McDonald's introduce healthy addition to the Happy Meal menu – but not for long

McDonald's introduce cucumber sticks
(Image credit: Robert Alexander)

McDonald’s are introducing a new healthy snack to the Happy Meal menu for a limited summer period.

The fast food chain has decided to add crunchy and cool cucumber sticks to the Happy Meal menu from tomorrow (15th May).

The cucumber sticks will only be available until July, as McDonald's trailing them to see if they'll be more popular that the carrot sticks currently on offer.

New research reveals cucumber is one of the easiest ways to get children to increase their fruit and vegetable intake.

Almost half of parents have named cucumber as the most popular salad ingredient to include when trying to get their kids to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

McDonald's introduce cucumber sticks

Credit: McDonald's

The introduction of the cucumber sticks option to the Happy Meal comes as part of McDonalds plan to offer healthier choices to customers, and follows the launch of the first ever vegetarian Happy Meal that came out earlier this year.

Marie Emery, Head of Family Marketing at McDonald’s UK&I explains: ‘We are always working on ways to improve our Happy Meal® and the introduction of cucumber sticks is an exciting step in this journey.

‘It can be tricky to get kids to enjoy their recommended fruit and vegetable intake but customers told us cucumber is a popular choice for families.

‘More than a third of children already eat it between 2 and 3 times a week, so we’re delighted to be able to offer it as part of our Happy Meal. We’ll continue to listen to our customers and give them choices that work for their families.’

Carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes have been voted the top three healthy snacks for kids.

If your little tot gobbles down the cucumber sticks with no problem, you could treat them to the favourite Mint Aero McFlurry that has made a comeback! 

It’s great to see McDonald’s offering vegetable options instead of fries, and you’ll be pleased to know they have also reduced the amount of salt in a Happy Meal by 47%.

A typical McDonald’s Happy Meal costs £2.79 – or you an purchase cucumber sticks on their own at 79p.

Sibelle Mehmet
Junior Digital Writer

Sibelle Mehmet is a Junior Digital Writer at Goodto.com. She joined the team in April 2019 and was her first job since completing a MA in Magazine Journalism at City, the University of London in the summer of 2019. Sibelle previously interned at a number of national titles including OK!, Heat, Closer, Mother & Baby, and The Times Newspaper magazine. She's written extensively about the latest celebrity, showbiz, and royal news.