Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 07:08 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. Today’s giveaway is a little different because tomorrow is a huge day for NuVal. We have not one, but two big supermarket chains launching NuVal scores on their shelves. And so I themed today’s giveaway for you to guess who those two supermarket chains might be.
Hee hee.
The products I’m giving away today are your clues.
The first clue comes from the SunMaid Raisins. Both the brown and the golden get a NuVal score of 87, by the way.
My NuVal colleague Alison, who lives out West, helped me to purchase the second clue. The 5280 Salsa doesn’t score all that high on the NuVal scale (it gets a 7), but it’s a really good clue! Gilberto’s Gourmet Goodness Sort of Smokin’ Mango Salsa gets a NuVal Score of 38. That’s a great score for salsa, which averages a 15 on the NuVal scale.
So, get out your search engines and start figuring out who it could be! Some lucky shoppers in two states out West will now have NuVal scores at their fingertips.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky winner will win the raisins and the salsa. All you need to do is leave a comment below guessing the two supermarket chains that are launching NuVal in their stores tomorrow. The first commenter to guess both correctly will be the lucky winner. If no one gets it right, I’ll select one winner at random. Either way, the winner will be posted at 8 am Wednesday September 14th Eastern time. And then you can all find out who the new supermarket chains are! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: California, Colorado, Giveaway, raisins, salsa
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 07:05 AM
I’m hosting a Bonus Giveaway today!
Katie McKenna, who manages public relations for Tops Friendly Markets in New York, sent me these two beautiful reusable shopping bags to give away to one lucky A Better Bag of Groceries reader.
Here is a side view of one of the bags:
We have been very excited about these bags in the NuVal office. When I was setting these bags up on Friday to take this photo, my colleague Anne walked by. Anne is a very serious, “numbers and data” kind of girl. And even she said, “Oh, those are the most beautiful bags!” But we at NuVal can’t take the credit. It was the team at Tops Friendly Markets who was the pure genious behind this one!
Thanks to Katie for sending these my way!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky commenter will win both of these reusable shopping bags. Just leave a comment below telling me one (or all!) of the following:
- Do you use re-usable shopping bags?
- How many do you think you own?
- How do you care for them (e.g., put them through the washing machine from time to time?)
I’ll let this Giveaway run for a few days. I’ll select the winner at 8 am Eastern Time on Thursday August 4th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Giveaway
Tags: Giveaway, Reusable Shopping Bags, Tops Friendly Markets
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 08:13 AM
One item that we always keep in our cupboard is spaghetti sauce. While I love my own homemade sauce and I love my friend Heather’s healthy marinara sauce recipe even better, there are many times when you just need to reach for a jar. I would estimate that a jar goes into our shopping cart every single week. And my family is not alone. According to Harry Blazer, of NPD—a Chicago-based custom research group, consumers enjoy pasta for dinner more than 40 times a year.
So how do spaghetti sauces score on the NuVal scale? Well, I will tell you that this is one of the most interesting categories of all because the scores are really all over the place.
It’s so interesting that when I went out to visit a prospective customer this week (an awesome supermarket chain!), I brought them five jars of sauce and put them on the conference table. I asked the team of executives with whom I was meeting to rank order them from lowest to highest according to nutrition. Can you do it? Here are the sauces:
Newman’s Own Roasted Garlic
Silver Palate Marinara
Classico Spicy Red Pepper
Bove’s Roasted Garlic
Rao’s Homemade Marinara
Do you think you can put them in order according to their nutritional value? Come on – give it a try! (Hint: It’s not easy!) But what have you got to lose!
Today’s Giveaway
I’ll send a NuVal water bottle to one lucky commenter who can put these sauces in the correct order (lowest scoring to highest scoring). Just leave your answer in the comment section below. Good luck!
Yesterday’s Giveaway
Congratulations to Commenter #8, Carol Belles! You’ve won the Movie and Popcorn Giveaway. Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com so that I can mail your prize out to you. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Tomato Sauce
Tags: Giveaway, Spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, Tomato Sauce
Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 06:54 AM
Today I have an extra-special giveaway for you! Remember the Whole-Grain Chocolate Chunk Cookies that I made last week? Well, they were from a brand-new cookbook called The Cleaner Plate Club by Beth Bader and Ali Benjamin. When I made those cookies last week (they were soooooo good), I sent the post to the publicist promoting The Cleaner Plate Club. She was a delight! Not only did she send me a free copy of the cookbook, she agreed to give one lucky reader of A Better Bag of Groceries a copy also!
These days, I rarely buy cookbooks. My husband did buy me Mastering the Art of French Cooking for our anniversary (so sweet!) last year. And I did buy one of the Jessica Seinfeld cookbooks because it was only $3.00 at Staples when we were there buying moving supplies. But basically, I get most of my recipes online. Well, I have to say, The Cleaner Plate Club is a reason to buy a cookbook again. It is chock-full of amazing recipes that your whole family will love. This week, we made Fish Curry from page 221.
Cooking the fish was simple and easy. I spread it out on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet:
The sauce was so delicious – and not too spicy for my kids:
To accompany the Fish Curry, we made The Cleaner Plate Club’s recipe for Coconut Rice.
My kids loved the rice. They ate it again the next night. The turmeric gives it the yellow coloring. I love introducing my kids to new spices, colors and textures. I am hoping that they grow up to appreciate all kinds of food.
But back to this cookbook….It really is more than just a cookbook. It’s a fantastic primer for new cooks, because it goes over some of the basics (like what it means to saute, or roast, or the best ways to peel, core and seed). And it also has lots of interesting factoids interspersed throughout the book. For example, did you know that the chicken nuggets is one of the fastest-growing foods in the American diet, particularly among very young children? Yup, according to the Wall Street Journal, the nugget now accounts for about 5 percent of all restaurant orders, more than double what it was in 1990. (Cleaner Plate Club, p. 199).
So, what I found from this cookbook is that Ali Benjamin and Beth Bader and I have similar goals: cook real food, trade up for better nutrition, teach families how to put a good meal on the table.
Today’s Giveaway:
One lucky commenter will win a copy of The Cleaner Plate Club. To enter, tell me the toughest thing it is for you to get your kids to clean from their plates (is it spinach? chicken? milk?) You can enter twice if you know the NuVal score for that item. If you do not have kids (or don’t have them yet), you can still enter. Just tell me, what it was that you hard the hardest time cleaning from your plate when you were a kid. (For me, it was sausage and other meats - yuck!)
I’ll select one winner at random at 8 am Eastern time on Friday, so don’t delay. Good luck everyone!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cookbooks
Tags: Cookbooks, Giveaway
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 06:50 AM
I have a very special giveaway today!
Have you ever heard of CSN Stores? Well neither had I until last fall when I bought a coffee table. CSN Stores is the number 3 online retailer for home goods and they have been in business for over 7 years. At CSN stores, you can find everything from lights to furniture to fitness gear to cookware!
Alexandra from CSN Stores contacted me last week to see if I would review one of their products on my blog or if I would host a giveaway. As much as I would love to try out a new piece of cookware for myself and keep it, I decided that you, my fabulous readers, deserved the gift more. So today, one lucky A Better Bag of Groceries reader will win a $40 gift card for cookware from www.cookware.com. You can actually use the gift card at any of CSN Stores websites.
I had a great experience purchasing my coffee table. Here’s how it all went down:
- I needed a coffee table.
- At this point in my life, with a 7-year-old and 5-year-old fighting the forces of evil with their Star Wars light sabers, you know, in my living room, I need to get a very good deal on any furniture.
- I wanted a coffee table without any sharp corners or edges.
- Instead of searching at the usual places, I checked out a site called www.coffeetables.com.
- I bought this beautiful coffee table for $165!
When my coffee table arrived, I realized that www.coffeetables.com was part of www.csnstores.com. Who knew?
So one lucky commenter today will win a $40 gift card to spend any way you want at CSN Stores.
Since most of you like to cook, I thought you might check out some cookware.
Like this Emeril Pro-Clad Fry Pan for $39.95 with Free Shipping.
Or this Hamilton Beach 7-Quart Slow Cooker for $39.95 with Free Shipping.
CSN Stores also has a great selection of fitness accessories. While you can’t get a whole elliptical machine with $40, you can get a great Pilates ring:
The Stamina is my favorite Pilates ring and you can get it at CSN stores for only $29.95.
Oh, there are so many ways you can spend $40 at CSN Stores. I wish I could win! But this is a giveaway, so that means that it’s going out to one of you!
To Enter:
Just do one of the following:
- Leave a comment below telling me a Trade Up you’ve made since leaning about NuVal
- Leave a comment below telling me how you would spend $40 at CSN stores
- Tweet this giveaway
I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Thursday morning. Good Luck!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #68, Doreen! You’ve won my Muesli Giveaway. Be sure to send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address. Thank you to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Giveaway
Tags: cookware, CSN Stores, Giveaway, lighting, lights
