Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Hooray for Awards Season! There’s nothing like a little red carpet action to help chase away the winter doldrums. Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and of course, the Oscars, will get my attention every time. I was so happy to see my favorite, Modern Family, win the Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards the other night. Could there be a funnier show?
All this talk about the “Best of” in each category got me thinking about NuVal (I know, I’m such a grocery geek). We should have an Awards Night for groceries: Best Cereal, Best Salty Snack, Best Cracker, Best Juice (Shelf Stable), Best Juice (Refrigerated)… But seriously, people ask me all the time, “What is the best cereal?” And I am always quick to offer up the example that rolls off my tongue so quickly, “Post Shredded Wheat.” True, this cereal scores a 91 on the NuVal scale, but there are others that also score that high and they deserve their time on the red carpet too!
The nominees for Best Cereal in the Cold Cereal Category are:
- Bear Naked Vanilla Almond Crunch
- Bear Naked Triple Berry Crunch
- Nature’s Path Organic Rice Cereal 100%
- Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs
- Arrowhead Mills All Natureal Puffed Wheat
- Arrowhead Mills Organic Amaranth Flakes
- Barbara’s Bakery Shredded Wheat Cereal
- Post Shredded Wheat Cereal
Yes – all these cereals score a 91 on the NuVal scale. And you know what? There are also many store-brand cereals that score a 91 also, including:
- Kroger 100% Shredded Wheat
- Price Chopper Puffed Wheat
- Meijer Bite-Sized Shredded Wheat
- Big Y Bite-Sized Shredded Wheat
You get the same nutrition at a cheaper price. Good deal!
So, who does the award go to? Good question. Are you a puff person or more of a shredded wheat person? Or perhaps amaranth flakes are more your thing? Empirically speaking, all these cereals get the same great NuVal score. So, you decide who wins. I guess this is the People’s Choice Awards show now!
Question of the Day
Which of these cereals would you give the Best of Cold Cereal Award to?
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #35 JW! You’ve won a copy of Dr. Katz’s cookbook, The Flavor Full Diet! Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com so that I can mail it out to you. Thank you to everyone who entered.
A Winning Month
Also a thank you to all of you loyal A Better Bag of Groceries readers. I set a personal goal to beat 10,000 visitors to the blog in the month of January. Guess What? The goal was met! By more than I expected! 12,317 visitors in the month of January! Thanks for reading and for passing ABBG on to your friends!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cereal for Grown-Ups, Cold Cereal, Uncategorized
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 07:31 AM
Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve written a “Two of My Favorite Things” post. So, it was about time!
Typically, I get up super-early and hit the gym first thing, but I find that I just can’t maintain that pace five days a week. Somethings gotta give and a girl’s gotta get her beauty sleep from time to time. On those days when I sleep through forgo my early morning workout, I sometimes have one more chance at squeezing in a little cardio – the Lunch Time Run. This is such a treat, actually, because typically at this time of the year in New England it’s nearly impossible to run outside with my work schedule. It’s too dark before and after work and even on the weekends – well, there’s just snow everywhere!
But near the NuVal office, there is a great residential neighborhood that has low traffic and (drum roll please) lots of hills. So, if I can pack a quick bag before I leave the house, I can do a Presto Chango, and voila – Lunchtime Run.
I bring Two of My Favorite Things: My new Asics Gel-Kayanos and my new BondiBands hat.
First, my sneakers.
How did this New Balance girl ever end up in an Asics shoe? Well, I was at the running store, DB Sports, shopping for a new pair of New Balance and I met a long-time runner (a woman probably in her late-50s) who was buying a pair of Asics Gel-Kayanos. She swore by them. She promised me less foot pain, less knee pain, more joy in my life. And I believed her – hook, line and sinker. I have the world’s flattest feet (truly, it’s a miracle I run at all) so I was up for a change. I thought I would give them a try. And you know what? I LOVE them! More joy in my running life! Worth the higher price tag. You only get one pair of feet and one pair of knees in this life.
Second, my bondiband hat.
This was a Christmas gift from my Awesome Husband. I must admit, I dropped him a really subtle hint, like a link to the very exact product I wanted embedded in an email. I was introduced to bondiband by my friend Heather (we’ll call her Pool Club Heather, so as not to be confused with my Fit Friend at 40 Heather). Anyway, Heather recommended this hat to me, since I am a Runner Girl With a Ponytail. Love it!
The Lunch Time Run
OK, so most people get time for lunch. You can work through it. You can go out to lunch. You can go shopping. You can do an errand. And yes, you can exercise. Some people say, “Oh no! I don’t want to get all sweaty.” True. I don’t recommend this on a day when you have a big presentation to clients at 2 pm. And let’s face it, most of us work right through our lunch, right? But, to prove that it can be done, I timed my lunch time run (from work clothes to workout clothes back to work clothes) and took pictures! (This is one of those days that I can’t believe I put my life on the blog!)
12:15 pm: It’s been a busy morning at NuVal. Time to break away from the desk.
12:20 After a quick trip to the ladies room, I’m dressed and ready to go.
12:25. Running – especially in New England in the Winter - requires some gear. Ipod, Blackberry, Heart-Rate Monitor, BondiBand, Warm Gloves. Check.
12:25 – 1:00 Run. Do Hills.
1:00 – 1:05 Stretch.
1:05 – 1:15 Back to the Ladies Room for Presto Chango. We don’t have showers at NuVal, but we do have running water and I bring soap, washcloth, towel and the all-important deodorant. I also recommend a hairbrush, and a little cosmetic touch-up. Let’s just say that I make do.
1:15 Heat up lunch and get back to work!
See! It can be done. And I feel so energized. I have a more productive afternoon. During my run, I even spent some time planning out some of the activities I would be working on in the afternoon. A productive day for everyone.
I was talking to my husband about this post, before I wrote it and he said, “You know, the Lunchtime Workout really could be anything – a walk, stairs in your office building, there are many possibilities.” Good point!
Question of the Day
How do you squeeze exercise into your day?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: running, Two Favorite Things, Uncategorized
Tags: Asics, bondiband, running, Two Favorite Things, Uncategorized
Friday, November 12, 2010 at 07:23 AM
Long-time readers of A Better Bag of Groceries might remember my friend Heather.
She is part of the 40 Club – those of us blowing out 40 candles us on our cakes in 2010.
Heather is a really, really good cook. As in “out of this world” good. I have learned a lot about cooking from Heather in the 14 years that we’ve been friends. Heather is also a healthy cook, so I pay attention to many of her suggestions and recipes.
A few months ago, Heather told me that she did not buy packaged bread crumbs and that instead she made her own.
“Really?” I said, as I dredged my cod fillets in some Progresso bread-crumbs while we chatted on the phone.
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “Bread crumbs. Not good.”
“‘Kay! Thanks for the tip.” And we hung up.
I Love Heather, but making my own bread crumbs is not making it to the top of my priority list. Thankfully, Heather is awesome and when she comes to visit, she brings me a big bag of her homemade crumbs!
Fast forward to last week, when I was perusing the aisles of my local Big Y, taking lots of pictures of NuVal scores on different products and I found myself in the Bread Crumb department. Ouch!!!! No wonder Heather goes though the pain of making her own!
First I saw the scores of the Progresso bread crumbs, the kind that I grew up with! Ugh!
4C scores were a little bit better, but not by much.
The 100% Whole Wheat Seasoned score was at least getting closer to the score for a piece of wheat bread!
And then I saw it – Ian’s Panko 100% Whole Wheat Breadcrumbs with a score of 50!
Wow! This product really stood out in this category. So, when I run out of my big bag of Heather’s homemade bread crumbs, I know I can get some of these Ian’s.
That is what is so cool about NuVal – I never would have paid attention to the Ian’s without that 50 score on the shelf tag! I can’t tell you how many new products I’ve tried because of high NuVal scores.
I’ve always considered myself a healthy eater, but more and more, I find that there are still a few products that I’m buying that I can still trade up. Bread crumbs was definitely one of them! Heather (as usual, when it comes to food) was right!
Question of the Day
Have you found that something you were eating or buying scored lower than you expected on the NuVal scale? If so what was it?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Uncategorized
Monday, November 1, 2010 at 07:08 AM
So, we all know that raisins are a nutritious snack, right? Yes, they are. They score a fabulous 87 on the NuVal scale. I was reminded of that when I was shopping at Big Y last week.
So, what do you think happens, when a raisin gets covered in yogurt? Well, that great score of 87 gets cut down – way down – to a 2!! That’s right, a TWO! So, if you think you’re doing a healthy thing, giving your kids yogurt covered raisins – think again.
That score of 2 made me look further in the raisin section. Other than plain old raisins, there were a lot of sad scores.
Like these cinnamon, raisin bread flavored raisins, with a NuVal score of 5.
These dark chocolate yogurt raisins, with a NuVal score of 5.
And even Craisins – which are sweetened dried cranberries, with a NuVal score of 4.
So, we’ll stick to the plain old raisins in our household for now. The scores speak for themselves.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Uncategorized
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 06:57 AM
Hello Blog Friends! Welcome to 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. It’s a big hit and we’ve been doing it every Tuesday for well over a year now! A couple of weeks ago, I asked all of you to send me your Trade Up Tuesday requests. Last week’s Nut Butter Giveaway broke records. Wow, you all LOVE nut butters! The second most requested item on the list? Almond, Rice and Soy Milks. I will admit, I don’t usually purchase these – unless I am making a Green Monster Smoothie - but my sister, Pilates Julie , is lactose intolerant, so she does.
So, I checked in with Julie to see what she had to say about almond milk, soy milk, and rice milk. Here’s what she had to say:
When I was first diagnosed with lactose intolerance, my Go To milk was pretty much Lactaid. However, when I read your post about the Green Monster Smoothie, I was introduced to Almond Milk. Yum! I’m now hooked! I love it because it’s only 60 calories and it has a lot of Vitamin E. I put in in cereal, smoothies and I also just drink it plain. It’s perfect in coffee because it’s just a little bit sweet. I recommend it to all of my students and they love it too.
I did some research on some of the highest scoring, shelf-stable almond, rice and soy milks and here’s what I found:
- Pacific Natural Foods Organic Almond Lowfat: NuVal score of 56
- Blue Diamond Almond Breeze: NuVal score of 81
- Soy Dream Enriched Soy Milk: NuVal score of 88
- EdenBlend Organic Rice and Soy Beverage: NuVal score of 82
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win all four of these milks – and they are shelf-stable, so I can ship them through the mail! All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me which of these milks you would prefer and how you would like to enjoy it. I will choose one lucky commenter at random at 8 am Eastern time on Wednesday. So don’t delay! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Uncategorized
