Del Monte® Fruit Burst® Squeezers and Fruit Cup® Snacks Review and Giveaway

Learn more at Delmonte.com

Snack time in the Weaver house is practically all the time.  Particularly when we aren't on a regular schedule or we have a lot of extracurricular activities, we will graze a lot throughout the day.  But I don't like feeding my kids a bunch of junk.  I prefer convenient and healthy.  During the peak seasons when fresh fruits and vegetables are readily available for low prices we make sure to stock up on apples, strawberries, green beans and anything else we can get our hands on.  Sometimes I go the homemade route and make granola bars.  But when I'm not feeling $5 for a pint of fresh strawberries or like Suzy Homemaker, I check the snack food aisles for deals.  

Lately I've been struggling with energy and fresh produce is at a premium so I'm very grateful that Del Monte sent me a few samples of their product to try.  They are a healthy snack food giant!  I was able to try Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers and Del Monte Fruit Cup Snacks, or rather, I should say that my kids got to try it.  I sneaked in a bite here and a taste there but they were a bit stingy with their snacks!  The Fruit Burst Squeezers have even been affectionately named "fruity snacks" by my 3 (I should just call him 4- he'll be 4 next month) year old, Henry.

Some facts about the products we tried:

Fruit Burst™ Squeezers are made in the USA, contain 1.5 servings of fruit or fruit and vegetables and are an excellent source of vitamins A and C.  In addition (and my personal favorite part)- there are no artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup! 

There are 2 varieties of Fruit Burst® Fruit + Veggie Squeezers:  
-The Peach-Mango contains pear puree concentrate, water, pumpkin juice concentrate, peach puree concentrate, pear juice concentrate, carrot juice concentrate, carrot puree, mango puree concentrate, natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and citric acid. 
-The Blueberry contains pear puree concentrate, water, pumpkin juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate, natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and citric acid.  

There are 3 varieties of Fruit Burst® Simply Fruit Squeezers:
-The Apple Cinnamon contains pear puree concentrate, water, apple puree concentrate, pear juice concentrate, natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), cinnamon and malic acid.
-The Mixed Berry contains pear puree concentrate, water, pear juice concentrate, natural flavors, strawberry puree, red raspberry puree concentrate, blueberry puree concentrate, fruit and vegetable extracts for color, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and malic acid.

-The Strawberry contains pear puree concentrate, water, pear juice concentrate, strawberry puree concentrate, natural flavors, carmine, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and malic acid.

Mango Fruit Cup® Snacks are a fat and cholesterol-free snack high in vitamin C.

Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup® Snacks combine mango and pineapple- two of the world's most popular fruits.  They contain no high fructose corn syrup and are a good source of vitamin C.

I don't know about all of them, but the Mixed Berry Squeezer, Peach-Mango Squeezer, Mango Fruit Cup and Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup are under 100 calories per serving. 

The Squeezers come in a convenient foil package that is easy for little hands to hold, and there wasn't even an accidental squeeze from my accident-prone kids.  They are great on the go or when you need a healthy and simple snack in a pinch.
We tried the Peach-Mango Fruit + Veggie Squeezer and the Mixed Berry Simply Fruit Squeezer.  They were about the consistency of baby food- smooth and easy to swallow.  "There are zero chunks", as my kids would say.  The Peach-Mango was a brownish-orange color and the Mixed Berry was a purplish-red.  They tasted primarily of their description, though I could detect hints of other flavors in the Peach-Mango.  My two younger boys were my main taste-testers for the Squeezers.  My 6 year old- Jonas- was able to eat about half of one Mixed Berry Squeezer (he has a low sweet tolerance).  Henry ate all of his and the rest of his brother's.  I wasn't too sure about the Peach-Mango because of the odd mix of flavors.  Mango just isn't a common flavor for young kids so I just told him that if his belly was too full for all of it that I would eat the rest.  But Henry devoured that one on a car ride, and demanded another!  Jonas wouldn't try a second one.  My 8 year daughter- Amara- didn't try any of these because her little brother ate them all.  My 12 year old- Zach- refused them all, which is typical of him.  
These are definitely going on future shopping lists because Henry couldn't have enough of them.  They will be great when we are out for hours or camping.  

We also tried both varieties of fruit cups- the Mango and the Mango Pineapple.  Except for my husband- who doesn't like mangoes, and Zach- who doesn't like anything, we all tried these.  Henry devoured both kinds.  And again, he demanded more.  I am pretty sure he is going to grow in the next few weeks because he's eating like his belly is a bottomless pit.  Jonas really liked his Mango cup.  Amara enjoyed her Mango Pineapple.  While I am not a fan of sweetened fruit (in light syrup, aka sugar), I do believe that it played a role in them liking the fruit more.  For me, I would have been happier if they had been in plain juice rather than syrup. 
I had actually never had anything mango before this so I didn't really know what to expect.  They taste and feel a lot like peaches.  The pineapple in the Mango Pineapple variety was the same quality as Del Monte's other pineapple products.  I liked both varieties a lot but would definitely search for non-sweetened products.  If I can find that, I'll be a repeat customer!  

These products, and other Del Monte products are available at your local Walmart, or you can pick up Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers on Walmart.com.   

I never would have thought to look up Del Monte for recipes, ideas for parties, tips in the kitchen or ways to upcycle your used cans, but they are there and they have an amazing social media presence!  
Follow Del Monte on Pinterest for fabulous Pinspiration, including plenty of mouth-watering recipes.   
Like Del Monte on  Facebook for recipes, ideas and more.  
Follow Del Monte on Twitter for even more fantastic ideas. 
 

And now drumroll please..........
The moment you've all been waiting for: the giveaway!  You can earn a few entries to win a $25 Walmart gift card, plus 2 coupons for your choice of 1 FREE Del Monte Fruit Cups Snack Pack.  Try all of the varieties when you win!  US entries, only.  Giveaway ends at midnight, March 2, 2014, EST. 

Walmart Gift Card and two coupons for FREE products!

 

 

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 Disclosure:  The Del Monte products, information, gift pack and gift card have been provided by Del Monte to help facilitate this review and giveaway.  No other compensation was received.  All opinions are expressly my own.

Holidays with Starbucks: Share the Joy! A Review and a Giveaway

Starbucks goodies!

Happy Holidays!  My Christmas hasn't met the expectations that one with a family full of children might anticipate, due to the loss of my father after a battle with cancer.  I know I have to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for my kiddos and while it's been a struggle, I realize what a strong support system I have in my family and friends and without them- and copious amounts of coffee- I'm not sure I'd have left my bed much.  What's Christmas without a tree (at least we got it decorated by Christmas Eve), lights, holiday music and shopping for presents (something I didn't begin until Christmas Eve)?  Without moping any longer, I give you a review of good coffee and the chance to win some of your own. 

Holidays in my home are a bustling time of visiting family, drinking coffee, running to the store for last-minute things, eating cookies, forgetting to by regular groceries, visiting more family, drinking more coffee, going back to the store, ignoring the laundry build-up, avoiding piles of boxes of Christmas decorations until I have no other choice, watching others put up Christmas lights while I stand by being helpful (telling people there's a light out can be helpful)...all while listening to Christmas music, which I diligently avoid until about December 10th.  I get too angry at the world when it reminds me that two of my boys (my hubby Jason and my son Jonas) have to share their birthday with one of the biggest holidays and I don't have enough time or money to focus on all of them at once.  Probably sounds a lot like the holiday for many people.  

Thankfully, Starbucks and Modern Mom sensed my plight and blessed me with the opportunity to try a new holiday blend of Starbucks ground coffee.  I didn't have to run back to the store for coffee after all.  
I made some right away, with my favorite milk (shameless plug for Rutter's right here) in my Keurig.   

How did I make ground coffee in my Keurig, you ask?  With my handy-dandy reusable k-cup!  Close up so you can't see the clutter.

The Starbucks Holiday Blend- available at major grocery stores- is created with "vibrant Latin American and smooth Indonesian coffees.  It's balance of herbal and sweet maple notes pairs pairs beautifully with everything the holiday season has in store for you."  That's what Starbucks has to say about their coffee.  I have to say it's definitely smooth; it's not a strong coffee and does have a holiday flavor.  I prefer strong, smooth coffees and while this one is weaker than my normal choices I can fix that by adding extra when I brew it.  Without reading the description I honestly couldn't have told you what flavors were incorporated into this blend, but it's a relaxing taste (that's the best way to describe it!).  After knowing what's in it, I can smell a light maple scent.  I made sure to use only sugar and milk to be sure I didn't think I was drinking coffee but was actually drinking cigarette ashes (I never had cigarette ash flavored Starbucks but there have been quite a few others that really did taste like cigarette ashes so I wanted to be certain).  It was very good.  Good enough that I wanted to keep drinking beyond my normal two cups in the morning.  

I had it while stringing up the tree lights:

I'm so helpful.

While wrapping Christmas presents at 1am:

This was just the first one...

 And of course, I had lots of it while spending the holidays with my family.

Sorry for the blur.  I blame my camera's inability to work with movement.  So unfortunately you can't see the amazing breakfast that my in-laws make every Christmas morning for their family.

Merry Christmas!

And now for the news you've been waiting for:

Starbucks and Modern Mom also provided me with a bag of Holiday Blend ground coffee to give away to one of my readers.  I decided to keep the coffee because it's good, and sponsor a giveaway for a $15 gift card instead (with permission).  Then you can try the Holiday Blend yourself, or any other coffee or Starbucks product (but if you don't try something new I will think you're boring).  United States entries only.    


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Disclosure: Starbucks & Modern Mom supplied me with Starbucks Coffee Holiday Blend to help facilitate this review and giveaway.  I didn't want to share the giveaway coffee and was given the okay, so I am sponsoring the gift card giveaway myself.  No other compensation was received.  All opinions are expressly my own.

The Weaver's go Gutzy with a Gutzy Gear Party

I was given the opportunity to review Guzty Gear products by MomSelect.  They provided me with enough product and activity sheets to host a super fun party. 
Gutzy Gear is a way for your to affordably and easily express your creativity, with their strap covers and huge assortment of patches that are attached with velcro for simple removal and trading opportunities.  The strap covers can be used on backpacks, seat belts, instruments, bicycles and scooters and on so much more.  There are dozens of patch styles for boys and girls, and you can use one or a dozen and change them whenever the urge strikes.  Their website,  http://www.gutzygear.com is loaded with fun activities for kids of all ages, like creating your own Gutzy, sending Gutzy e-cards and virtual Gutzies. 

I invited all of our friends over for games, snacks and Gutzy Gear fun right after the first day of school.  They all arrived wearing their backpacks and as you can see, they are quite under-decorated and blah. 

Look at those sad, sad faces, all because they have terribly boring backpacks.

Let's take two; not all of those faces look sad enough.

Now if only I had Photoshop...

Our party-goers ranged in age from a 4 year old preschooler to a 12 year old 7th grader.  Not everyone arrived to the party sure that they wanted to participate, but everyone was curious to see what it was all about. 
We started off the party with Gutzy Bingo.  Some of the kids used Lego pieces for markers...we had to get creative!  Everyone had a lot of fun with Bingo but our time was short so we only played one round. 

 

 

Playing GUTZY (BINGO) and snacking.

Why yes, I do take a lot of pictures :)

Lego markers for BINGO!

Why have one winner when you can have 10?  We kept playing until we had enough!

We had a few late arrivals and  no surprise...they were sad with the state of their backpacks too. 

They're miserable, I tell ya!

 Next we had an awesome contest: the kids created their own Gutzy designs.  Even a parent participated and created a personalized Gutzy!  Get ready for it...you get to see ALL of the entries (except for one because all he drew was a circle then left to play video games so I eliminated him.  Love you, Jo Jo!). 

I think this is some cartoon character.  This was one of our top 3 entries, by 7 year old Amara

A top 3 entry by 7 year old Makaley.  Hearts galore!

Butterflies and tie-dye hearts are definitely a MUST!

Gutzy flower patch.

I have no idea what this is.  A cute bat, maybe?  Do it, Gutzy! 

We have a few entries here: a sun/moon, row of hearts and a baseball.  I hope all of these will be made!  With a little more color ;)

A personalized Gutzy.  This would be awesome!

I think it's a baseball and bat.  And a circle.

Cute!

Geometric Gutzy "logo" patch.

Not sure how the little hearts will fit but tiny heart patches would be really neat.

This was another top 3 entry by 9 year old Brayden.  A really great jet!  I bet these would be popular.

Silly face- love it!

 Okay, which one would you have voted for?

After everyone was done and the winners were announced we moved on to the main event: Gutzy Gear backpack-decorating time!
I was too excited to take "before" pictures of the products, so you'll just have to trust that the boxes and packages are easy to open (none of that crazy packaging that makes you wonder if a bomb won't get your toys out of the box).  Each Gutzy Gear strap pack of 2 comes with 1 Gutzy Gear face patch already attached to help you get started.  The kids dove into the project of arranging their Gutzy patches on their straps.  A few kids needed help getting the straps wrapped around their backpack straps but otherwise it was noise and fun and simple.

It's MINE!

Helping out friends and trying to trade.

Love the paw print patch!

Deciding where to put a patch.

Someone is VERY happy with her results!! 

He decided to put all of his on one side.

More assembling.  I warned you about the pictures, right?

My opinion: I really like these!  I was so sure that the straps would look silly on most of the backpacks, particularly the ones that weren't black but they all looked great.  I think there should be more strap cover colors (and I'm not a huge fan of the yellow liner on the strap covers).  The style options are huge and fabulous but I'd love to see sparkly and shiny for girls.  The best feature of this product is that you don't have to do ANYTHING to your backpacks.  It's completely risk-free!  If your child decides she doesn't like the flower or he doesn't want fries this week they can change it (or trade it) in a snap.  The velcro is also very strong.  There is no chance that these will fall off, but they are still easy to change.  Trading already happened at the party but the kids are very excited to get into it more.  All of the kids were very excited to start the Gutzy Gear trend. 
Another mom's opinion: the straps should balance out and come with 2 patches.
The kids' opinions: They were so very excited to wear them to school.  One was relieved that it was way more fun than she expected.  The older girls thought that maybe the patches would be a little too child-like but they were pleased with the selection.  One was adamant that he not get more than the face on his straps.  He is 4 and that's how I'll explain his refusal. 

After we were done our party all of the kids got together to let us know how happy they were with their backpacks after the Gutzy Gear took over.

These are some seriously happy children!

P.S. Grapevine rumors are that Toys R Us has them on sale, at least locally. 

And now...who wants to WIN!

Where Do You Go Gutzy?  Get creative and show the world how you go Gutzy.  By participating you have the chance to win more than 100 gift cards from Toys R Us, worth a total of more than $500!!  To enter just go to http://www.facebook.com/gutzygear and tell/show them how you Go Gutzy by Sept. 7, 2012.

March 6th is the Deadline- Enter to Win Now!

Reminder that the CSN Stores Giveaway will be ending soon.  March 6, 2011 at 11:59PM is the deadline to enter to win a $20 CSN Stores gift code.

There are only 39 entries so your chances are good! 

CSN Stores Giveaway CLOSED

I'm very excited to announce my very first giveaway, courtesy of CSN Stores!! 

The day I was contacted by CSN Stores I was driving around town doing errands.  It was absolutely gorgeous outside- one of those idyllic days that you only get a few times per year (at least here in the Susquehanna Valley).  Kids were outside playing and people were riding their bikes.  I couldn't help but feel a little envious as I passed a home where some kids were playing on a huge swing set.  Our house is too small for one but I love them so much.  I've always dreamed of a home with a big swing set where all the neighborhood kids come to play, inevitably running through your house with muddy shoes to the kitchen to snag a snack before heading back out for another few hours.  

Imagine my surprise when I got home to the email from CSN with an offer to do a review or giveaway.  I've ogled checked out their website plenty of times- making enormous shopping lists of things I want in my home someday- but on this visit to their site I found the same swing set (on sale for under $1,000!!!!) I was drooling over during my drive!!  

I already knew that CSN Stores had a lot of products, but it seems they really do have everything!  CSN Stores has over 200 online stores to shop from and since they are under the CSN name they are all backed by the same customer service.  Where else can you have a big selection of furniture, lighting, decor, toys AND clothing all from one place?  Every time I visit the site I add a new thing to my wish list.

Well, I decided that as much as I want that swing set that won't fit in my yard, or 20 dozen OTHER things from the site, a giveaway would be more fun for readers!  So here we go...      

WIN IT: I'll be giving one lucky reader a $20 gift code to purchase ANYTHING from CSN Stores.     

1. (Required entry) Visit the CSN Stores Swing Sets and More and tell me which swing set is your favorite (or what other item from the store you long for).

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):
2. Become a follower of Weavers Wobble on Google Friend Connect (if you're already a follower let me know). (1 entry)
3. Leave a comment on another one of my blog posts and let me know which post and comment is yours.   (1 entry)
4. Blog about this giveaway and link to this post.  (2 entries- leave 2 comments)


RULES and disclosure:
-Open to US and Canadian residents.
-Please leave your email address on each comment so I may contact you if you've won.
-Contest is open until March 6, 2011 at11:59PM EST.  A random winner will be selected from qualified entries and they will have 48 hours to respond to the winner notification email before a new winner will be selected.  
-CSN provided the gift code for the giveaway.  I was not compensated in any way for this post or giveaway.  Opinions and viewpoints are my own.  

GOOD LUCK!