Does your child’s school participate in Box Tops for Education? It’s a program designed to earn money for schools. It’s billed as an easy way to contribute to your child’s school just by bringing in the box tops to products you already feed your family. But, are the participating products really something we should be encouraging our children to eat? Processed foods can be loaded with ingredients that you never want to feed your children. Research has shown that junk food can not only be addictive, it can also prevent kids from trying new foods. An even pickier eater is certainly not something parents want to deal with. Whole foods are always the best option, but can you still participate in the box tops program and avoid things like persistent pesticides, food dyes, and GMOs?
I decided to take a closer look at box top products and separate the good from the bad. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice the health of your children for funding their education. I was pleased to see that better brands have been added to list, so you do have options.
Cereal
The majority of this list is going to be filled with sugar, as most cereals are, but there are a few organic and GMO free options. Scanning through the ingredient lists of the cereals below there was plenty to be concerned about. High sugar content, hydrogenated oils, and additives can all be found. In fact, some of these cereals made our list of the Top 10 Toxic Kids Cereals to Avoid At All Costs. Stick with the best choices to avoid GMOs, and the organic options to avoid artificial ingredients and pesticides as well.
Best Choices:
Cascadian Farm™ Organic
Cascadian Farm™ Protein Granola Organic
Cheerios™ (Original) GMO Free
Avoid:
Basic 4™
Chex™
Cinnamon Toast Crunch™
Cocoa Puffs™
Cookie Crisp™
Fiber One™
French Toast Crunch™
Gluten Free Chex™ Oatmeal
Golden Grahams™
Honey Nut Clusters™
Kix™
Lucky Charms™
Nature Valley™ Protein Crunchy Granola
Oatmeal Crisp™
Raisin Nut Bran
Reese’s Puffs®
Total™
Trix™
Wheaties™
Frozen Foods
There were only a few frozen food choices on the school box tops list. It was easy to spot the better options here. Choosing Annie’s variety of frozen products will leave your kid’s plate free from GMOs, which contain the likely cancer causing glyphosate. You also won’t find things like growth hormones or synthetic preservatives or additives that should be avoided.
Best Choice:
Annie’s® Frozen Snacks GMO Free, No Artificial Ingredients, No Synthetic Colors or Preservatives, No Growth Hormones, No Persistent Pesticides
Avoid:
Pillsbury™ Breakfast
Totino’s™ Party Pizza® & Pizza Rolls® Snacks