Review and Giveaway: Dole Fruit Bowls

As a non-fruit eater, I have been thrilled that two of my children absolutely love fruit and often can’t get enough of it. Whether at home, for school lunches or when we’re out to eat, it’s wonderful to be able to offer them the option of apples, grapes, bananas or whatever else we have around or is on the menu.

One way that we’ve discovered to easily serve or pack an individual-sized serving of fruit is by using Dole Fruit Bowls.

What they are:

Dole Fruit Bowls are individually-sized portions of peaches, pineapple, mixed fruit, tropical fruit, pears, mandarin oranges and even apples (soon to come in some areas) packaged in a small, sealed plastic bowl that’s just the right size to toss in a lunch box or a diaper bag, or to add to your child’s plate at lunch or dinner time.  The bowls have a peel-off lid that’s easy to open and don’t need to be refrigerated. And best of all – they’re available year-round, so you don’t have to wait for a specific season or time period to offer this fruity, healthy snack to your kids.

We were recently sent a sample of the new ‘apple’ variety to try out – they are only available in 14 states (including Michigan – which I’m glad about because my girls loved them!).

Here’s my our take on them:

I mentioned above that two of my girls love fruit. But – all three of them love Dole Fruit Bowls.  Your see, my kindergartner has discovered the mandarin orange fruit bowls, and is making up for some non-fruit-eating lost time. They’re the only variety that she’ll eat, and she’s picky about how she’ll eat them (not chilled, in the bowl, with a spoon), but she finishes off the bowl, every single time.  Which is incredible. My other two girls love the fruit bowls as well – my oldest is another fan of the mandarin oranges, while my youngest has been munching almost non-stop on the apple samples that we received.

I love how portable these are. I’ve put them in my daughter’s lunch box, taken them as an on-the-go snack to soccer practice, and packed them in picnic lunches. Not having to worry about refrigerating them is a huge help – I tend to just throw one of two in the diaper bag so I have them ready and available as needed. They’re a great addition (or alternative) to the usual crackers and other crumb-producing snack options.

Now, we certainly buy fresh fruit as well. But I try to have as many options available as possible, and these are often more convenient since they’re pre-packaged and sealed, and are available at any time during the year.

The bottom line:

Dole Fruit Bowls are a convenient, healthy snack option (or meal addition) that’s easy to carry with you or serve at home. With pieces already cut up into baby and toddler-friendly pieces, all you have to do is peel back the top and serve!

Where can you find them?:

Dole Fruit Bowls are available in most stores where grocery items are found, throughout the US.

And right now, you can visit www.DoleMartySnakPak.com to get a Limited Edition insulated Marty Snak Pak, perfectly fit for Dole Fruit Bowls for on-the-go snacking fun. Marty, the star zebra, will return in the new movie, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa – coming early this November.

Would you like to try them?:

I have a great opportunity for someone to save a bit on your grocery bill, and get two months worth of Dole Fruit Bowls – for free! If you’d like to enter to win coupons to try these out for yourself, here are the rules:

1. Enter by checking out www.DoleMartySnakPak.com and leaving a comment on this post to tell me one of the answers you would give to the survey questions available there (click on ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Pay Later’ to access the survey – you DO NOT have to purchase anything to see the survey questions, and can back right out of the survey afterward if you wish).  Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Sunday, October 5th at 11:59 pm EST. The winners will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY.Fetch. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If you don’t wish to leave your e-mail address, please make sure that you leave a unique name and check back with PRIZEYWinners to see if you won. If either of the winners haven’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like an extra entry or two, you can either subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar), or mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post – or both. Please leave an extra comment on this post for each of the extra entry options that you choose, letting me know – for a total of 3 comments if you do both extra entry options.

Good luck!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comment #30 as the winner:

Congratulations to Jo (no blog) whose extra subscription entry has won for her! I will be e-mailing you shortly to work out the details.