A Better Bag of Groceries

Trade Up Tuesday: Bob’s Red Mill Hot Cereal

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 09:04 AM

Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday!  It’s 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.  Today, I’m writing about hot cereal because it has been very chilly in New England for the past four days or so.  Even the little man on our weather station has been bundling up.  My kids thought it was hilarious to see him in his winter coat, since he was just in his bathing suit a few days ago!  It was easy to talk everyone into oatmeal for breakfast this morning!

Before I went to work for NuVal, I ate so differently.  Yes, I ate nutritiously, but I tended to buy the same things over and over again and I didn’t really venture into unknown brands too often.  Now, when I see really high scores for different products, I want to try them.  My cupboard looks completely different than it did three years ago!

Oatmeal is one of those categories where I am always trying new things.  There are sooooooo many different varieties.  You do have to be careful though.  Those with added sugars and sodium do not score as high as those without.

Check out the great scores on these Bob’s Red Mill products:

Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats:  NuVal score of 58

Bob’s Red Mill 5 Grain Plus Flaxseed Rolled Whole Grain Hot Ceral:  NuVal score of 93

Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain 100% Whole Grain Hot Cereal:  NuVal score of 91

Bob’s Red Mill High Fiber Oat Bran Hot Cereal:  NuVal score of 99

Yum, all these Bob’s Red Mill hot cereals look so awesome – and nutritious!  I want to try them all!  It’s going to be hard for me to pack these up and ship them off to the lucky winner.  I want to keep them for myself!

Today’s Giveaway

One lucky commenter will win all 4 packages of Bob’s Red Mill Hot Cereal.  All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite hot cereal and mixin’s.  Bonus – you can enter twice if you know the NuVal score of an item.  For example, if you like to mix in raisins, and you know the NuVal score, enter a second time and tell me.  You can find sample scores by searching this blog.  Or by going to the NuVal website.  I’ll select one winner at random on Wednesday September 21st at 8 am Eastern so don’t delay.  Good Luck!

By the Way…

Do you all remember how much I love Lunch Box Notes?  They are the best.

I put these notes into my kids’ lunchboxes often.

My kids love them!  Just wanted to let you know that they are having a 48 hour 48% off sale!  Check it out at www.sayplease.com.  I just stocked up on some new notes myself.  Enter coupon code LBL48.

Posted by: Melissa 57 comments

Posted in: Hot Cereal, Oatmeal, Trade-Up Tuesday

Tags: Bob's Red Mill

Trade-Up Tuesday: Super Soup

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 06:49 AM

Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! Everyone loves Tuesdays here at A Better Bag of Groceries, because I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal  and I give away something for free! This week, Autumn arrives and we’ve started making soup again in our household. This week it was Lentil Soup  and Venus Soup.   For the most part, we make homemade soups in our household, because I’ve always thought that most store-bought soups were full of sodium and just not a good thing.  However, when I started to research soups recently, I learned that there are some amazing soups to be found in the grocery store.  And the leader of the pack is Bob’s Red Mill!

Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix scores an amazing 99on the NuVal scale.  That’s incredible!

Some other notable soups are:

• Amy’s Organics Lentil Vegetable (50% less sodium):  NuVal score of 65
• Campbell’s Select Harvest Light Italian-Style Vegetable:  NuVal score of 52
• Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone:  NuVal score of 46

Soup scores really vary.  They range from 1 to 99, and the average score is a 25.  So, these scores of 46 and above are really great. 

I did notice that one soup mix that we use in a lot of family recipes (Lipton Onion Soup & Dip Mix) only scores a 2 on the NuVal scale.  Bummer.  And not really much of a surprise, either.

Another interesting score that I found – Wolfgang Puck’s Organic Corn Chowder – which I saw in the “Healthy” section of one of my local grocery stores – only scores a 14 on the NuVal scale.  It’s like I always say – just because it’s in the “Healthy” section, doesn’t mean it’s a “health food.”

Today’s Giveaway

One very lucky commenter is going to win this Souper Giveaway today.  You’ll get the Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix and  those two adorable soup bowls to go with it.  Isn’t that the best?  All you need to do is leave a comment below, telling me what you like to put in your soup.  Bonus – you can leave a second comment (and be entered twice) if you can tell me the NuVal score (or scores) for one or more of those ingredients.  This Giveaway is so  good, I’m going to give you all a couple of days to get your entries in.  I’ll pick the winner at random on Thursday morning by 8 am.  Good Luck!

Posted by: Melissa 81 comments

Posted in: Soup

Tags: Bob's Red Mill, Trade-Up Tuesday