question about juice

[kathytx]

hello! I'm sorry if this has been answered already!
Where do you purchase your 100% juice? Do you buy the juice base and make it, or just buy already made? Which is cheaper? Thanks so much! Kathy

[Cat Herder]

I no longer serve juice based on best practices, but when I did we were only allowed to buy it whole, no mixes, no frozen concentrates. I generally got mine in the juice aisle of my local grocery store.

[sharlan]

I no longer serve juice based on best practices, but when I did we were only allowed to buy it whole, no mixes, no frozen concentrates. I generally got mine in the juice aisle of my local grocery store.

This is what I did also.

I only buy oj now. The kids MIGHT get 1/2 cup a week, but generally none. I keep water cups on the counter and that's what they drink.

[LysesKids]

hello! I'm sorry if this has been answered already!
Where do you purchase your 100% juice? Do you buy the juice base and make it, or just buy already made? Which is cheaper? Thanks so much! Kathy

I never serve juice, just water and the kids eat whole fruit. Heck I don't even buy it for myself on weekends when it's just me, myself & I

[CityGarden]

If you opt to serve something other than water (or milk) I would have them make it.

So you would buy oranges they would make orange juice, same thing with lemons, carrots, etc.

[Gemma]

I quit serving juice too, the kids get way too much at home as it is. I serve milk or water and fruit instead.

[kathytx]

juice

thanks for the response! We only serve it at pm snack as part of one of the required items. I was just wondering is it cheaper to make it verse already made. I've only found one place to get the 100 % juice base from and i think it comes out to 10 cents a serving, but the other factors i'm concerned about is the labor part, someone having to make it label it and so on, how you figure that into it!
Thank so much!
Kathy

[ColorfulSunburst]

I buy organic juices in Costco.
Kids get 1/6 of a cup every breakfast. I do not add water in it. I also very often remind them, that juices contain a lot of sugar and because of that we do not drink it much.
My point: kids should know real test of different food, should know that they may eat EVERYTHING (even fast food), but they may not eat any food (even healthy food) in unhealthy big amount.

[Cat Herder]

Wanted to make sure OP (and passers-by) knew best practices is a "thing" not a judgement or a brag. Something I had to do to earn points to stay in business, locally. :::::: In re-reading this, I was not sure that came through. http://www.naeyc.org/files/academy/f...tPractices.pdf

OP, the big center I worked for used those non-refrigerated juice concentrates that come in gallon sized jugs. They swore by them for price savings. The home-made pop-cycles from it were a nice bonus in the summer. Kiwi-strawberry was the hands down favorite. This was back in the '90's so not sure it is still available?

[LysesKids]

Wanted to make sure OP (and passers-by) knew best practices is a "thing" not a judgement or a brag. Something I had to do to earn points to stay in business, locally. :::::: In re-reading this, I was not sure that came through. http://www.naeyc.org/files/academy/f...tPractices.pdf

OP, the big center I worked for used those non-refrigerated juice concentrates that come in gallon sized jugs. They swore by them for price savings. The home-made pop-cycles from it were a nice bonus in the summer. Kiwi-strawberry was the hands down favorite. This was back in the '90's so not sure it is still available?

I knew about best practice ... my families actually prefer whole fruits & water and are glad I'm offering it when so many providers don't

[Cat Herder]

I knew about best practice ... my families actually prefer whole fruits & water and are glad I'm offering it when so many providers don't

Oh, no doubt. I was sold on "no juice served" pretty quick once I noticed how dramatically behavior issues after snack times declined.

At first, I was on team "let them be kids, let them eat sweets while they can". I generally gave one fruit/one veggie with snacks, anyway, so it felt like an omission of a component. I felt guilty serving "just" water, like it was the "cheap" way out, not the healthier choice. Just a odd "culture thing", I guess. :::confused:

[LysesKids]

Oh, no doubt. I was sold on "no juice served" pretty quick once I noticed how dramatically behavior issues after snack times declined.

At first, I was on team "let them be kids, let them eat sweets while they can". I generally gave one fruit/one veggie with snacks, anyway, so it felt like an omission of a component. I felt guilty serving "just" water, like it was the "cheap" way out, not the healthier choice. Just a odd "culture thing", I guess. :::confused:

I totally get it - I was raised on water because of my background (European); half the places overseas don't even do sweets much less traditional snack and juice? Yeah not a biggie because it wasn't traditional for me either. I have had many different overseas families come thru my daycare & it's because of my Ethnic cooking & non traditional snacks that wins them over .

[Ariana]

If I offer juice (which is a rare treat) it is from an actual apple popped in my juicer . I make juice with apples, pineapples, cucumbers, carrots, beets etc. The kids love it, especially frozen in the summer time!

[Pestle]

I know! We sometimes squeeze oranges as an activity, but I don't want the expense or extra sugars of serving juice with meals. Am I grabbing the right info from the food program?

"Pasteurized full-strength juice may only be used to meet the vegetable or fruit requirement at one meal, including snack, per day." So it must be 100% juice, reconstituted to the correct strength, and you can only do it once a day. I'd rather not do it at all.

[Play Care]

I know! We sometimes squeeze oranges as an activity, but I don't want the expense or extra sugars of serving juice with meals. Am I grabbing the right info from the food program?

"Pasteurized full-strength juice may only be used to meet the vegetable or fruit requirement at one meal, including snack, per day." So it must be 100% juice, reconstituted to the correct strength, and you can only do it once a day. I'd rather not do it at all.

This is what mine says as well. I do not serve juice in my program. When I first started out I had kids who would only drink juice. I bought colorful water bottles for each child and kept them full with water. I let them carry them around and sip when they wanted. This helped break the juice habit. Even only serving once a day adds up. Water is free, .