Celebrating Back to School with Del Monte Fruit Cups

 Entry #1427, July 31, 2012

I can’t believe in a few short weeks I will be helping my kids get back into the routine of school! While it has been a fun summer, I think parents and kids are ready to go back and face a new year of friends and cool experiences. Back to school time is the perfect time to think of creative ways to teach your kids healthy eating habits but still making it fun and cutting out the time for the parents too! I was excited to celebrate back to school season with Del Monte Fruit Cups and share how I use fruit cups at my house.

Back to school time with Del Monte fruit cups

From breakfast, lunch/dinner, to snacks and even reusing the plastic cups, I love the easy single serve containers and my six-year old daughter is always coming up with fun ways to incorporate fruit in many of her favorite meals. Come along with me to Walmart and see how back to school is going to be even sweeter this year with Del Monte fruit cups, the perfect #SmartSnack.

Finding my recipe ideas at Walmart

To see more images of my morning routine with the kids, and deciding on great recipes to make with Del Monte fruit cups while I’m at Walmart, view my Google+ Album here.

Del Monte fruit cups come in a variety of fruits at Walmart

Fun recipes for every meal:

I’m always intrigued in how many ways you can use diced fruit in every meal, especially for children. If your child is finicky or even if they love fruit, often times they get bored of the same way to eat it. I chose mixed fruit, mandarin oranges, peaches, and pears for my recipes. There are many more to make any recipe better!

These will be perfect for my fun fruit recipes

Here are some ways you may not have thought of:

Breakfast:

I find breakfast a challenge every morning with my daughter because she is half tired when waking up and doesn’t want to sit at the table and eat a full meal unless it is a big bowl of sugary cereal… which we DON’T eat! So you can see the dilemma, right? Recently, we have made a compromise if I can find food that tastes good and is fun to eat, she will eat it. So my yogurt and fruit bowl recipe is perfect!

Breakfast Yogurt Bowl Recipe:

Breakfast Yogurt Bowl – perfect in the morning!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of your child’s favorite Yogurt (single serve cups work great)

Single serve cup – Del Monte fruit cup – diced peaches, pears, or mixed fruit

Add ins: Fresh blueberries, strawberries, granola cereal with Del monte fruit and yogurt.

Directions:

1.) Stir yogurt in cup before scooping into bowl.

2.) Drain Del Monte fruit cup and place fruit on top of yogurt or stir it in.

This recipe is perfect for toddlers and school aged kids!

Lunch/Dinner

I think lunch and dinner is the hardest meals to incorporate fruit, because parents are focused on creating a well balanced meal. Between the main dish of a meat or protein, vegetables, and limiting the starches, these meals can be a monster to think of. One of my favorite salads at a restaurant here in Jacksonville, Florida combines mandarin oranges on it! So I realized my daughter would love the same.

Dinner Salad with Mandarin Oranges

Here’s a mandarin orange salad I would love….

This salad gave me an idea for my daughter’s salad!

Image via

Her rigate pasta and mandarin orange dinner salad was made so much better! She said.. “YUMMY”!

Drain fruit before placing on salad & serve fruit with a well balanced meal.

Snack Ideas

While Del Monte fruit cups are always a quick and healthy snacks for lunch boxes, how about snacks when your kids want to reach for candy and cookies?

A great idea I found from another blogger was this delicious fruit salsa recipe! With a mixture of diced peaches, peppers, cilantro, and even cherries.. my daughter and probably my older teenager’s would love it too!

What a great idea to serve with tortilla chips for movie night with the kids!

Image via

Dessert Ideas

When I was young, dessert always consisted of Jell-o! Whether it was in cubes, in a green bundt mold pan or just in fruit cups, I loved it! Del Monte pears, peaches, and all of the tropical fruit varities are delicious inside Jell-o, and you can see my daughter and I make the recipe here in my Google+ album.

My daughter and I make cherry Jell-o with Del Monte pears

Green Tips for Reusing Del Monte Fruit Cup Containers

After we are done eating from the fruit cups we are always trying to find creative ways to either recycle or reuse plastic cups.  My daughter and I have started mini herb gardens in our window sill. We wash out the empty fruit cups and let them air dry overnight. Then we take a few spoonfuls of soil and choose different herb seeds to grow!

Our basil leaves are growing!

Right now we are growing basil, rosemary, and thyme. The fruit cups are easy to keep throughout the year and can be used over and over again when it’s time to transplant the sprouted herbs to a bigger container.

Our mini herb garden, and the Del Monte fruit cups are see through – so we don’t over water!

From fun recipes for every part of the day to recycling the fruit cups, the Del Monte fruit cups are a great back to school treat anytime. There are so many resources for also making recipes on Del Monte’s recipe page. From Peach Yogurt Pops to budget and time-sensitive meals, you will love the ideas you find on their website under ‘Recipes’.

Peach Yogurt Cups – Kid recipe ideas on Del Monte website

If you have ideas and want to interact with other lovers of Del Monte fruit cups, join the community on Twitter and Facebook! I love this interactive app that Del Monte has on their Facebook page! It is called the “Coast to Coast” Cookout. You can sign up for Del Monte recipes to bring, I love the concept.

Del Monte’s Coast to Cost Cookout on Facebook

What will you create for your kids with Del Monte fruit cups for your back to school family?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Del Monte #CBias #SocialFabric. All the ideas are uniquely my own.