This Mom Likes these Crackers!

Kids love crackers and parents like to give them, because they are an easy snack to have on-the-go.

Unfortunately today most crackers are made of refined flour and are not very healthy.  I don’t often go to Loblaws, but I do make a special trip for the PC Ancient Grains Crackers.  These are good for kids one-year or older.

I feel comfortable recommending these crackers after looking at the ingredients…

Stone ground whole wheat flour, enriched wheat flour, ancient grain blend (quinoa flour, spelt flour, millet flour, kamut flour), sunflower oil and/or canola oil (contains ascorbic acid), glucose, malt extract, wheat germ, natural flavour (contains autolyzed yeast extract, onion powder, modified corn starch), salt, baking soda, honey, soy lecithin, rosemary extract, protease.

The trick when reading labels for crackers is to look at the ingredient list & see what is the first ingredient. Ingredients are listed by greatest amount to least amount.  If the first ingredient is wheat, enriched wheat, stone ground flour, or flour it is essentially white flour with a better name.

You need to always look for that special adjective: ‘WHOLE‘.  Whole Wheat, Whole Spelt, Brown Rice, Whole Rye.  This means what it says… that the whole wheat (as in all of it) is being used. When manufacturers make crackers or bread and they do not use the whole grain, they have removed all of the nutrition from the grain, leaving only the clean shiny white grain.  When they use enriched flour it means that they took out all of the nutrients and put a few back in.

You may notice that with these crackers the second ingredient is enriched flour, and there may be other ingredients I don’t love; however when it comes to the world of crackers, unless you want to make them yourself, beggars can’t be choosers.  I have found it is nearly impossible to find a whole grain cracker that is not rock hard.  I love those  wholesome hard rye crackers myself, but for young kids they are too hard on their new gums and teeth.  Even the crackers from that ‘healthy’ brand Kashi are not as good as these because they lack whole grains.

Crackers are a necessity in any parent’s purse or bag, and these are the best ones I have been able to find.  If you have any others you would like to suggest, send me a note or comment!

For detailed nutritional information on these crackers, go here.