This Nostalgic Childhood Lunch Favorite Just Got a Fresh Makeover

It’s the most enviable lunch in the school cafeteria.

Ralf-Finn Hestoft /Getty Images

If you’re an adult that loves nothing more than a good charcuterie board or creating a snacky mishmash of goodies for dinner (à la the internet rebrand of the snack plate, “girl dinner”), there’s a solid chance you were once a kid that loved Lunchables.

Lunchables has been around for over thirty years, and originally the brand started as a way to sell more bologna. In the years since, the brand has experimented with breakfast options, substituted yogurt for the piece of candy included in some boxes, and added more Lunchable options beyond the classic bologna, cheese, and crackers combo. Now, the brand is introducing fresh fruit to the mix.

Kraft Heinz/Allrecipes

Kraft Heinz, the company that owns the Lunchables brand, announced a partnership with Fresh Del Monte offering a new product line that includes fresh fruit, such as pineapple, clementines, grapes, and apples. The Lunchables with Fresh Fruit will be paired with two of the brand's most popular products: Turkey Cracker Stackers and Ham Cracker Stackers. Starting this month, the new product line can be found in the produce section of certain grocery stores in the South-Central region of the United States. It’s been reported that the brand aims to expand to a national rollout in 2024.

In a press release from Kraft Heinz, the company claims the new product was produced due to a large increase in social media searches looking for “Lunchables with fruits and vegetables.” Naor Deniele, the director of marketing for Lunchables said, “At Kraft Heinz, we are transforming through innovation by making bigger bets to fuel growth and create new products for our fans...Lunchables with Fresh Fruit is a ripe example of how we are quickly moving to introduce new offerings rooted in real consumer needs.”

This is not the first time the brand has dabbled with fresh fruits and vegetables. In the brand’s early days, it tried including apple slices and carrots, but that was halted due to difficulties with shipping and storing produce. The brand tried again in 2011 with Lunchables With Fruit, which featured fruit cups as opposed to fresh fruit.

The new product is packaged in a way that preserves both the fruit as well as the meat, cheese, and crackers. And of course, given that the product contains fresh fruit, it has a shorter shelf life than its fruitless counterparts. The new product will also be priced about $1 to $2 higher than other Lunchables products.

In the same press release mentioned above, Melissa Mackay, the vice president of marketing for Fresh Del Monte, said, “By bringing together the freshness and quality that Fresh Del Monte fruits are known for with the convenience and fun of Lunchables, we have a real opportunity to change kids’ perspectives around fruits, ideally helping to make fruit consumption second nature to younger generations.”