Cranberries are these red jewels we can spot at the farmers’ markets or in the stores during the Holiday season. They’re nature superfoods, with unique polyphenols, and are recognized by the 2015-2020 Dietary Guideline for Americans as nutrient-dense fruits.
As a juice, a sauce, or even dried, cranberries provide, indeed, health benefits. They extend beyond the urinary tract, to antimicrobial activities, cardiovascular and Type 2 diabetes, and anti-cancer properties. As mentioned by the Cranberry Institute, “an 8oz serving of 27% cranberry juice cocktail provides the same level of goodness as 1/4 cup of fresh cranberries, 1/3 cup of sweetened dried cranberries, 1/4 cup of cranberry sauce, or 2 oz. 100% cranberry juice”.
Would kids eat this superfood? The answer is yes. With the help of our Teuko Lunchbox Community, we found 5 ways, apart from cranberry juice, to add cranberries to your kid’s lunchbox.
1 – A Homemade Cranberry Trail Mix
This may be the most convenient way for a kid to eat cranberries since they tend to have very active days with school and extracurricular activities. We spotted two cranberry trail mix ideas on Teuko.com that we wanted to share with you.
First, our Teuko Friend, @Kidscantwaitforlunch, prepared a colorful Italian lunch for her kid, with a calzone pizza and stuffed bell peppers. We noticed, on the right upper side of her LunchBots box, a fresh salad fruit, with orange slices, blueberries, strawberries, and a few green grapes. And, on the right bottom side of the box, a small container with an appetizing snack: a homemade trail mix with pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, and dried cranberries.
The second cranberry trail mix idea comes from @Exhaustedmomma who shared her toddler’s lunch on Teuko. In a Planetbox bento box, she put six pizza roll-ups, some cheese puffs on the side, and sliced kiwis. For the trail mix, she mixed mini pretzel balls, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.
2 – An Autumnal Cranberry Salad
Cranberry, walnut, and feta salad may be the most well-known salad that includes the superfood we’re celebrating in this blog post, but we discovered an even better lunch idea, kid-approved, shared by @kidscantwaitforlunch (she’s so inspiring, right?). It’s a salad made of wild rice, with roasted sweet potato, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. Won’t you fall in love too with this autumnal cranberry salad?
3 – A Ruby Red Cranberry Sauce
Our two Teuko Friends, @Funkytartines and @Jessica, chose to offer a delicious ruby red cranberry sauce in their kids’ lunch boxes, on top of creamy yogurt. The cranberry sauce is not only perfect to add to your kids’ lunches as its color really pops and is inviting to eat it. We can particularly see it with Jessica’s lunchbox, which has a “Petit Salé”, a mix of lentils, with a few carrots and sausages, in a brownish color. In @Funkytartines’ lunchbox, already has many colors with white rice, green broccoli, and yellow and violet carrots… red was the only missing color to bring some visual balance to the box!
4 – A Crunchy Cranberry Parfait
You’re not in the mood for cooking and yet you want to provide a nutritious dessert? Here’s the lunch idea you need! Jessica packed leftovers of couscous with rice and tomato sauce. And for dessert, she assembled in 2 minutes a crunchy cranberry parfait for her whole family. The parfait was made of greek honey yogurt, banana slices, oats, and dried cranberries. Easy and yummy! Your kids will surely this dessert too! And you could include it in a “breakfast for lunch” bento box too!
5 – Delicious Sugared Cranberries
The idea of sugared cranberries comes from our Teuko Friend @Painapplez, who included in her daughter’s lunchbox, three different stuffed rice balls (the first one is filled with salmon, the second one with scrambled egg, and the last one with chicken coated in yakitori sauce…. yum!), a mini skewer of edamame, one small pickle… and a tiny snack box filled with a few sugared cranberries.
Sugared cranberries are actually like homemade candies because it’s just fresh cranberries dipped in a syrup of sugar and then rolled in granulated sugar. Yes, it’s that easy, and yes, it sounds like it’s a lot of sugar for a kid’s lunchbox but a small amount is just what’s necessary for your kid to get a treat and, in addition to the health benefits of the cranberries, a tiny bit of sugar may also actually help your kids with all the activities they have until the end of the day!
How did you like these 5 lunchbox ideas with cranberries? Will you include cranberries in your next kid’s lunch? Let us know in the comments or simply share with us on Teuko.com!
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