Del Monte Fruit Cups are a #SmartSnack for Back to School #CBias

You may have noticed that here on Three Different Directions we like to feature easy, family friendly recipes. Just recently I had the opportunity to head to Walmart to do some shopping for Del Monte Fruit Cups and come up with some healthy lunch or snack options with them.

I brought the whole family along shopping and you can see our entire shopping trip in the Google+ Album, by clicking the picture below.

There are so many #SmartSnack options to choose from in the Del Monte Fruit Cup varieties, Diced Pears, Mixed Fruit, Mandarin Oranges are just some of them. One of the ones we chose to purchase was the new Diced Peaches with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. That just screams yum!

With so many ideas collected from Pinterest, Facebook, and my own noggin (!) – I couldn’t decide on just one thing to do with the Del Monte Fruit Cups….so being the over achiever that I am (LOL!) I did FOUR!!

I can’t ultimately contribute the following project idea to anyone person, I’ve seen it a lot on the internet and on Pinterest, but nonetheless it’s rather cute and a fun thing to do. Just be sure that if you’re packing it in school lunches to include either a fork or a wet wipe, as the mandarin oranges can get kind of sticky .

Taking some Wiggly Eyes, Fuzzy Sticks and a Clothespin – make some antennae, and glue the eyes and the antennae on the clothespin and you have the body of a butterfly. Drain the Del Monte Mandarin Oranges Fruit Cup (saving the juice) and with a paper towel pat them to dry them off a bit. Then place them in one of the baggies and shake it until they are one side. With the other baggy put some Goldfish crackers or other dry snack, and close it up and shake it until they are all one side. Using the extra portion of the fuzzy stick wrap the two bags together in the middle and clip your butterfly body on top of that. So cute for a lunch box!

It’s ALWAYS more fun to eat something off of a stick…make some fruit kabobs with the Cherry Mixed Fruit variety. Again drain the fruit cup (once again saving the fruit syrup). Then on a blunt wooden skewer, thread the fruit in an alternating pattern.

While it’s back to school right now, before you know it Halloween will be upon us. A friend of mine on Facebook posted this idea. After researching it a bit more I found that it was in a Family Fun magazine last year or the year before, and on other internet sites, but I only saw her picture when I decided I had to make these.

What you need is some navel oranges. Cut the top off, and scoop out the orange segments so you have an orange bowl (for lack of a better word!). Dice up the orange segments and put them aside. Using a knife, cut out triangle eyes and a mouth to make a “Jack-O-Lantern” out of your orange. Then drain (save the syrup!) a Del Monte Mixed Fruit Cup and combine some of the orange segments in it.  Then fill up your Jack-O-Lantern, and put the lid back on. What a #SmartSnack for a party!

So have you noticed a theme here of “save the fruit syrup/juice”. Yes, because you can make a Del Monte Fruit Cup Yogurt Shake with it!

Mix equal parts of the fruit syrup, frozen yogurt and crushed ice in a blender. Use a Cherry Mix Fruit Variety or other kind of Fruit Cup for garnish on top of the shake. Easy, delicious and fun!

What kind of Del Monte Fruit Cups does your family like to eat? What do you do with them, just eat them from the cup or do you use them in other ways as well?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Del Monte #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.

14 thoughts on “Del Monte Fruit Cups are a #SmartSnack for Back to School #CBias

  1. Too cute. My family is not a fan of canned fruit but I grew up on del monte canned fruit cocktail and we would always fight over the cherries.

  2. We like both Mixed Fruit and Mandarin Oranges and we eat them straight from their packaging but I love the idea of the Jack-O-Lanterns made from oranges!
    cjnedrow at gmail dot com

  3. We love their Cherry Mixed fruit. I havent got creative with these, but thanks for the cute Ideas! I love the skewers and Jack o lantern cups 🙂

  4. Oh that jack-o-lantern idea is adorable. My kids would think I'm just awesome if I did that. I had no idea there were new varieties but I must say they sound delish. I have seen the butterfly everywhere, maybe I'll do that as well! Zoe likes cherry mixed fruit and mixes them in her yogurt. Gav only likes pears, he is so boring!

  5. My boys love the peaches and mandarin oranges. I really like your fruit on the stick and love the Jack-O-Lantern idea too! Eating healthy and fun at the same time is great!

  6. yes we love these and I buy them all the time we love the diced peaches and diced pears.
    we usually eat them right from the cup. I use to buy fruit cocktail in cans but it always seems to have a tin taste to it..lol
    I love these because they taste fresh 🙂

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