthy Handfuls is pretty interesting, the idea of two moms who wanted to provide quick snacks for kids that were healthier. According to the Healthy Handfuls site, this is their story:

In May of 2002, sisters Debbie Reynolds and Gwen G. Solberg were enjoying a family outing with their children at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. After a few fun-filled hours in the museum, it was time for lunch. As usual, they had packed their own lunch because Gwen was born with a severe allergy to peanuts. She must stay away from processed foods and has spent her life reading nutrition labels.

While they all dined on homemade sandwiches, fruit, and healthy snacks, the other families around them were eating lunch on the go out of vending machines and highly processed snack foods. It was one of those watershed moments when you realize the true necessity of something. After all, necessity is the “mother” of invention. Debbie and Gwen turned to each other and said, “Let’s develop a line of healthy products for kids on the go.” Thus, Healthy Handfuls® was conceived.