Guest Post: Stephanie Votes for Better Nutrition
Do you remember a few weeks ago when I gave away some high-scoring cookies and chocolate on Trade-Up Tuesday? Well, the winner was this fabulous Mom, Stephanie. I always choose my winners at random (usually, I ask the kids to pick a number between 1 and total number of comments) so I never know who the winner is. Turns out, Stephanie shops at Hy-Vee where NuVal scores are on store shelves. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind bringing her camera along on her next shopping trip and she did! She also wrote this great guest post. Stephanie, you have a future in blogging!!
So, without further ado, I bring you Stephanie…
Stephanie and Her Kids on Mother's Day
Voting for Groceries
I’m that annoying lady at the produce section picking through the fresh items until I’ve found just the right candidate…whether its shaking, plucking, tapping, sniffing, hand-weighing, or rejecting items with brown spots…you better believe I end up voting for the best “candidates”. I have been known to block aisles while intensely reading labels scouring for pesky ingredients, calorie content, fat content, protein levels, sodium levels, and whatever else I can find that might sway my “vote.”
For me, grocery shopping IS somewhat like voting. Each item on my list usually has several options, and as the mother of three kids whom I believe deserve the best, I owe it to them to ensure I’m making the most nutritionally informed decisions when I vote (purchase). Needless to say, “vote-shopping” with three kids in tow can definitely take its time!!
Fortunately for my children who would rather be eating the items I’ve voted for, my local grocery store Hy-Vee has teamed up with Nu-Val in order to provide me with a nutritional grade (1-100) for various products that gets me in and out of my store quicker!
During my latest shopping excursion I took a few snap shots that highlight how easy Nu-Val scores have made some various “trade-ups” to a better candidate!
Lettuce
We love salads! I grew up on iceberg lettuce and have never had a problem with eating any other types of lettuce, but haven’t been able to ignore that the iceberg variety is generally cheaper. On my shopping trip I noticed a pretty big difference between the Nu-Val score for a regular head of iceberg lettuce (82) compared with the organic green and red leaf lettuces (100). I also noticed a pretty big difference in the price tags too so that made voting complicated for this mom on a budget. Fortunately, as I made my way through the lettuce section, I found a compromise!
Iceberg Lettuce: 82
Organic Red Leaf Lettuce: 100
Green Leaf Lettuce: 100
Pineapple
Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple was on the menu for the week which meant I needed some juicy pineapple! I would normally have purchased the canned variety because it makes preparation so much easier, but not after comparing Nu-Val scores! With 74 additional points, I think I’ll sacrifice some time and cut up a fresh one myself!
Canned Pineapple: 25
Fresh Pineapple: 96
Bread
As you can imagine, bread is consumed in mass quantities in my household, and while Wonder Bread can be found cheap, it also makes you wonder what they put in that stuff! One quick glance at various Nu-Val scores and I knew I had three really decent candidates. I can’t always afford to choose the product with the highest score (what can I say…some candidates sway me with a good sales price!) but at least with the Nu-Val scores I know which breads to stay away from!
Nature's Pride: 33
Arnold's Soft Family 100% Wheat: 37
Sara Lee Multigrain: 42
Applesauce
Who knew comparing apples to apples really might be a worthy debate? The Nu-Val scores on these two candidates of applesauce that were right by one another on the shelves goes to show that there are healthier versions of even the healthiest foods! The obvious vote here is the applesauce on the right. (30 vs. 8!!!!) I love getting naturally unsweetened applesauce and then adding our own toppings like berries, cinnamon, almonds or walnuts for additional flavor!
2 Different Musselman's, 2 Different Scores
Macaroni & Cheese
Like most children, mine really enjoy mac n cheese. My son particularly wanted to “vote” for the product featuring one of his favorite superheroes, Spiderman, but I’ve long abandoned the days where I’d vote for a product based on the gimmick on the box. I switched over to making my own healthier version of macaroni and cheese and with the implementation of what my kids call funky noodles I don’t feel bad for abandoning Spidey and his whopping score of 5! After researching several pasta candidates that were fun-shaped, Nu-Val scores once again helped me make a better purchase vote.
Spidey Mac & Cheese: 5
Barilla Plus Rotini: 91
Hy-Vee Rigatoni: 57
I’m so glad that Hy-Vee has implemented Nu-Val scores! It certainly makes my shopping voting experience so much easier!
Posted by: Melissa 8 comments
Posted in: Guest Bloggers
Tags: Guest Post, Hy-vee
on May 24th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Great post Steph!
on May 24th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I love reading things written by Mom’s who take stock in nutrition. So many parents don’t and it is so important!!
on May 24th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Loved this post! I never knew about that Nu-Val score!!!
on May 24th, 2010 at 11:18 am
This is awesome Steph. I, too, never knew about the Nu-Val score.
on May 24th, 2010 at 11:42 am
LOVE the posting. Still waiting for a NuVal app for my iPhone.
on May 24th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I agree it is pretty amazing the difference you see with the Nuval scoring. Plus it is so easy to do a quick look with the scores rather than stars that I have seen in some supermarkets.The sweet and Sour chicken with pineapple sounds great!
on May 24th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
You are a writer! But I already knew that. Glad to see that my favorite bread has a good NuVal
on May 24th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
love this!