If your little one loves all of the pink & red food fun that comes with Valentine’s Day, but you’re not a fan of artificial food coloring and processed snacks — you have options!
Here are a few quick tips to get you through Valentine’s Day with an organic & natural foods twist!
– GO NATURAL: If you’re decorating your own from-scratch cookies, opt for natural food coloring and organic sugar sprinkles. There are so many great colors & options available (online, at WholeFoods & more), that there’s no need to reach for the artificial brands (see my article on allParenting for why we opt out of artificial food coloring)
Here are just a few options if you’re considering ordering natural food coloring online:
- Select natural food coloring
- Chocolate Craft color kits
- Chocolate Craft natural colored decorating sprinkles
– CHOOSE FRESH: Substitute fresh fruit for snacks… and for color. We recently used mashed strawberries to tint organic frosting pink and the kids never knew the difference! Dried cranberries, pomegranate & strawberries are all great ways to get bold pops of red colors into Valentine’s Day meals sans artificial colors & flavors!
– SELECT SMART PACKAGED FOODS: Opt for ready-made snacks that use natural & organic ingredients (like beets, etc.) for coloring. Try packaged and convenient (but healthy) options like:
- Earth’s Best smoothie squeeze pouches– Perfect for pint-sized lunch boxes.
- Jammy Sammy organic pre-made sandwiches (you an cut them into hearts, too!)
- Organic strawberry milk boxes from Horizon
- Organic strawberry cereal or granolar bars
- Organic dried cranberries (My kids love to snack on these. We use the Simply Organic brand from Ralph’s & skip the high fructose corn syrup!)
- Raspberry or strawberry organic toaster pastries (the perfect substitute for Pop Tarts)
