Sensible Sippers

Like most kids, mine quickly caught on to the old water-in-the-juice-cup trick. They watch me pour the juice to make sure they don't get ripped off. So: Juice boxes with the water already in? Sweet. Or, not so sweet, since R.W. Knudsen's Organic Sensible Sippers have just 7 grams of sugar per 4-oz. serving (and it's all from the fruit--no high-fructose or any other "-ose"s added). They are 50% juice and 50% water so your child could have two of them and still be within the recommended 4-ounce daily limit for juice.

I've packed these juice boxes in my 1st-grader's lunch and served them to my preschooler for snack, and neither one has been the wiser--they both liked the juice very much. To my taste, the fruit punch was a little more flavorful than the apple, but the kids didn't complain at all. And the apple did taste more like real apples than other apple juices do--but just more subtle. (The other two flavors, which we didn't get to try, are mixed berry and ... banana? Seems like a weird choice to me but I bet kids would love it.)

I don't buy a lot of juice boxes, since I try to limit my kids' juice intake anyway and I also avoid individual servings since they are a waste of packaging (and usually money). That said, sometimes you really just need a juice box and from now on, I'll choose Sensible Sippers. Visit R.W. Knudsen's web site for a store locator and a printable coupon.