Fruitzi'o Giveaway!

Okay, so I love snacking. It's not the best habit because I tend to like things that go 'crunch'! I also love fruit, and dried fruit. So often, the snacks that go 'crunch' and dried fruit have a lot of calories and sugar, so I was very intrigued when I saw this line of freeze dried fruit at a local grocery store.

The description on the Fruitzi'o package read: "the light, sweet and crunchy fruit treat you can enjoy any where, any time." Plus, the entire bag is only 100 calories! All that sounds great to me! Bring 'em on!

I was able to try all four varieties this week - peaches, apricots, strawberries and strawberry/apple. Here's the rundown:

Peaches

This was the first bag we opened. Light, crispy and nice sized slices. The texture reminds me a bit like a solid foam, because it's so light and airy, and the flavor is pretty mild at first with a strong after taste (but a good after taste).

Apricots

These pieces were smaller than the appricots and left a tiny bit of orange dust on my fingers. The texture is pretty similar to the peaches but the taste is stronger from the first bite.

Strawberries

The color is gorgeous and bright, but again, leaves a little red dust on my fingers (not like chips though). The texture reminded Woody of the strawberries that are put in the Special K Strawberry cereal - not as 'foam-like' as the other two, and you get the little seeds. The flavor is strong and sweet.

Apples/Strawberries

The apples have a great flavor, the texture is a bit foam-like. The mix of the sweet strawberries and mildness of the apples is great. Woody and I agreed that while we liked all four, this was our favorite.

I think this is a great snack and alternative way to eating fruit. I'm going out of town on Saturday and a Fruitzi'o snack would be great for the airplane since I wouldn't have to worry about juicy apple cores, like usual. Great snack while you're on the go, for sure. Also, I think they'd be a great addition to a party - put a bowl of Fruitzi'o fruit next to a bowl of mixed nuts, instead of chips. Or, throw a few nuts into the bag on your way out the door and pump up the healthy snack factor!

While these do get my seal of approval, there are a few things I'm not too fond of:

1. the sugar content is a bit high (cane sugar is added to each fruit)

2. the extra space in the pouches, although I'm sure the design is to ensure the pieces don't get crushed and all turn to dust in shipping & they are designed to retain the crispness in the fruit.

3. the pouch says it's a product of China, while the company website doesn't say anything about China and it looks as though its a purely US company.

4. the price - at a srp of $3.49, they're a bit pricey.

A few other things to note about these tasty snacks - no preservatives are used, they're peanut/tree nut free, gluten and dairy free, vegan and certified kosher. Basically, it's fruit in a bag!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

The nice people at Crispy Green have offered to give one reader of Early Morning Run a bag of each of these four flavors to try!

For your first entry: go over to http://www.crispygreen.com/ and take a look around. They also have another line of snacks - Crispy Greens. Come back and let me know which flavor of all of them you'd like to try the most.

For a 2nd entry: find where Crispy Green and Fruitzi'o products are available near you and leave a comment telling me where you can find them!

Want another chance to win? Tweet the link to this post sending people to the #Fruitzi'oGiveaway at @EarlyMorningRun, then leave a comment telling me you did.

Or, you can post the link to this giveaway on your blog and then let me know you did, please include a link back.

Lastly, if you're not on twitter and don't have a blog, but are on Facebook, you can post this link on Facebook and let me know!

So, there are lots of ways to enter, but make sure you enter before Wednesday April 14th at 9:00pm, when the giveaway ends. I'll post the winner on Thursday.