Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 07:08 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today’s trade-up is really all about my son.
He loves peanut butter! He eats it every single day.
You don’t see my son as much here on A Better Bag of Groceries these days. You see my daughter all the time. The reason for that is she loves to cook. She may even be a future food blogger. She cooks, she takes pictures. It’s like having a Mini Me right next to me in the kitchen.
My son, on the other hand, could take or leave the cooking. When he does cook, we really praise him – probably even a little too much. He made Cooking Light’s Roasted Green Beans for Thanksgiving. “Wow, what a great job you are doing leveling the spices in the measuring spoon,” we swooned. I swear I could see his younger sister rolling her eyes a little bit. She must have been thinking, “Really? Clapping for leveling the measuring spoons? I’ve been doing that since I was three years old!”
You see my son knows what he likes. And when he likes something, he sticks with it.
He likes sports – a lot! He is constantly playing them – baseball, basketball, football, street hockey, tennis.
He wears holes into the knees of every pair of pants he owns.
And what does he want to eat for lunch every day to fuel up for all these sports? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Now, I switched over from “traditional” peanut butters to Teddie soon after I joined NuVal. When I saw that Teddie Smooth Unsalted scored a 49 on the NuVal scale, I just had to. Most conventional peanut butters score in the 20′s. Fortunately, my son accepted this change, no problem!
With all these sports going on this fall, we often found ourselves eating lunch at one of the fields. I would pack a picnic lunch because we didn’t have time to go home after my daughter’s soccer game and my son’s baseball game. Peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches were perfect. And much better than the offering at the Baseball Complex’s Snack Bar. I also love that my son takes PB&J to school just about every day. I don’t have to worry if the turkey has been kept cold enough by the ice packs in his lunch box.
The other thing I love about Teddie is the price. I found these jars for under $3 each.
Teddie Super Chunky also scores high. It gets a 38. That’s my husband’s favorite.
Yes, my son’s love of Teddie Smooth Unsalted is one of those things that I’m proud of as a Mom. He likes a nutritious peanut butter. Now, if only I could get him to cook more often!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win both jars of Teddie Peanut Butter. Just leave a comment below telling me something in your life that you’ve always loved, so you’ve “stuck” with it. I’ll randomly choose one winner at 8 am Eastern on Wednesday November 30th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: peanut butter, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 07:13 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. It’s a great day and lots of people stop by. Today is a special giveaway because I’m blogging about another one of my “secrets” to healthy living: family dinner. We eat dinner together as a family about six nights a week – even if it’s late. The only night we don’t is the night I teach Pilates – and even then, my husband and the kids eat together. Family Dinner is super-important to me and to my family. And it is not easy to do! One thing that helps me tremendously in my meal planning and preparation is a monthly visit to Dream Dinners. I typically head there on a Friday night and I spend about an hour preparing about six or seven meals to put in my freezer.
This past Friday, when I visited Dream Dinners, Beth (Dream Dinners owner and ABBG reader) offered to host today’s giveaway for all of you A Better Bag of Groceries readers! Wasn’t that nice? And I thought, “how perfect for my readers, going into the busy holiday season! They could use a giveaway like this!”
Many people think that Dream Dinners is a store where you go and buy dinner. Not exactly. Let me explain.
You find the Dream Dinners location near you (they are all over the country). You select the meals you want to make on your computer and you select a date and time that you want to make them. Then, you go to their store on that day to prepare those meals. You then get to take them home in your cooler and you put them in your freezer. You thaw them out and use them as you need them.
There are lots of healthy meals to choose from:
And you can even check out the nutritional information on each meal in detail:
I find that hour that I spend at Dream Dinners so relaxing. Everything is so nicely laid out and organized. And someone cleans up after me!
Sometimes I head to Dream Dinners solo. And sometimes I meet up with a friend and we head out for a quick bite after.
I always leave amazed at what I accomplished in one hour!
When I get home, I stock my garage freezer full of dinners.
And I have a fridge sheet to remind me of what is in there!
I thaw one or two out each week and then follow the simple cooking instructions. If it’s dinner in a pan, it goes straight in the oven. Those are great for when I’m traveling or when our sitter is with our kids. But most of the time, there are some simple steps involved (like brown the chicken, then add the sauce). It is still a huge time-saver and a great way to get a nutritious, almost gourmet meal on the table. Also, my kids eat them. ‘Nuff said.
People often ask me if I find Dream Dinners to be cost effective and the answer is a hands-down “Yes!” It makes so much sense because you are essentially sharing the cost of ingredients with others. For example, this past Friday, I used buttermilk, mango chutney, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and pecans to make my recipes. If I had made those recipes at home, I would have spent a fortune buying large quantities of those ingredients. And then, I would have eventually thrown out the rest of the buttermilk once it went bad. Potentially the feta cheese too (unless I found another use for it. Also, the mango chutney would have sat there in the fridge, taking up space, forever.
Today’s Giveaway
Beth from the Plainville, MA Dream Dinners has put together a lovely giveaway that can be won by any A Better Bag of Groceries Reader. There are Dream Dinner locations all over the country and this $25 gift card can be used at any Dream Dinner location. Beth also added a copy of the book, The Hour That Matters Most. It was written by Les and Leslie Parrott along with Dream Dinners co-founders, Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna. Check out my book review here. Loved it! To enter, just leave a comment below telling me one of your tricks for saving time on a chore so that you can spend more time with family. (PS – if you can’ t think of one, leave any comment – I’ll take it!) I’ll select one winner at 8 am Eastern time on Wednesday November 23rd. So don’t delay. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Dream Dinners
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 07:11 AM
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday – and you know what that means! At the end of this post, there’s a giveaway!
Today, I’m giving away Mary’s Gone Crackers. I was recently reminded of these crackers while talking to my neighbor. She has recently gone gluten-free and she was telling me how good she feels as a result of the change in her diet. So I was thinking of some of my favorite high-scoring gluten-free products that I could recommend to her – and Mary’s Gone is one of them.
Big Y Supermarkets has a great Gluten Free section. What I love about it is that they have NuVal scores on shelf. So, you can compare the nutrition of the products quickly and easily. Some gluten-free crackers have very low NuVal scores. But not these!
When you consider that the average score for crackers is only a 17, a score of 37 is fantastic!
Mary’s Gone Crackers are made from brown rice, quinoa, flax seeds and sesame seeds. And a word of warning – they are seriously crunchy! I often bring them for my mid-afternoon snack and my co-workers can definitely hear me munching away. But it’s worth it!
I love these crackers dipped in hummus, and my kids love them paired with sliced cheddar cheese. These crackers are versatile. They go in our lunch bags, we throw a box of them in our pool bag in the summer, and yet they’re chic enough to serve when we’re entertaining. I know this sounds like a big advertisement for Mary’s Gone – but I just really love them.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win all 3 boxes of Mary’s Gone Crackers. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you would do with all these crackers if you won them. I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am Eastern time on Wednesday November 9th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Mary's Gone
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 07:03 AM
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. It’s a very popular day to stop by and visit.
Today, I’m giving away my favorite bars: LaraBars!
I credit Tina, my fellow blogger at NuVal, with introducing me to LaraBars. She told me about how much she loved them. I tried one while we were presenting NuVal at the American Dietetic Association conference – and the rest is history!
Before I came to work for NuVal, I would look for a snack bar that was low in calories – and that was pretty much my only criteria for choosing one. Maybe I would look for a little protein too. But once I opened my eyes to the concept of nutrient density – and started looking at the NuVal score of a food, I really changed what I was eating. One of the things that I love about LaraBars is that they have so few ingredients. Take a look at the ingredients in the LaraBar Apple Pie Bar:
When I lined up these LaraBars to photograph them, I put them in order of score – highest on top, lowest on the bottom:
- LaraBar Apple Pie: NuVal score of 53
- LaraBar Banana Bread: NuVal score of 40
- LaraBar Cherry Pie: NuVal score of 38
- LaraBar Peanut Butter Cookie: NuVal score of 33
- LaraBar Cashew Cookie: NuVal score of 32
- LaraBar Lemon Bar: NuVal score of 32
- LaraBar Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: NuVal score of 20
Snack bars, in general, range in score from 2 to 82 and the average score for a snack bar is a 21. So these LaraBars score above average (well, except for that last Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar, which by the way, is really delicious!)
One of the best things about LaraBars? Not only do my husband and I love them, but our kids do too. So, I can pack them in every bag – work bags, gym bags, my purse, backpacks, sports bags, dance bags, etc.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win this fabulous LaraBar Sampler. It’s a great prize – especially if there are some LaraBar flavors you’ve been curious to try. Just leave a comment below telling me which “bag” you’d most likely carry your LaraBar around in. I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am Eastern on Wednesday. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: LaraBars
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 07:02 AM
It’s Trade Up Tuesday – everyone’s favorite day here at A Better Bag of Groceries because I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free! I often say that my kitchen cupboard looks so different since I came to work for NuVal three years ago. And usually, the give away here on Tuesday is something that is shelf stable. Because, let’s face it – I can’t exactly ship refrigerated groceries through the mail! But my refrigerator is also stocked differently since I started learning about NuVal. And, now, I have found a way to host a giveaway of refrigerated goodies. Free coupons!
And these are not just 50-cent-off coupons. They are coupons for free products. Six of them! That’s like a whole bag of groceries. Thanks to the people at Veggie Patch and Tribe for sending them to me.
So how did that come about? Well – thanks to all of you fabulous readers, this little blog is getting more attention every month. So, sometimes, when I blog about a product I enjoy, the manufacturer will contact me. That’s what happened in this case. Do you remember when I fed my kids Veggie Patch Falafel Chick Pea Balls on a busy summer night so that we could get to our town’s Family Fun Night on time? Or when I brought Tribe hummus as my afternoon snack with carrot and celery sticks? Well, the people at Veggie Patch and Tribe were happy that their products made me happy so they offered me some coupons. However, I have a very strict policy. I do not accept free samples of food from manufacturers. I am not that kind of blogger! What I mean by that is I don’t write about certain foods only because I got a free sample in the mail. I tell you about foods that I love. Period. But in this case, since these are already two products that I love and since they get great NuVal scores, I accepted the coupons as a giveaway for all of you.
And I did buy some chick pea balls and tribe hummus this week to keep for myself. I made a lovely little chick pea lunch for myself.
- Romaine lettuce: NuVal score of 100
- Cucumbers: NuVal score of 93
- Tomatoes: NuVal score of 96
- Goya Chick Peas: NuVal score of 63
- Veggie Patch Chick Pea balls: NuVal score of 37
- Fage non-fat plain Greek yogurt: NuVal score of 94
- Cheddar Cheese: NuVal score of 25 for Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese with Omega-3 DHA
- Stacy’s Simply Naked pita chips: NuVal score of 24
- Tribe roasted red pepper hummus: NuVal score of 48
The great thing about these coupons is that you can use them on whatever Veggie Patch or Tribe products you’d like. There are lots of high-scoring products to try, like:
- Veggie Patch Chick’N Nuggets: NuVal score of 33
- Tribe Spicy Chipotle Hummus: NuVal score of 49
- Tribe Classic Hummus: NuVal score of 48
To Enter
One lucky reader will win all 6 coupons for free Veggie Patch and Tribe products. (You don’t get that actual box of Falafel chick pea balls or that actual container of hummus that you see in the photo. That would be nasty after it arrived in the mail! And those are mine! You get the 6 coupons!) All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you would use them for if you won. Easy! I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am Eastern on Wednesday October 26th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Tribe, Veggie Patch
