Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 06:24 AM
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday and today I’m giving away some of the NuVal Rock Stars in the Cracker Category. I have to admit, I’m a little worried that y’all might not be too excited about crackers. I mean if Ernie (from Sesame Street) like cookies, his best friend Bert is the cracker guy. But you Bloggies prove me wrong all the time, so maybe this will be a big GiveAway after all.
Personally, I am a Cracker girl. I always crave something a little crunchy and a little salty, especially in those late-afternoon hours, when dinner is still a while away. Also, as a mom, I have the difficult challenge of packing shelf-stable snacks in my son’s backpack that he will eat at about 2 pm in his first grade classroom. Crackers are lightweight, portable, and they don’t get all brown & mushy (like sliced apples).
Crackers score between 1 and 91 on the NuVal scale. That is a wide range! But the median score for Crackers (1/2 score above it, 1/2 score below it) is only a 14. My kids like Cheez Its, which score a 13 on the NuVal scale. So, I set that as my low bar. When looking for a “better than average” cracker, I’ll often ask myself, “Is it better than a Cheez It?”
My kids will eat Wheat Thins and Triscuits, so those are great choices. Wheat Thins score a 24 on the NuVal scale. Surprisingly, 100% Whole Grain Wheat Thins only get a 1 point improvement – to a 25. Who knew? Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits score a 32.
For a real cracker Powerhouse, I turn to Ryvita Rye and Oat Bran crackers. They get a NuVal score of 87! I spread a little hummus on them and enjoy them with a salad for lunch. Interestingly, when I’m snacking on some Ryvita & hummus, my kids will ask for some too. And they will eat them! So much better than a Cheez It.
Today’s GiveAway
As I said, I’m worried that you all might be yawning over the idea of winning some crackers, so I’m also throwing in a NuVal t-shirt. They are awesome! Just leave me a comment below, telling me one Cracker score you find interesting or suprising. Cracker scores are right here.
I’ll select one lucky winner at random. The contest closes at 11:59 PM Eastern time tonight. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Crackers, Trade-Up Tuesday, wheat thins
Tags: Crackers
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 01:08 PM
Don’t you just love all those “Back To School” segments that permeate the airwaves at this time of year. My husband and I saw this short Healthy School Lunch piece on our local Boston NBC station Monday night. While I admire Molly’s nutritious choices and creative presentation, I just can’t see myself making a Turkey Kabob for my son’s lunch box. Molly cubed the turkey, and cut up pieces of home-made bread for her kabobs. That is just not happening in our household. And then I think of what my son would do with the skewer once he was done with the kabob? Use it as a weapon? Hmmmmm. Not a workable lunch idea for me. Even the news anchors were doubting Molly’s suggestion to get your children to eat roasted red peppers.
Instead of a labor-intensive lunch making plan, I decided to use one of my favorite strategies to make life easier: use child labor. My son started first grade this morning. So last night, I asked him if he’d like to make his own lunch. He enthusiastically agreed to do so. So I got him set up and he went to work. While he worked on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I cleaned up dinner dishes. It was a win-win situation. Yes, there was jelly to clean up after, but it was worth it.
I went into the office today to see my friends who work in Scoring to see how my son’s lunch fared. I was pretty excited because I thought I had found THE AMAZING BREAD THAT SCORES AN 81. I was wrong.
Nature’s Pride 100% Natural 100% Whole Wheat Bread: 27
Trader Joe’s Natural Peanut Butter: ?
Smucker’s Strawberry Preserves: 1
Organic Baby Carrots: 99
Apple Slices: 96
Horizon Organic Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk: 27
So the bread that I bought looked really healthy. Look at all those claims – 100% Natural, 100% Whole Wheat. But it got a 27. Not bad, when you consider that the median score in Bread is a 25. But it’s not THE AMAZING BREAD THAT SCORES AN 81. That would be Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread. And this is why I really wish I had a grocery store that actually had NuVal in it. I work there and I work with scores all the time, but when faced with the completely overwhelming bread aisle, I can’t remember which breads get what score.
The peanut butter that we used is from Trader Joe’s and we haven’t scored their store-brand products. Now, I could assume that it gets close to what Teddie Peanut Butter Smooth gets (a 36). But as I learned from my Bread experience, you really can’t make those assumptions.
My son also packed a snack for school.
Fruit Falls Tropical gets a 41 (a much better score than many juice boxes)
Pepperidge Farms Goldfish get a 24
Bananas get a 91
With my own first-day jitters, I worried that he might get hungry and so I quickly packed him a second snack this morning:
Minute Maid 100% Juice Mixed Berry which scores a 13 (see what I mean about those juice boxes)
Wheat Thins which get a 23 (nope, they’re not better than Goldfish)
Grapes which get a 91
Well, he’s home now and he had a great first day. His lunch may not have been made on a skewer, but it was a fun project. And it included this note that you see in the picture. Now that’s creative. And it only took me a minute.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Apples, Goldfish, Juice, bread, chocolate milk, peanut butter, wheat thins
