Simply Nature Apple Cinnamon Squeezable Fruit Blend Pouches (Aldi)

Please pardon the obnoxious light glare.

Is there a better combination than apple and cinnamon? No need to think about that, because the answer is “no”: it’s the perfect combination of sweet, juicy, maybe a little tart, and then back to sweet again. And that's why my eyes lit up when I saw Aldi was selling a multi-pack of apple cinnamon pouches, under their Simply Nature moniker. I actually purchased these for our son, but after they fell by the wayside and were still sitting in our pantry after a couple of months, I decided to try one for myself.

Yep, tastes just as one would expect this to taste like: if baked apples were ground up into a pouch. There’s the taste of apples in the forefront, followed up immediately by a nice kick of cinnamon to bring it all home—to me, this flavor is absolutely addicting, and a textbook example of what this combination should taste like when well-executed.

Adding to the positives is the value: a four-pack of these will run you around $1.89, if memory serves me right, which would put these somewhere around $.47 per pouch...and that's not at all a bad price. These are also pretty darn healthy, with only 60 calories, 5mg of sodium, and 11g of sugar per single-serve pouch...and if a great-tasting, healthy snack isn't something you can feel good about giving your kids, then I don't know what is!

They certainly aren't perfect, though: they're as small as they look, and for this reason are very anti-climactic to give to a child as a snack. Our son is only three years old, and he seems to suck them down the moment I get the lid off; considering they aren't anywhere near filling, he's asking for another one, or something else, immediately thereafter. These might work as a “side” or beverage to another snack or meal, but don't really amount to much on their own.

Despite those relatively minor “flaws”, the flavor is very good, and while the value proposition isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be thanks to the small pouches, it’s still a great snack to have on hand for whatever reason.

Overall: 7/10. The value proposition could be stronger (although you get four for under $2, these pouches are teeny-tiny and can be drained by a three-year-old in under 30 seconds), but these are a pretty healthy, quick snack for parents and kids on the go. They taste great, with a flavor reminiscent of ground-up baked apples in pouch form, but aren't too overly sweet. I won't get them all the time—mainly because our son has other snacks he prefers—but for a good ol' fashioned change of pace, these will fit the bill quite well.