As a mom to a child with severe food allergies, I have a hard time finding foods that he can actually eat.  It is so discouraging, disheartening and upsetting to not be able to include your child on most of what we eat because so many foods are on his CAN NOT EAT LIST  that the CAN EAT list is relatively short.  Since I have written about this so much, I won’t bore you with the details, I will tell you when I find a company that has a great product that is nut free, latex free, and all around healthy I want to brag about it to the world, and this is the case with Brother’s All Natural Fruit Crisps!

When I spoke to the company, I was so happy to hear the many varieties of Fruit Pouches they had, but I really did not get ‘it’.  I think that I had decided that these would be like those chewy fruit snacks we had and there would be a great taste, but what I was about to learn has really impacted the taste-testing and the smile on my little child’s face each time he ate a pack of these was worth a million bucks!  However, the story is not all about what an allergy-plagued child could eat, it is about a mom, who has gone through significant lifestyle changes, which directly impacted her eating habits who has now  found something that costs no calories to eat and allows a snack of unparalleled proportions.

LET ‘S TALK ALLERGIES:

In general, my son can eat 4 fruits and he eats them as often as possible.  It is actually pretty boring but his choice of swelling up and having to stop breathing, using an Epi Pen and visiting the local emergency room leaves us practicing very stringent eating menus!  With that in mind, I made certain that there were no other products in ANY of the products he was about to try, and in fact there is NOTHING but the fruit in each and every product! Wait, I should say that there are 2 fruits in each bag, meaning that there are 2 apples in every bag, 2 oranges in each bag(serving) etc.

EACH SINGLE SERVE BAG IS: PEANUT FREE, GLUTEN FREE, TREE NUT FREE, SOY FREE, DAIRY FREE, NON GMO, VEGAN AND KOSHER!  Each single serve bag has 2 fruit servings in each.  Each bag contains a freeze-dried fruits. There is no sugar added, there is only 100% Real Fruit with no preservatives!  Each box contains 12 single serve bags.

THE MANDARIN ORANGES:

Here is what the texture is like: think of a cheese puff that you can crunch and it is like air, now think about that same cheese puff and how it reacts differently and is ‘activated’ to dissolve differently when you actually suck on it, and allow the saliva in your mouth to penetrate it, it tastes and feels different in your mouth!  This is EXACTLY what you will notice and feel when you try this fruit!  While the mandarin tastes nothing like a cheese puff, the explanation I just offered is how it appears and changes.  My kids were actually so intrigued, they sat and saw, 1) who could suck on it the longest 2) who’s looked most like an orange with saliva on it, and 3) which person’s disintegrated first! IF you suck on this in your mouth long enough, the light crispness actually changes back into the segmented pulp pieces and you can feel the transition in your mouth!

I guess here is a great time to segue  into dieting and this snack.  I eat diet based on vegetables, whole wheat products, some carbs and more vegetarian than vegan, but it is a good mesh!  I lost a great amount of weight when I started this transitional phase a few years back and as my loyal fans you have followed this story, and I continue to look for ways to defeat a few more stubborn pounds! This product boasts only 38 calories a bag, no cholesterol, no sodium, very few sugars, and no fat!  Add in the fact that it provides me a few servings of fruit and something delicious and amusing to swish in my mouth and you have a very happy, converted snacking Mom! .

The taste of a Mandarin Orange is tart, and sweet all within one mouthful and very satisfying as it is providing a sweet taste to that pang that happens, while providing the tart side of things which generally shuts my hunger down!  My son really loved the flavor and the fact that there was not a mess on his hands after eating this fruit as there generally is when it is fresh!

One downside to the packs:  because these are freeze dried, they do not transport well in a purse.  The packs can not take anything crushing them a wallet, or books because it causes the food to actually just turn into powder, these are after all freeze dried products.  Think of a cheese curl, they kind of just turn to powder when smashed. Do consider how you will be transporting these.

We taste tested Cinnamon Apple Slices, Peaches, Apple and Mandarin and one was just better than the next.  The apples are most interesting as well.  As you hold the freeze-dried apple in your mouth, and allow it to mesh with the saliva, the apple re-instates to its once natural form, it becomes an apple in your mouth again,  My kids were so intrigued that it was not a pound as much down as you can snack but a savor it and enjoy how it changes.  It was like a science experiment in their mouths.  Leave it to kids to turn a food into science!

I think the science that you need to know here is that the food is grown in the best growing regions in the country and then sent directly to a state-of-the-art Freeze Drying facility.  Each piece is crisp, and natural with nothing artificial and so very healthy!  No matter what fruit you purchase you will simply Love the tastes and the Not Calories.

You can purchase these on the Brother’s All Natural site but I have an insider’s coupon for you to use!  This is good for a ONE TIME USE Per customer and it is a 10% SAVINGS! FRUGALMOM10  is your code for savings!

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