For a lower-fat dried-fruit snack before exercise, start by comparing plain fruit products on fat per 100g, carbohydrate per serving and ingredients rather than looking only for a ‘reduced fat’ claim. A fruit-and-nut mix is a different choice when you want nuts as part of the snack; University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advises that a snack eaten 60–90 minutes before exercise should include carbohydrate, protein and minimal fat, so dried fruit alone does not provide that full combination.
If you eat before a session, the time available matters as well as the fruit you choose. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advises including carbohydrate, protein and minimal fat in a snack eaten 60–90 minutes before exercise; check how the dried fruit fits alongside anything else you plan to eat.
If lower fat is your main requirement, compare the declared fat per 100g rather than relying on a claim on the front of the pack. Plain prunes and fruit-and-nut mixes can have very different figures, as the Sunsweet and Whitworths examples below show.
Fruit names alone do not tell you everything in a pack. Check the current ingredient and allergen information for additions such as sulphites or nuts, particularly when switching between plain fruit and a fruit-and-nut mix.
Start with when you will eat, then compare the serving and ingredient information on the packs you are considering.
| Priority | What to check | Your needs |
|---|---|---|
| Timing and carbohydrate | Check carbohydrate per labelled serving and how soon you plan to exercise. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advises carbohydrate, protein and minimal fat for snacks eaten 60–90 minutes beforehand. | I’m eating before a session and want to know how much carbohydrate my portion provides. If this is my whole snack, I also need to consider its other components. |
| Fat content | Compare fat per 100g and per serving on the same basis. Tesco’s Sunsweet Stoned Prunes listing gives 0g fat per 100g; its Whitworths Wondermix fruit-and-nut listing gives 7.9g per 30g serving. | Lower fat matters more to me than including nuts, so I’ll compare plain-fruit products before considering a fruit-and-nut mix. |
| Ingredients and allergens | Read the full ingredient and allergen panels. Marks & Spencer lists sulphur dioxide in its Soft Peach and Nectarine; Tesco lists cashews, pecans and pistachios in Whitworths Wondermix. | I need to know whether the pack contains ingredients I avoid, rather than assuming every dried-fruit product contains only fruit. |
| Portion size | Use the serving information instead of the pack size as your measure. Tesco lists 23.2g carbohydrate per 30g serving of its Dried Mixed Fruit; the Eatwell Guide uses 30g as a dried-fruit portion reference and advises keeping dried fruit to mealtimes. | With a larger bag, I’d rather decide what amount I’m having before opening it. I can then compare that portion with the nutrition panel. |
A product does not need ‘reduced fat’ wording to show a small fat value on its nutrition panel. Tesco lists Sunsweet Stoned Prunes at 0g fat per 100g.
Compare products using fat per 100g, then check the amount you would actually eat.
The nuts change what you are comparing: Tesco lists 7.9g fat per 30g serving of Whitworths Wondermix, while its Sunsweet prunes listing gives 0g per 100g.
If minimising fat is the deciding factor, check plain dried fruit first. Choose a mix for its nuts only if that is what you want in the snack.
Dried-fruit products can differ in their additional ingredients. Marks & Spencer lists sulphur dioxide in Soft Peach and Nectarine, while its Mixed Dried Fruit lists sunflower oil.
Read the current ingredient and allergen panels, particularly if you need to identify sulphites or nuts.
A pack can contain several portions. Tesco gives nutrition for a 30g serving of Dried Mixed Fruit as well as per 100g, and the Eatwell Guide uses 30g as a dried-fruit portion reference.
Decide how much you intend to eat, then use the label to work out what that portion provides.
These examples show why the particular product and its label matter more than the brand name alone.
Tesco’s listing for Sunsweet Stoned Prunes provides a plain-fruit comparison for shoppers checking fat content.
Marks & Spencer’s Mixed Dried Fruit and Collection Soft Peach and Nectarine illustrate two different dried-fruit ingredient lists.
Tesco Dried Mixed Fruit offers both per-100g and per-serving nutrition figures for comparison.
Whitworths Wondermix Fruit and Nut is a useful contrast when deciding whether to include nuts in a dried-fruit snack.
These Joybuy listings are for prunes, the plain-fruit route discussed above. Compare the current nutrition and ingredient panels before choosing a portion for your pre-exercise plans.
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These pitted prunes are an option if you want to compare plain dried fruit rather than a fruit-and-nut mix. Check the pack’s fat and carbohydrate values per serving, as well as its ingredients; ‘Prebiotic’ is part of the product name, not a reason to assume a particular effect.
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This 200g prune pack is another plain-fruit option to assess by its labelled serving. If you need pitted fruit, confirm that detail on the current pack before buying.
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The 500g pack contains pitted prunes. If you plan to eat from it over several occasions, choose a serving independently of the pack size and check its nutrition information for that amount.
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These pitted prunes come in a 430g pack. For a pre-exercise snack, compare the current fat and carbohydrate declarations for the portion you intend to eat rather than using the pack size as a serving.
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This 190g prune product belongs in the plain-fruit comparison, not the Whitworths fruit-and-nut mix comparison. Check this product’s own nutrition, ingredients and allergen information: figures for another Whitworths product do not describe these prunes.
No. Compare the fat declaration and ingredients on the products themselves. Tesco lists Sunsweet Stoned Prunes at 0g fat per 100g, showing why a plain-fruit product is worth checking even when you are not shopping by a front-of-pack claim.
Dried fruit can provide carbohydrate, but it does not by itself cover every part of the snack described by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Its guidance for 60–90 minutes before exercise includes carbohydrate, protein and minimal fat, so consider what else you will eat and the timing of your session.
Compare it with plain fruit first. Tesco lists 7.9g fat per 30g serving of Whitworths Wondermix Fruit and Nut, while its Sunsweet Stoned Prunes listing gives 0g per 100g. The products have different serving bases and ingredients; choose the mix if you want nuts, not on the assumption that it matches plain fruit for fat content.
Check the current ingredients and allergen information. The Food Standards Agency identifies sulphur dioxide and sulphites as ingredients used in some dried fruit, and Marks & Spencer lists sulphur dioxide in its Collection Soft Peach and Nectarine.
The Eatwell Guide uses 30g as a dried-fruit portion reference and advises keeping dried fruit to mealtimes. Use the serving size on each product’s current label to compare its nutrition, then decide what amount fits with the rest of your food and exercise plans.