Lunchbox Protein Without Refined Sugar

What "no refined sugar" means, and what it doesn't

No refined sugar means nobody poured in white sugar or corn syrup to make a snack taste like candy. It doesn't mean the sugar is gone. Coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup and fruit juice concentrate are all still sugar.

On the Nutrition Facts panel they all land on the same line, Added Sugars, which counts sugar that was put in during making, syrups and honey included. That's the line I'd read first.

If you're following the new federal Dietary Guidelines closely, they say no amount of added sugar is recommended for children five to ten. Coconut sugar counts as added sugar there too. I'd rather you hear that from me than find it out later.

Proteins that ride in a lunchbox without a cold pack

These hold up in a backpack all morning. The plain versions usually carry little or no added sugar. The flavored ones often carry more, so flip the package.

• Beef sticks. Cured, so they keep without cold. Check the Added Sugars line, because some are surprisingly sweet.
• Nuts and seeds. Plain or salted, not honey-roasted. Plenty of schools don't allow nuts, so pumpkin and sunflower seeds are the usual swap.
• Hard cheese. USDA lists hard cheese among the foods that don't need refrigeration. Soft cheese is a different story.
• Roasted chickpeas. Crunchy, and easy to make at home where you control the salt.
• Tuna or chicken in a pouch. Shelf-stable until it's opened. Better for a bold eater than a careful one.

The ones that need a cold pack

Eggs, yogurt, deli meat and soft cheese are good protein, but they're perishable. USDA's advice is that perishable food shouldn't sit out more than two hours, and a lunch with any of it belongs in an insulated bag with two cold sources. A string cheese packed at seven in the morning has been in a warm backpack for hours by lunch. (Here's how it stacks up against a beef stick.)

How I read a lunchbox label

You don't need a chart. Turn the package over and look at three things.

1. The first ingredient. Ingredients are listed by weight, most first. If it's sold as protein and the first word isn't a protein, put it back.
2. The Added Sugars line. The number tells you how much was put in.
3. The sweetener's name. Sugar goes by a lot of names on an ingredient list: cane sugar, honey, agave, rice syrup, corn syrup, molasses, fruit juice concentrate, and plenty of words ending in "-ose" (the Dietary Guidelines list them). The word "refined" won't be printed there. The name tells you what kind it is.

I wrote more about this in how to read a snack label in ten seconds.

What's in mine, plainly

Seven ingredients: 100% grass-fed beef, water, coconut sugar, sea salt, citric acid, spices and celery juice powder, in a beef collagen casing. There's no oil in the recipe. Here's why each one is in there.

Two grams of coconut sugar in a full-size Classic. The Minis are the same recipe. Coconut sugar is on their label too; there's just so little per stick that the panel rounds to 0g. No refined sugar in either, and we won't print "sugar-free" on a box, because coconut sugar is still sugar.

The honest weak spot is salt, same as any cured meat: 730mg in a Classic and 300mg in a Mini. The Mini has less per stick because it's a smaller stick; per ounce they're about the same.

Which box I'd buy for a lunchbox family

The Minis are the lunchbox stick: 0.65 ounces, sized for small hands and a small appetite at noon. The Classic is the full-size 1.5-ounce stick for teenagers, grown-ups and the snack drawer.

If you're packing for a mix of ages, start with the Family Bundle: twenty Minis for the lunchboxes and ten Classics for everybody else. That's the box I'd send to my own grandkids' house.

Nothing I wouldn't feed my own grandkids.