“Mommy, I want a snack!” “Mommy, I need a snack!” “Mommy, can I have a snack, please?” “I’m soooooo hungry, mommy!”
If you saw us out in public, you might believe that I never feed my kids by the way they are always asking for food. But, if you have young kids, or if you haven’t yet fully repressed the less-endearing memories from when your children were preschoolers, you know that snack management is at least 50 percent of your parenting responsibility at that age.
Snacks are essential to mom life. Bonus if the snacks are quick and relatively healthy. But, just like adults, kids get bored with the usual options, which is why finding something new is exciting for all of us. Enter the new Skippy P.B. Fruit Bites.
Skippy P.B. Fruit Bites are available in two varieties, grape and strawberry. They feature fruit-flavored centers with a Skippy peanut butter-flavored coating and are advertised as “portable, pop-able snacks.” They resemble yogurt or chocolate covered raisins in size and texture.
We tried the Grape bites first as I was curious to know how a “dried grape center” would differ from a raisin center. The answer is that it tasted like dried grape flavored bubble gum. I think a full raisin, and not a manufactured dried grape, would have resulted in a snack that more closely resembled a peanut butter & grape jelly sandwich.
The textures of the peanut butter coating and the fruit center did not blend well and were distinctly obvious in each bite. The grape-flavored center was artificial and not fruity tasting at all. Each bite tasted like a piece of cheap, old grape-flavored candy and oily peanut butter powder. I did not feel compelled to eat more than a few and couldn’t even pawn them off on my hungry, snack-loving kiddos.
The strawberry P.B. Fruit Bites were a different story, though. The Skippy Peanut Butter coating had the iconic Skippy flavor, slightly sweet with a smooth and creamy peanut flavor. The coating melded well with the fruit center and did not disintegrate into separate pieces like its grape counterpart.
The fruit center tasted more authentic than the grape one, with natural strawberry flavor (in the form of a cranberry). It was more convincingly fruit than just “fruit flavored.” This matters when you’re trying to convince yourself, as a parent, that your kids’ snacks have some value other than to buy a few minutes of peace and quiet.
Overall, I liked the strawberry P.B. Fruit Bites enough to add them into the snack rotation, but not as a regular addition. At over $3 for a small bag of bites, they are too pricey for an everyday snack but will be an occasional sweet treat.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 oz. – Grape – 140 calories, 8 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugars, and 4 grams of protein. Strawberry – 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugars, and 4 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $3.29 each
Size: 4 oz. bag
Purchased at: Food Lion
Rating: 2 out of 10 (Grape)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Strawberry)
Pros: Quick snack with some nutritional value. Strawberry one tasted more authentic than grape. Didn’t melt in summer heat. Real fruit in centers.
Cons: Grape one tasted like a piece of cheap, old grape-flavored candy and oily peanut butter powder. Expensive as an everyday snack. Choking hazard warning on front of package suggests that these are not for kids under 3.
