What’s the difference between fresh fruit and all the packaged options? Are they less healthy if they’re packaged or processed? Should you only give your kids fresh fruit? And are there certain fruits that are best?

Fruit gets such a confusing reputation in the nutrition world!

People often come to me asking what fruits are good or bad. Many parents have questions about limiting fruit for their kids, is freeze-dried fruit healthy, does canned fruit have too much sugar, and so on! 

So let me start by saying: I love fruit for kids of all ages.

Does that mean fruit for every meal, all the time, limitless servings? Of course not. 

But if you have a kid who doesn’t want vegetables, or you want some budget friendly options to balance out the $6 pints of berries, you’re going to gain some great wisdom from this post.

(Even if you have a picky eater who doesn’t even want fruit!)

We are not scared of fruit at Mama Knows Nutrition. I wrote an entire post dedicated to everything you need to know about fruit here. But in this post, we will focus on comparing the various options for fruit: fresh, canned, frozen, and dried. 

We’ll look at how they stack up against each other, and against their veggie counterparts.

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• Fruit vs. Veggies
• Is Fresh Fruit Healthy for Kids?
• Is Frozen Fruit Healthy for Kids?
• Is Canned Fruit Healthy for Kids?
• Is Dried Fruit Healthy for Kids?
• Is Freeze-Dried Fruit Healthy?
• Added Sugar vs. Total Sugar
• My Go-To Grocery Picks for Fruit

Fruit vs. Veggies

Good news: from a nutritional perspective, fruit has largely the same stuff as veggies. What that means is that I don’t want you to freak out if your child strongly prefers fruit (most do, and can we really blame them?). 

I would instead focus on serving a variety of fruits because, simply put, different color fruits have different beneficial micronutrients in them. So, “eating the rainbow” really can help you cover some nutritional bases as far as vitamins and minerals go. 

Veggies may be a little harder for children to accept. There is nothing wrong with your child if they have a harder time with broccoli than strawberries! And you may actually find that some of these alternative preparations of veggies we’re going to talk about may be easier for your child to accept than fresh vegetables. 

If your child is struggling with fruit and veggies, check out my post on increasing fruit and vegetable intake for kids! 

Is Fresh Fruit Healthy for Kids?

Oh, yeah!

Fruit has lots of things we love in kids’ diets. From gut-friendly fiber to important vitamins and minerals– fruit is actually a powerhouse food. 

Fruit also has what we call functional food properties. That means it does things in our body that aren’t purely nutritious, but are still beneficial. 

A big functional property of fruit is its antioxidant capacity. That means it helps neutralize harmful free radicals in the body and can boost our bodies’ natural detoxification processes! 

I know what you’re thinking. But isn’t fruit just a sugar bomb?!

Understanding the sugar in fruit

Of course, fruit does have sugar. (Some veggies even have quite a bit, too!) Fructose and glucose are the two main types of sugar in fruit. 

And because of the sugar content, fruit can seem like a “worse” option compared to less-sweet veggies.

Yes, it is a sweet food and has a high sugar content. However, fruit also comes with a host of benefits, too. Excluding fruit from the diet because of its sugar content would also remove all the amazing fiber and micronutrient benefits from eating whole fruits!

And we need to remember that our bodies are designed to process sugar effectively. Unless your child has diabetes, their body has no problem with the naturally occurring sugars from fruit.

Since fruit also contains fiber, it already is going to cause a lower spike than if they ate pure sugar, like a piece of candy. And when fruit is part of a meal with protein and fat, there’s even lower of a spike.

People often worry about the glycemic index of fruits, but the glycemic index doesn’t show you what happens in the body when you eat that fruit along with other foods. Meaning– it’s always going to be a lower spike than what the glycemic index says when fruit is consumed with other food groups.

It is also true that too much fructose can cause stomach troubles in the form of diarrhea. If your child is experiencing symptoms from too much fruit intake, it absolutely makes sense to limit their servings of fruit! 

Fruit recommendations per day

The USDA My Plate daily fruit recommendations are:

Toddlers 12 to 23 months: ½ to 1 cup

Children 2-3 yrs: 1 to 1½ cups

Children 4-8 yrs: 1 to 2 cups

A cup of fruit can also be ½ cup of dried fruit or 1 cup of 100% fruit juice (but the fruit juice comes without the benefit of the fiber in the whole fruit form, so I use that one more sparingly).

Fun Facts on Fresh Fruit

Did you know that a fruit’s nutrient content actually changes with its level of ripeness?

As fruits age, or ripen, they have different levels of certain nutrients in them!

For example, greener bananas have some different characteristics than brown-spotted bananas. Knowing these differences can actually help in certain instances. 

Green bananas are less sweet- they have less sugar and more resistant starch. Ripe bananas have a more soluble fiber and a higher antioxidant content and can actually help relieve constipation. 

And a ripe banana is perfect for making banana chocolate chip muffins, healthy banana chocolate chip pancakes, and banana bread, too! 

Fruit also is mostly water- some up to 97%! Fruit can definitely be a positive contributor to a child’s overall hydration, especially when they’re sick. Check out my post on how to feed a sick toddler for tips on how to use fruit to help them hydrate.

Best Choices for Fresh Fruit for Kids

All fruit is great for kids! All fruit has different micronutrients, fiber content, and functional properties.

Like I said above, it’s best to try to incorporate a range of fruits, if you can get your kid to eat them. You likely naturally vary what you offer based on what’s available seasonally, which is great.

Some of the sweeter fruits that you may want to be aware of so your child doesn’t overdo it on fructose are bananas, mangoes, grapes, figs, and cherries. In my house, we have to be mindful of watermelon serving sizes to avoid tummy troubles.

Some fruits on the less-sugary (but still sweet) side of things are strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapefruit, honeydew melon, and kiwi.

Please do not think you need to stick to the least sugary fruits! I would focus on incorporating variety and being mindful of daily serving sizes- especially for those fruits that are a little higher in fructose.

Is Frozen Fruit Healthy for Kids?

Frozen fruit is actually most similar to fresh fruit of all the types of fruit! 

Most frozen fruit and vegetables are flash-frozen, meaning they are picked when they’re perfectly ripe and frozen in that condition. That method does a pretty good job of allowing the fruit/veggie to retain its nutritional value.

Freezing is actually a way of preserving nutrients, because it slows down the degradation process. Fruits lose nutrients during the degradation process which eventually results in decay/molding. 

So that means sometimes, a frozen fruit may even have more nutrients than fresh fruit that’s been sitting on the shelf losing nutrients!

How to Serve Frozen Fruit to Kids

Frozen fruit is a must-have if you want to keep your fruit budget in check and make sure you always have some, even when your fridge is bare.

Here are my top ways to serve it!

1. Smoothies: Pretty much any frozen fruit could go in smoothies. My favorites are berries, peaches, bananas, and mango. Also, avocado chunks are an overlooked fruit (they technically are a fruit!), and frozen avocado chunks go really well in certain smoothies too.
   • Here’s 6 healthy smoothie recipes for kids!
2. Popsicles: Freeze leftover smoothies made with frozen fruit into popsicles. These reusable popsicle molds are great!
3. Serve them as-is: Certain fruits make a great snack straight from the freezer. My kids love frozen mango, frozen wild blueberries, and frozen grapes (slice them in half first before freezing)!
4. Frozen yogurt: Add 1 cup frozen fruit and a 1/2 cup of vanilla Greek yogurt to a food processor or high powered blender, and you have fruity frozen yogurt for a snack.
5. Yogurt banana bites: Slice fresh ripe bananas and coat in vanilla Greek yogurt, spread out on a parchment lined tray and freeze.
6. As an ice cream topper: My daugher likes when I chop up frozen mixed berries and add to a bowl of plain vanilla ice cream.

Best Frozen Fruits for Kids

The best frozen fruits for kids are the ones your kids will eat!

If you want to serve them straight from the freezer, I’d start with frozen wild blueberries. They are very small and they’re not too hard to chew without thawing at all. (Make sure your kiddo is old enough to handle chewing hard/crunchy foods.) Kids love them but they are messy, just a warning! I always serve with a spoon so they don’t stain their fingers too much.

I would also try to add variety to their diet with the frozen fruits you choose. For example, my kids don’t really like to eat fresh cherries, but they love smoothies with frozen cherries in them! 

There is not a nutritional reason to avoid frozen fruits. They are very similar to their fresh counterparts!

Get my favorite smoothie recipes using frozen fruit in my Smoothie Recipe eBook!

Is Canned Fruit Healthy for Kids?

Fruit cups are one of my favorite packaged convenience foods for kids. They’re cost effective, shelf-stable for a long time, and still contain good nutrition! You miss out on some of the fiber of the whole fruit because the skin is peeled off before packaging, but they still contain a lot of other goodness.

The sugar content can be higher in fruit cups, but you can minimize this by choosing a fruit cup that’s packed in 100% juice or water. You can also drain out the liquid it comes in before serving.

I would skip canned fruit or fruit cups that are packed in syrup. Fruit is usually sweet enough and tasty enough on its own that we don’t need it packed in sugary syrup to be delicious. 

Best Choices for Canned Fruit

Like I said, I like to choose the canned/cup fruit in 100% juice or water.

Some products labeled “no added sugar” or “sugar free” rely on artificial sweeteners to up the sweetness without adding cane sugar. 

In general, I don’t prefer artificial sweeteners for toddlers and younger kids, but if that is the only way that you can get your child to eat fruit, that’s okay. There are so many other benefits to fruit in the diet that I’d rather them get fruit in how they can!

Is Dried Fruit Healthy for Kids?

Dried fruit can be another good alternative to fresh fruit. And honestly, I rather my kids reach for dried fruit than candy!

Of course I like to try to have fresh fruit on hand when I can because the whole food form of a food is *usually* going to be its most nutritious form. But these other options, especially dried and freeze-dried (which we’ll get to next) are brilliant for snacking on-the-go!

Dried fruit is a great option for packing lunches or when you can’t temperature control fresh or frozen fruit. While it won’t be hydrating like fresh fruit, its upside is that it lasts longer! Higher water content of a food means faster degradation. And dried fruit has all the water sucked out, so it’s great for convenience and stocking the pantry.

Dried fruit has a higher concentration of sugar and some nutrients due to the drying process. This means that dried fruit will have more sugar per serving than fresh fruit, but it may also have a higher concentration of vitamins/minerals per serving, as well. 

A serving of dried apricots is a great source of iron, whereas its fresh counterpart is not. 

Best Choices for Dried Fruit

When you’re looking for dried fruit, choose ones that are unsweetened. Dried fruit is plenty sweet- remember, concentrated sugar content- so there’s no need to buy sweetened ones.

Our favorite unsweetened dried fruit:

• dried mango
• raisins (regular or golden)
• apricots
• dried apple rings
• dates

Some dried fruits (looking at you, prunes) are great to keep on hand when you need a little help in the constipation department, as well. If you’re struggling with constipation, check out these foods to help with constipation in toddlers.

To buy toddler and kid-friendly snacks I recommend, check out my favorite packaged snacks (you’ll find dried and freeze-dried fruits there too!). 

Dried fruit snacks (that are actually made with fruit)

The typical “fruit” snacks, like welch’s, motts, and even annie’s, don’t have much or any actual fruit in them.

Here are some that are actually fruit-based! Even though these aren’t quite the same as eating fresh fruits, they still can count toward your kid’s daily needs. I don’t worry about the sugar since they’re still getting some nutritional benefit, and it encourages fruit consumption!

Is Freeze-Dried Fruit Healthy?

Freeze-dried fruit, like all of these alternative fruit preparations, has some major upsides and a few potential downsides.

Since it’s freeze-dried, it doesn’t have the hydrating element of fresh fruit. Freeze-drying, like drying, also concentrates the sugar and can slightly lower the vitamin content. 

So is freeze-dried fruit healthy?

Yes! Freeze-dried fruit is still healthy. It still comes with tons of vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber! 

Freeze-dried fruits have a really fun, crunchy texture. They can be a way to get picky eaters into eating fruit and veggies if they aren’t into the real thing. I’ve rarely met a toddler who isn’t into “strawberry chips.”

Many kids who don’t enjoy fresh fruit, WILL give freeze-dried fruit a try. The texture can more appealing to them and it’s more predictable. Meaning, every freeze-dried blueberry will be crunchy and sweet. But fresh blueberries are sometimes mushy, sometimes sour, etc. Picky kids prefer the reliability of a crunchy snack.

Freeze-dried fruit can also be a good choice for younger eaters. Where dried fruit would be a choking hazard because of its sticky nature, freeze-dried fruits tend to easily dissolve in the mouth. 

If you’re only just starting solids and wondering what’s safe and what’s not, I have a couple great resources for you. Here is a post I wrote on where to start when you’re starting solids, and a free, comprehensive Simply Solids Guide as well! 

Best Choices for Freeze-Dried Fruit

It’s up to you which freeze-dried fruit you opt for! My kids and I love strawberries the most. But apples (like these) are a close second. I also think this variety pack is really fun if you want to try a bunch of different fruits in freeze-dried form!

Also, if you’re looking for a veggie option, my favorite are these freeze-dried beet chips.  

How to serve freeze-dried fruit

Freeze-dried fruit is low in calories. So it won’t be a filling snack on its own. Here’s how I’d suggest serving it:

1. As an alternative to puffs for a baby/toddler while they’re (impatiently) waiting for their meal
2. Mixed with dry cereal in a homemade trail mix
3. As a side in a packed lunch
4. In a snack box along with some other more filling options
5. Travel-friendly snack item
6. Finely crushed, to add a little texture to purees for baby
7. Crushed and stirred into yogurt for a little flavor and nutrition
8. Fruit flavor for a dessert, like these raspberry vanilla fudge bites!

You can even use freeze-dried fruit as a natural food coloring!

This is one of my favorite ways to add color for little ones, without having to use artificial dye. You crush the freeze-dried fruit in a high-power blender or coffee grinder, and then stir 1 tablespoon at a time into whatever you want to add color to.

• Blue/purple: freeze-dried blueberries
• Pink: freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries
• Yellow: freeze-dried mango or pineapple

Added Sugar vs. Total Sugar

When you look at the nutrition facts on dried fruit, freeze-dried fruit, etc. you’ll notice the sugar section.

Added sugar refers to whatever amount of sugar they add to the product during processing. This is the kind we like to see lower amounts of, since it doesn’t contribute much nutritional value. (This includes things like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, etc. They are all added sugars.)

Total sugar is the sum of added sugar and the naturally occurring sugar in the product. When buying dried fruit, you should see 0g added sugar for unsweetened ones.

I don’t really worry about the number I see for total sugar when it’s all coming from natural sources (aka fruit). I don’t even look at it when I’m buying dried or freeze-dried fruit. And you don’t need to worry about it either!

Just know you are doing a good job when your kid is eating fruit, whatever its form.

See Related: How much sugar is okay for toddlers?

My Go-To Grocery Picks for Fruit

Here is my personal list of what you will always find at my house that isn’t fresh!

• frozen blueberries
• frozen mixed berries
• frozen mango
• fresh bananas (that I cut up and freeze)
• Wyman’s frozen fruit cups
• raisins
• unsweetened dried mango
• dates
• freeze dried strawberries
• peach and pear fruit cups packed in 100% juice
• bare apple chips (these are best for older kids because they can be sharp!)

Fruit in Any Form Can Be Nutritious

Even though they look and taste different, many of these fruit preparations have very similar nutrient profiles- especially fresh and frozen. And ALL of these fruit preparations have nutritional benefits.

My goal is usually to try to keep fresh fruit and veggies on hand towards the beginning of the week after my Sunday grocery stock-up. 

Realistically towards the end of the week, I’m reaching for alternatives like dried and freeze-dried to still give my kids the fiber and nutritional benefits of fruit and vegetables.  

It’s best to serve these different types of fruit in a rotation. We don’t always want to serve dried fruit, but we can’t always have fresh fruit on hand. It’s a give and take! 

I see them all as viable options to make meal and snack times work for your family, your budget, and your grocery shopping schedule. 

If you want more help simplifying meal and snack times for your family, check out my Meal and Snack Survival Guide. It’s got loads of meal recipes, snack ideas, and product reviews to take the guesswork out of feeding your family!