First Juice: The First and Only Juice You'll Want to Give Your Kids
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Before I had kids, I was going to be the parent who swore that only milk and water would touch the lips of my children. I just thought that juice = sugar, and there was no way I was going to be “one of those parents.” Flash forward a few years, and I guess I have to say that having kids has made me realize that things aren’t always so black and white. There is a role for juice in a child’s life — for some it might be on special occasions, or out to eat, or when they are sick and need constant fluids, or an everyday drink. Whatever your feelings about juice may be, First Juice (starting at $2.65/bottle) offers a great solution for many parents.
Problems with “other juices” run the gamut, as far as I am concerned. First of all, whoever designed the juice box did not consult the moms of toddlers or young children. Straw + Squeeze = Mess. That’s it. Additionally, as more of us learn about the benefits of less sugar in our families’ diets, many parents have begun to dilute juice as a way of pleasing both them and their kids. So juice boxes are useless for this as well, as the juice needs to be emptied into a sippy cup, diluted, and then passed off to the toddler who is screaming for the “big kid straw” that he just saw thrown into the trash!
First Juice is made from 100 percent organic fruit and vegetables (all of the fruit flavors — apple, blueberry, and banana — are paired with orange or purple carrot). It has less than half of the sugar of regular full concentrate juice, and is fortified with Vitamins A, C, D, and Calcium. And, hold on to your diaper bags, it comes in a reusable, recyclable, BPA-free sippy bottle!
The flavors were good — not super sweet like regular juice, which made it feel less like a filling meal after you drank a glass (as full strength fruit juice can sometimes do). There are four flavors including apple/carrot, blueberry/purple carrot, peach/purple carrot, but the Banana/Carrot is a flavor that tastes the most dramatically different (most of us aren’t accustomed to drinking Banana flavor). I would recommend getting a variety pak, as my kids enjoyed picking which one they wanted to try. Once you find a flavor your kids like, you might want to get the 32 oz. size that reduces the price to $0.14 an ounce.
Check out their story — and the story of the purple carrot — at firstjuice.com. Their products are available from their website, and locally at all Whole Foods Stores, as well as Babies ‘R’ Us and Toys ‘R’ Us.
First Juice doesn’t have to change your mind about how often your child should be drinking juice. But every day, every week, or every month…there’s no reason for it not to be First Juice. Better nutrition + better packaging = happy kids AND happy parents.
– Lisa
