Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 06:57 AM
So there you are – standing at the Pool Snack Bar with two dripping wet and hungry kids. There is a big line behind you so there is no time to waste. Your choices are:
- Smartfood
- Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips
- Cape Cod Potato Chips
Quick! You need to make a decision. The line behind you is getting longer. Oh, the pressure!
This is exactly the scenario my mother found herself in this week. A good Grandma, she thought she would be helpful and take her kids swimming at the Pool Club. They had fun and got some exercise…
Grandma even gave piggy back rides…
and the kids practiced the strokes they’ve been learning at swimming lessons.
After all that activity, the kids were ravenous, so Grandma took them to the Pool Club Snack Bar, where the selections are, well, snacks. She pondered her choices for a moments and thought that Smartfood would be the best choice.
Sorry Mom! Of the three snacks picture above, Smartfood actually gets the lowest NuVal score. Check out these scores:
Smartfood: NuVal score of 11
Doritos Nacho Cheese: NuVal score of 24
Cape Cod Potato Chips: NuVal score of 28
Surprising, isn’t it? Did you know that NuVal is actually in some vending machines around the country? Very cool. I think that knowing the scores could help kids (and Grandmas!) make more nutritious choices no matter where they might be working or playing!
Well, thanks to Grandma for taking the kids to the pool. And now we know the skinny on Smartfood!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks
Tags: Cape Cod Chips, Doritos, Smartfood, snacks
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 07:09 AM
What did I learn last week? A lot. I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version.
- Real estate is not for sissies.
- Life is much better when you pre-cut fruit and vegetables.
I will not bore you with the gory details, but we did not move last week as we had planned. Through no fault of our own, the deal fell apart. Well, I guess technically, we did move – out of our house, and back into it again. And our next “move” is up in the air. The good news is that since we had all of our stuff out of the house, I cleaned it top to bottom before everything came back in again. And I am not allowing everything back in again. It has to be something that we really need and use before it is granted permission to return. Every day, more stuff goes into a bag for Good Will or a bag for Trash. I can truly say that I have the cleanest and most de-cluttered house in town.
While the people who were supposed to buy our house were not very planful, I was. That meant that I was all set for three days of living in limbo and getting our kids to their brand-new summer daycare/camp. Getting kids into a new routine (one that is foreign to the parents too), is not easy. I had to make checklists in order to remember everything!
In order to show up three days in a row at Camp with healthy, satisfying lunches for the kids, I spent some time one evening cutting up fruits and veggies and storing them in snack-sized ziploc bags. For the rest of the week, whenever anyone needed a snack, they could just grab and go. Why hadn’t I done this sooner?
As this week began, and things went back to “Normal”, I decided that from now on, I would spend a little time every Sunday night doing my Fruit & Veggie, Slice & Bag routine. In fact, I made a little Party For One out of it. I included my Ipod player with ’80s tunes and a nice glass of Chardonnay and I had a little Me Time while my husband handled Bath Time.
All the bagged Healthy Snacks go into one of my Cleaner Than Clean produce drawers.
It is sooooooo much better than chopping every night!
In the summer, when we’re always on the go, eating meals at the park, the zoo, the pool or summer camp, it is tempting to grab a bagged snack of packaged food from the middle aisles of the grocery store. You know, Smartfood, Cheez-Its, Cheetos, Oreos. Their NuVal scores pale in comparison to my Fruit and Veggie Bags:
- Red Grapes: 91
- Cucumbers: 93
- Green Beans: 100
- Baby Carrots: 99
- Watermelon: 94
- Green Apple: 96
- Blueberries: 100
- Nectarine: 93
- Plum: 99
Those scores are way better than some of the pre-packaged alternatives:
- Smartfood: 11
- Cheeze-Its: 9
- Cheetos: 6
- Double-Stuff Oreos: 8
I may have learned some tough lessons last week, but this week it is comforting to remember the lessons that NuVal has taught me – namely, that fruits and vegetables are nutritional juggernauts. Yay for fruits and veggies – the best summer snacks!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #19, Kim Piro! Kim has won the much-coveted Teddie Peanut Butter Giveaway. Please email me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can get it out to you. Thanks to all who entered!
Question of the Day
What is your favorite Summer Snack?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks
Tags: fruits, snacks, summer snacks, veggies
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 07:13 AM
In my role as the Mom Blogger for NuVal, I have had a chance to meet some amazing bloggers and mothers – sometimes virtually and sometimes in person. Please meet my Twitter friend Marisa, a Philadelphia-area stay-at-home mother of two “hungry girls,” ages 7 and 12. Marisa has a beautiful blog called Trim the Fat, where she chronicles her victorious and inspirational weight loss battle (she’s lost 71 pounds!). Her blog is one that I turn to for new recipe ideas.
Marisa of Trim The Fat
Snack Time With NuVal
When I first became aware of the NuVal scoring system, I was very excited about the prospect of this system coming to supermarkets in my area. Although I have become accustomed to reading nutritional labels looking for the healthiest foods for myself and my family, the NuVal scoring system would make this a much easier job! All I would have to do is look for the NuVal sign and score on the pricing or shelf labels!
From the NuVal website:
How the Scoring Works:
NuVal Scores summarize comprehensive nutritional information in one simple number between 1 and 100. Each NuVal Score takes into account more than just the nutrition fact panel. It considers 30-plus nutrients and nutrition factors – the good (protein, calcium, vitamins) and the not-so-good (sugar, sodium, cholesterol). And then it boils it down into a simple, easy-to-use number; a number you can trust to make better decisions about nutrition in just a few seconds..
Could you see how this might revolutionize the way you shop for groceries?
When Tina of www.carrotsncake.com joined the NuVal team and asked if I would be willing to try out the NuVal scoring system, I gladly jumped at the chance! As a mom of 2 hungry girls, I find the most daunting task is searching the aisles for more nutritious snacks for them. Ideally, fruits and vegetables are the best options, but it’s also nice to have convenient, shelf-stable items for them to choose from, too. I decided to challenge myself to come up with a cool afternoon snack that my daughters would love and that would include only ingredients with the highest NuVal scores. Little did I know what a challenge this would be! Our usual “go-to” picks for afterschool snacks turned out to be quite low- scoring, which signified that they were not the most nutritionally sound choices. After going through the database of scores and enlisting the help of Tina and the NuVal Team, I was able to come up with 2 great afternoon snacks that were easy, healthy, high-scoring and more nutritious alternatives than the usual box of Cheez-its (NuVal score 23) that they grab for when they come home from school!
Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1 container Dannon Activia Light Blueberry Yogurt (NuVal score 89)
1/2 cup blueberries (NuVal score 100)
1 large banana (NuVal score 91)
8 oz. Over The Moon Fat Free Milk (NuVal score 91)
Place ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Ice may be added for a thicker consistency.
Serves 2.
Easy Cheesy Nu Nachos
16 Garden of Eatin’ No Salt Blue Tortilla Chips (NuVal score 52)
1/2 cup Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds (NuVal score 69)
1/4 cup Bush’s Best Black Beans ( NuVal score 53)
1 plum tomato, diced (NuVal score 96)
Place tortilla chips on a microwave-safe plate. Layer black beans and cheese over tortilla chips. Microwave on high for about 1 minute or until cheese is melted. Garnish with diced tomato and serve.
Serves 2.
–
To read more about the NuVal scoring system and if it’s available in your area, go to www.nuval.com.
Yesterday’s Winner:
Congratulations to Commenter #35, Meg of SunshineNSpice! You’ve won my Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese GiveAway!
Now I’m off to make those Easy Cheesy Nu Nachos!!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Fruit Smoothies, Guest Bloggers
Tags: Fruit Smoothies, nachos, snacks
Friday, September 11, 2009 at 09:08 AM
I remember that before I had kids, I always wondered why Moms made such a big deal about the busy-ness of the first week of school. I mean, really, it’s not like the Moms had to go to school – just the kids. What is the big deal, I thought? Now that I am a Mom of a 1st grader and Pre-K-er, I know that it’s both an exciting and stressful week. I am oh-so-happy that it is Friday because I am tired. So, I’ve decided to take a break from blogging today and direct you to a great post today on It’s Not About Nutrition: The Art & Science of Teaching Kids to Eat Right. She talks about how as parents we think that pretzels or fat free Fig Newtons are better for you than potato chips, and guess what? They’re not! That’s right. Check out these NuVal scores:
Lay’s Potato Chips Classic … 23
Rold Gold Pretzel Rods … 14
Nabisco Fig Newtons Fat Free …13
And how do you think Baked Lay’s score? Find out in Dina Rose’s post The Potato Chip Challenge: How We Decide What Snacks We Give Our Kids.
And Happy Friday Everyone!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks
Tags: potato chips, snacks
