| Product | Nutrition | Price | Pitch | ||
| Crackers | Bad | Cheese Nips | Calories: 150 for 29 crackers; Fat: 6 grams (1.5 of saturated fat); Sodium: 340 mgs. | $2.59 | They’re crunchy, they’re salty, they’re bright orange. And high in fat and salt. |
| Good | Reduced fat Triscuits | Calories: 120 for seven crackers; Fat: 3 grams (no saturated or trans fats); Sodium: 160 mgs. | $2.99 for 8.5 ounces | They’re whole grain, they’re low in fat, they’re crunchy. And seven crackers get you three grams of fiber. | |
| Drinks | Bad | CapriSun Strawberry | Calories: 90; Fat: 0; Sodium: 15 mgs | $2.99 for 10 | It’s sweet. It’s wet. Everybody drinks it. It’s high in sugar. |
| Good | Kool-Aid Jammers Blue Raspberry | Calories: 90; Fat: 0; Sodium: 20 mgs | $2.99 for 10 | Sugar-free (but artificially sweetened), and it’s got 100 percent the RDA for vitamin C. | |
| Crunchy Munchies | Bad | Snyders of Hanover white corn tortilla chips | Calories: 140 calories for one ounce; Fat: 4.5 grams; Sodium: 110 mgs. | $1.99 for 13.5 ounces | They’re crunchy, they’re salty and they go great with salsa. And they’re high in fat and salt. |
| Good | Frito Lay Munchies Kids Mix | Calories: 130 per ounce; Fat: 4.5 grams (including 1 gram of saturated fat); Sodium: 240 mgs. | $1.99 | The mix includes pretzels, Cheetos, Doritos and Cap’n Crunch cereal, so in addition to the crunch, kids also get vitamins and a gram of fiber per serving. | |
| Fruity Flavor | Bad | Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot Green Apple Wave | Calories: 80 per 21-gram roll; Fat: 1.5 grams; Sodium: 50 mgs. | $2.79 for 6 | It’s green. It’s sweet. It’s mildly disgusting. And it stretches. And it’s too high in sugar and not very filling. |
| Good | Dole mixed fruit (peaches, pears and pineapple) in light syrup | Calories: 80 per 113-gram container; Fat: 0; Sodium: 10 mgs | $2.39 for four containers | No fat, a gram of fiber, 40 percent of the RDA for vitamin C and it’s sweet. | |
| Baked Goodies | Bad | Hostess Twinkies | Calories: 150 calories for one cake; Fat: 5 grams (including 2 grams saturated fat); Sodium: 200 mgs. | $3.49 for 10 | Golden sponge cake and whatever allows the creamy filling to survive a nuclear war. And they taste good. But don’t you want your kids to eat real food? |
| Good | Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Yogurt Bars strawberry | Calories: 140 per bar; Fat: 3 grams (including half a gram of saturated fat); Sodium: 110 mgs. | $3.39 for eight bars | A gram of fiber plus several vitamins and yummy yogurt filling. | |
| Cookies | Bad | Nabisco’s Oreos | Calories: 160 for three cookies; Fat: 7 grams (including 1.5 grams saturated fat); Sodium: 180 mgs. | $3.89 for 18 ounces | Chocolate cookies, creamy filling and fat: What’s not to like? Except the fat, calories and salt. |
| Good | Kroger fig bars | Calories: 130 for two cookies; Fat: 2.5 grams; Sodium: 135 mgs. | $2.39 for 16 ounces | They’re chewy, sweet and two cookies have two grams of fiber. | |