You know when you were little, and you were at school, and you would get real envious of someone else's lunch? You remember that right? Maybe they had a Cheestring, or a Dairylea Lunchable, or a Muller Corner yoghurt. But you remember that yeah? Being envious of someone elses lunch.
Yeah well, by 16/17 you should probably have grown out of it.
Yeah well. You see, one of my friends is not fruits biggest fan. She likes melon, she likes apples, she likes dried mango. And it pretty much ends there. So for the time I ate lunch with her at college, her lunch typically consisted of a cheese baguette sandwhich, (or a baguette roll and she would buy soup at college), an apple or some chopped up melon, and a Bear Nibbles yoyo.
I was jealous. Oh yeah. Oh well. But at an average cost of 70p, nah, just nah. I couldn't justify a snack food that cost 70p. That was a lot. I saw them in Holland and Barretts, but I couldn't. I just couldn't. At the time, it just seemed way to much to spend on anything.
Then one day (wowee, this is turning into a real little story, isn't it?) me and Dad went on a open day at the University of Nottingam. Which has the best canteen that I have ever been in. A hummus and roasted vegetable sandwhich people. I mean, come on. It is so rare to find an option that is not a cheese sandwich (that much cheese makes me feel yucky) or an egg mayo sandwhich (again with the yucky). But at this place I had OPTIONS. I know. I still haven't got over the shock! But when we were queuing in line they had their snacks out in glass jars. Did I want a cookie? No, but Daddy, can I please have a Yoyo? (It was a hard up decision between the Yoyos and the Nakd bars.) And yes, we did have to route through the jar to get to the apple one at the bottom.
This was around the time that Bear's yoyos started growing. Subway started to include them in their kids lunch deal, college now sell them (for 40p!) and they have even been spotted in Wilkinsons. They're not so much some sort of weird-y food relegated to the health food shops, they're becoming mainstream. Yeah, I know.
When you've got cancer and are undergoing chemo, sometimes you don't feel like eating. And when you do feel like eating, you are perfectly entitled to eat what you want (within reason and unless its a food that is likely to give you an infection.) And if that's Bear yoyos- 70p doesn't seem that much anymore. And actually, they're 55p for an individual yoyo in Sainsburys, of £2.30 for 5. So we have got through quite a few in the last year.
And we're still getting through them fairly quickly.
And when I say we, I mean I.
And when I say we, I mean I.
BEAR Nibbles Pure Fruit YoYos are all natural rolls of baked fruit that come in six flavors- Apple, Blackcurrant, Mango, Pineapple, Raspberry and Strawberry. Please note that the picture shows a blueberry YoYo instead of a blackcurrant one. It's an old photo- the blueberry YoYo has since gone into hibernation, to be replaced by the blackcurrant one. Each packet contains two rolls, which is a bonus as you can eat one, or two. I usually go for two, but when I do just eat one at a time, it's not like I've eaten half of a cereal bar. It's as simple as I've just had one, and I've got another saved for another time. I do believe this would be a bonus if you have a young child - they aren't going to be two much for a small tummy!
Plus, one roll is one of your five a day!!! Wahoo. It's an easy and convinient way to get one of your five. Unfortunatly, you can't count the same thing twice, and so two rolls still only count as one. (Unless your really desperate).
The ingredient list is pretty good. The main fruit (i.e. mango in the mango one, pineapple in the pineapple one) is mixed with apple and pear, and some veg extract for colour. The percentage content of the ingredients is not given as the mixes vary seasonally. But those are it. Not even a preservative (natural or otherwise) - apparently they are naturally shelf stable. I can pronounce every single ingredient.
They're suitable for vegans, and seem to be suitable for people with almost all of the common allergens (gluten, soy etc) because there is no mention that they contain any of these ingredients - and they aren't contained in the ingredients. (Don't hold me to that - I don't know everything). There line on nuts is "no nuts, but packed in a cave were nuts and seeds are kept". I guess it just depends on how allergic an individual is. But overall - I don't see how many people are going to miss out on YoYos.
Nutritionally, the things to look out for in 'snack foods' is sugar, fat and salt. These are winners on all three, the salt and saturated fat in a (single) YoYo is 0g. The total fat reaches a whopping 0.02g. Yeah, I know, it's massive. The sugar ranges from 4.8-4.9 grams per YoYo, and even for 2, thats less than 10g (11% of your GDA for sugar. Considering that 1 large apple is 23g of sugar, and 1 large banana is 17g, that really isn't bad. (The internet didn't seem to want to tell me the nutritional value of normal sized pieces of fruit.)
Due to the naturalness of the product, sometimes the colors are natural. I know. Revolutionary. They can be a bit dark. And the pineapple one can be a bit green. What I'm saying is the blueberry one is (was) not bright blue, it is (was) the color baked blueberry's mixed with apples go. And the mango one is not 'kia-ora' orange. Maybe this means that they're not 'kid-friendly' like some other 'fruit' snacks. Or is it kid friendly to teach them that artificial colors are good - and the natural color is bad? (Okay, they use veg extract to improve/intensify the color. But on the scale of coloring's they could of used, it hardly counts. Think E numbers. And crushed beetles).
 |
| Not green, but still not pineapple yellow |
I also really like the packaging. It may not be recyclable, but I like the fact that the outside is paper, (I think). And when you buy a multipack, it comes in a completely (not laminated) cardboard 'lunch box', with a handle. I know, it's cool. It has a handle. I like the design on the front, it's bold and interesting, without being overly kiddy. I'm not going to worry about looking like a baby if I take one to college. I mean, the packaging is so cool, I didn't mind using a 'lunchbox' as my 'party bags' at my birthday party.
You know, I've tried really hard to get you to understand that YoYo's are good. Like super good. But if that's not good, they come with cards for you to collect. And in my mind, you're never to old to collect. To mature, maybe. To old, never. At the minute, if you send ten 'bear'codes (the bar codes on the back of the packet) they send you a world map and stickers so you can keep track of which cards you've got. And the cards are interesting, fun and/but not overly gimmicky. Hence an 18 year old is interested in collecting them.
Speaking of cards- anyone want a South Africa? or a Denmark? or a Senegal? I'm up for swap-sys.
And on that vein- does anyone want spare 'bear'codes. I seem to have amassed quite a few that aren't being used.
And yes, they are kind of expensive. (40p - 70p). But they are worth every penny. And I have seen them fairly often on offer - they've been included in Holland and Barrett's penny sale, Wilko's had them on 3 for a £1, and Sainsbury's usually has either the singles or multipacks (5 pack or 9 pack) on some sort of offer. And yes, I was excited to get one from Father Christmas. If it costs more to eat food that I like, instead of food that I tolerate, well, oh well, (for now anyway), but that doesn't mean that I don't make good of any offer that I happen to see. (My Mom worries that I eat the 'red' ones because they're what come in the multipacks, but I don't mind which ones I have - although my favorite is the apple ones).
So in conclusion, YoYo's are yummy scrummy (even the mango ones are tolerable, and I really don't like mango), practically good for you, fun, convenient (unlike bananas, they don't bruise) and if you can afford it, worth every penny.
And I'm serious about swap-sys people!
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