Introducing Organix Punk'd!

Now that the summer holidays are here I know that my kids will be saying"I'm hungry!" even more than usual. I am sure that I will not be the only parent hearing this. My kids never seem to be full, they always seem to be hungry so finding a snack that will fill them up, give them the energy that they need for lots of play but they need to be healthy too.

Thankfully my children are not too fussy and will quite happily snack on fruit but sometimes they want something more. So when I discovered that Organix are bringing out a new snack bar for older children I was excited to find out more.

Introducing Organix Punk'd!

I was delighted to hear that Organix, the pioneers of 'no junk', were creating a healthy snack for older children. When looking in the supermarket for healthy snacks there always seems to be a wide choice for toddlers but then not a lot for kids aged 5 and over. A lot of adult snacks are either low in fat but high in sugar or low sugar but high in fat and other nasties. There seems to be no happy medium, unless you bake your own at home. As much as I love to bake it is not always feasible, if we are out and about and I want to grab something out the cupboard to put in my bag. When I am busy and the kids get hungry I want convenience. That is where Organix Punk'd come in!

When they arrived all three of the children were excited to see what had arrived. The twins are nearly 5 so they have also tried them as well as 11 year old J. All three were immediately curious as soon as they saw the funky, bright packaging. But for me as a parent who wants my children to eat healthily I was delighted to see that the Organix ethos of 'no junk' had stayed with their snacks for older children. I knew what each and every ingredient was on the packaging. They are all ingredients that I can find in my cupboards. They even list the percentage of each ingredient!

Punk'd bars come in two delicious flavours:

• Cocoa and Orange Crash - Organic strawberry and vanilla oaty bars containing a blend of organic wholegrain oats, sultanas, apple and strawberry juice with vanilla extract.
• Strawberry and Vanilla Smash - Organic cocoa and orange oaty bars containing organic wholegrain oats, sultanas, apple juice, cocoa and orange oil.

Both flavours were a huge success and of course I had to have a taste and never mind the kids, I love them too but don't tell the kids!!!

Recently Organix conducted a survey to find out more about how parents felt about kids snacking. They discovered that, like me, a lot of parents struggle to find healthy snacking options and are concerned about the junk that goes into a lot of children's snacks. I am pleased to learn that I am not the only one that thinks that the food industry needs to do more! They also found out that...

• 73% of parents want to make good food choices for their children
• 64% of parents want to find healthier options for their children
• 61% of parents admitted that food packaging can be hard to understand, it is not always easy to tell if something is healthy or not!
• 73% of parents think that the food industry needs to take more responsibility for providing healthy food for kids

As our children get older and more independent us parents often feel like we are loosing control over what our children snack on. In September J is moving up to secondary school and this was something that I was worried about. If he has money for school dinners is he going to make the healthy choices? Thankfully his future school has an electronic system that logs exactly what he has purchased so that I can see on his account. But I know that he will go for quick snacks at break time. To avoid him going for the junk I will be putting a Punk'd bar in his bag for snack time.

Thankfully I am not the only parent that worries about this. The Organix kids snacking survey discovered that...

• 54% of parents say that as children get older healthy snacks seem to go out of the window.
• 47% of parents with children aged 5 - 10 years old admitted that they often give in under pressure from their children on what they buy for them to eat. This is something I can sympathise with, there have been times when I have given in just for an easy life!
• 69% of parents said that as their children get older it is harder to influence what they eat.
• 63% said that they felt less control over what their children select to eat as they get older.
• 75% of parents said that they felt that their children want to have what other children have and are often influenced by peer pressure.

When it came to what concerns parents about kids snacks I agreed with each and every statement and was not surprised that...

• 78% of parents think that children eat too much junk these days!
• 76% of parents say that a lot of snacks on the market are high in salt and added sugar.
• 70% of parents are shocked by the amount of colours, flavours and sweeteners that are actually used in children's food!
• 68% have found that low sugar products actually contain unnecessary substitute ingredients.
• 64% of parents were shocked at how many children's snacks are just full of junk!

Who wants their children to eat these foods? I know I don't!

Anna Rosier the Managing Director at Organix says...

"Mums and dads tell us there can be conflicts with kids when it comes to snacks. Limited choices mean it's either fun, colourful snacks that appeal to children but are full of junk, or good snacks that children think are healthy and dull. We'll help solve that dilemma with Punk'd by meeting parents' needs for healthy snack choices, with food that kids who are expressing their independence more and more, want to eat. Our mission is to provide healthy snacks with great taste and no junk. We are concerned that there is so much junk on the market aimed at children with colourings, flavourings and other unnecessary additives so we wanted to provide a real choice for parents with simple healthy ingredients."

Punk'd bars not only get the thumbs up from the children and I but also mums who took part in a focus group for Organix also agreed. Two thirds, 66%, of mums said that Punk'd was more appealing simply because it was made by Organix! 85% would be happy to be seen giving these snacks to their children while 70% found Punk'd to be more appealing than other kids snacks.

Each box contains 6 healthy bars and will cost £2. The Punk'd oaty bars are just the start. Organix are also planning to expand their range for older children which I cannot wait to find out about!

What do you give your children for snacks? If  you are looking for a new, healthy snack I definitely recommend trying new Punk'd from Organix!

Enjoy x

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.