Product Review: Ruby’s Rockets Fruit And Vegetable Pops

“Mom, does popsicle mean sugar?” my inquisitive 5-year old son asked as he was eating one of Ruby’s Rockets popsicles.

I smiled and said, “No, not anymore.”

What kid doesn’t love frozen treats? I want to be able to purchase fun summer snacks for my kids, but trying to square my healthy-eating convictions with what I saw in the freezer case was always a challenge…until now.

I stumbled upon these new popsicles at Sprouts Farmers Market last week. (Ok, maybe “stumbled upon” is a poor description. I was carefully scrutinizing the nutrition labels of ALL the popsicles in the case, almost convinced I wasn’t going to find anything with less than 100% sugar calories.)

When I first picked up a box of Ruby’s Rockets and read the nutrition label, I thought I had surely read it wrong. But, nope, my eyes have not failed me yet. Only 4 grams of sugar per serving? I had to give them a try.

Even as I went home, I was hoping that my kids would like the flavor–being that there were vegetables present as well. I decided to let them try the new pops without letting them see the box. I even captured the first try on video!

Our Nutrition Take On Ruby’s Rockets

In these pops, you’ll find zero artificial colors or flavors, zero added sugar and some real fruits and vegetables. My favorite part is the sugar piece, because other popsicles typically have 100% of their calories coming just from sugar, added or not.

So, even though these pops are no substitute for your child’s servings of real fruit and vegetables for the day, at least they are getting less sugar while enjoying a frozen treat.

The ingredients also include a new strain of probiotics (Bacillus coagulans GBI-30 6086, to be exact). So if you’re into wanting more foods with probiotics, you’ll like that piece of it. I can’t speak much for this specific probiotic strain, because I don’t know that much about it. Even though it is manufactured by a relatively new company, founded in 1997, they seem to have some published clinical studies on this strain and its benefits.[1. Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC. “New Study Catalogues Evidence for Probiotic, Bacillus coagulans.” http://www.prweb.com/releases/bacillus-coagulans/as-a-probiotic/prweb4998984.htm (Last accessed on March 27, 2014.)]

Though I wouldn’t use these pops to guarantee your child’s gut health, it’s a nice effort on the part of the company to provide some extra health benefits.

Where To Find Them

I found them at Sprouts Farmers Market, though you can also look online for locations near you (though not all the stores will show up–my stores did not even come up on the map yet). If no store is close to you, you can also order them online or talk to your local grocery store about getting them in.