You’re Not A Sucker For Buying ‘Healthy’ Kids’ Foods – They Really Are Better

Huffpost‘s Unreal Eats section pitted classic kids’ snacks against snacks that are marketed as “healthier.” Guess what – you’re not a sucker for buying the organic or healthier versions of snacks for your child.

I know I’m not the only one who has Annie’s Organic Mac & Cheese stocked in my cupboards as a go-to meal for my toddler. I know it’s not a balanced meal, but something about the cute bunny and the word “organic” just makes me feel better about relying on it way too much. It turns out it fares better than Kraft original Mac & Cheese in calorie count (280 calories to Kraft’s 400), fat content (3.5 grams to Kraft’s 4) and sodium content (510mg to Kraft’s 580).

Another go-to on the list is Applegate Farms “naturals” chicken nuggets. Okay, obviously I know there is nothing “natural” about chicken nuggets. But all kids like them and they are good to fall back on when your toddler is going through one of those I refuse to eat anything you cook for me stages. These are actually really worth the extra money. When compared to Tyson chicken nuggets, they had way less calories (180 to Tyson’s 270) and fat (9 grams to Tyson’s 17).

Annie’s Organic Bunnies and Goldfish crackers had almost identical profiles – Goldfish has one more gram of fat per serving. This is awesome because Goldfish are the best. This small exercise illustrated that things labeled “organic” or “natural” really do tend to have no high fructose corn syrup and less sodium and fat. Obviously, you should still always look at labels when you are purchasing these things so you don’t get suckered into paying more for no reason. If anything – this video reminds us all how helpful it is to to stack the “originals” against the “naturals” while we shop to really see how they measure up.

(photo: Amazon)