Tag / healthy snacks

by jo

Nothing But, lots of low calorie snacks!

Nothing But are a new range of snacks, with freeze-dried fruit and vegetables. We were sent a selection to try.

Nothing But are a new range of snacks to me but sound ideal (and very low calorie). Being someone who often sits at my desk wanting to eat (rather than needing to eat), reviewing these sounded a good plan. So I enthusiastically accepted their very kind offer!

nothing but snacks

A day later my samples arrived – packets of Pea & Sweetcorn, Mange Tout & Red Pepper, Strawberry and Banana and Apple & Fig. They didn’t have stock of the Pineapple & Grape but I’m on the lookout for a packet.

So what exactly are Nothing But snacks? They’re freeze-dried fruits and vegetables with nothing added, just the water taken away. They’re very low-calorie – and they’re healthy – counting towards your five a day (at just one portion). They’re small enough to fit in your bag, but the biggie for me, how do they taste?

I’m a vegetable kind of girl, so started with Mange Tout & Red Pepper (26 calories per pack). They’re interesting – the mange tout had a strange texture having been freeze-dried, of the two I definitely preferred the red pepper. They were kind of crunchy, without leaving crumbs – tasty too!

Nothing But Mange Tout and Red Pepper

Apple & Fig (45 calories per pack) were my second choice – as I do like a lot of dried fruit, so would freeze-dried work too? Actually, these were delicious! I wanted more in the pack, and was scrabbling for crumbs when they finished – really tasty and the two flavours work well together. I have bought freeze-dried apple in the past, and this was exactly as you’d expect – there isn’t much that changes!

Nothing But Apple and Fig

Strawberry & Banana (34 calories per pack) were next. I’ll often buy dried banana in snacks, and have tried dried strawberries too, so I thought I knew what to expect, but again, delicious! The freeze drying made the fruit feel a little more crumbly – definitely one I’d buy again, and possibly even as an alternative to dried bananas.

Nothing But banana and strawberry

Finally, I saved what I thought would be the best until last; Pea & Sweetcorn (76 calories per pack). It did not disappoint. Dried peas and dried sweetcorn – and of the four varieties I tried, you get the most in these packs. OH they were good. The sweetcorn wasn’t too dry either, as I wasn’t sure whether they might end up that way – so was pleased with that. The peas were as you’d expect, and having peas and sweetcorn together is the kind of thing you’d never go wrong with.

Nothing But Pea and Sweetcorn

So my overall view? I would definitely buy these Nothing But snacks again. Pea & Sweetcorn for the quantity you get, and Strawberry & Banana as a healthier alternative to what’s on offer in other places.

With my current trying-to-be-healthy regime, the Nothing But snacks fit in perfectly – with each bag being low-calorie.

Their website is over here. You can find the snacks for sale at Holland & Barrett, and their website has more information – http://www.nothingbutsnack.com/ – as well as a handy snack finder to see if you have a local stockist.

I was sent a selection of the Nothing But snacks for the purpose of review, all opinions are my own. 

 

by jo

Bear Paws Healthy Snacks – Review

We’re huge fans of the Fruit Yo-Yo’s you can buy in most stores, from Bear Nibbles – we were offered the chance to review their new snacks Bear Paws so jumped at it!

Bear Paws come from Bear Nibbles, and like the other snacks in the range are really yummy.

Bear Paws from Bear Nibbles

Bear Paws are healthy and interesting too – bear paw shaped fruit moulds, which count as one of your five a day, as well as having no added sugar, no preservatives and they’re never from concentrate.

There’s an educational element to them as well, in each pack there’s five different kinds of paws which match to what’s on the back of the pack – H is at the stage where she’ll remember the names of the creatures and identify them by being able to work out the first letter and which animal it should be – it makes a fun guessing game (and she shared a pack with her friend at swimming today too, so it kept them both occupied!).

If you like Yo Yo’s, you’ll know what you’re getting – there’s just the three varieties (and plenty of characters!) – Dino Paws (strawberry and apple), Jungle Paws (apple and blackcurrant) and Safari Paws (orange and strawberry).

Bear paws

There’s a little token on the back of each pack too which you can save up and send off to get a sticker – we’ve already bought more as they’re fun and not sticky – ideal for hot train journeys when your child wants a snack.

I’ve just spotted Bear are doing a cereal too – I’m definitely going to look out for that (available in Waitrose – I’m going there tomorrow to find some!) – healthy alphabet shapes sound perfect for H.

Bear Paws snacks are available at most good supermarkets – I’ve found them at larger Sainsburys branches as well as via Ocado.

We were sent a pack of each to try with some cool goodies, all opinions are our own, especially H who allowed us to share just one paw from each pack, she liked them so much!