Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Readers of my old blog, Nutrition By the Numbers, may remember my Mac & Cheese post. I was in a Price Chopper store, where they have NuVal scores on the shelf, and I had a serious revelation. I discovered that the “Character” Macaroni & Cheese (e.g., SpongeBob, Spider-Man, Pokemon) that I was throwing into my shopping cart every week so as to quiet the whining of my children, was indeed, a low-scoring product. Lower than low. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be high, but seeing those 4′s and 5′s on the shelf tag was eye-opening.
Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
Kraft Spiderman Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Kraft ScoobyDoo Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Some people might think that Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese would score better than Kraft. Wrong! The regular Annie’s scores the same as Kraft.
Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Annie’s HomeGrown White Cheddar Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 5
So, I stopped buying it. I flat out told my kids that it wasn’t a good choice. They are used to this kind of talk. Mommy works for a nutritional scoring system after all. So, we just stopped buying it and they stopped eating it.
Now, the Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese scores better. It gets an 18. No, it’s not stellar, but it’s better. So, yes, the kids are still in the aisle clamoring for Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE. However, now they say, “Mom, can we get the Healthy Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE???” I’m so proud! 
We don’t eat it too often, but certainly at this crazy-busy time of the year, it will make the dinner menu.
I know there are probably readers out there wondering why I’m waxing on about a product that scores an 18. After all, my previous Trade-Up Tuesday Posts have featured such NuVal Rock Stars as Barilla Plus Pasta and Shredded Wheat. Well, I’m talking about it because even though this increase was only 14 points on the NuVal scale, it was a big step for my kids. Marketing to children is huge in the grocery store. Somehow, I managed to get them to give up their favorite characters (who are all at eye level, by the way) and switch to a plain old boring box of macaroni and cheese. That is worth blogging about.
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky reader will win my Whole Grain Macaroni & Cheese GiveAway, including:
- 4 boxes of Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese
- An aluminum NuVal water bottle.
To enter, leave a comment, telling me a trade-up you’ve made since learning about NuVal. If you’re just learning about NuVal and haven’t made a trade-up yet, check out www.nuval.com to get some ideas. One winner will be chosen at random.
The contest closes at 11:59 pm Eastern Time Tuesday December 1st! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Macaroni and Cheese
Tags: Macaroni and Cheese, Trade-Up Tuesdays
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 05:00 AM
How do you like my new place? Pretty spiffy, huh? I packed up all my NuVal scores, my kids, my recipes, and all my old blogposts and moved on over here over the weekend. Many thanks to Blain Smith of 13-infinite for designing my new space and to all my friends at NuVal who put up with me helped me as we planned a new name and design.
New here? Let me catch you up. My name is Melissa and I’m a working mom to 2 kids: a boy, age 6 and a girl, age 4. Oh, sorry, that’s 4 1/2, she reminds me. I also happen to work for a great new company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that rates foods from 1-100 (100 is best) based on their nutritional value. NuVal scores are on the shelf in Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and Meijer stores and they are coming to United Texas Markets in early 2010. I work with these supermarkets to implement NuVal in their stores. NuVal may not be in your neck of the woods yet, but here on my blog, you can learn about some scores. I love my job and I love being a mom too. Oh, and I love food and cooking and all things healthy, so it was only natural for me to start blogging about how NuVal has helped me to make better choices about what I’m putting on my kitchen table.
What’s Nu?
My new blog gives me a great opportunity to introduce some new things!
First, get ready for Trade-Up Tuesdays. That’s right, I want to hear from you about how you’re trading up for better nutrition. There will be fun prizes, so get ready to share some ideas.
Then, there’s Incredible Vegetables. One thing that I’ve learned since working at NuVal is that vegetables are Rock Stars. They are so packed with nutrients, that they almost all score between 91-100. So, every week, look to see my featured Incredible Vegetable along with a favorite recipe.
Don’t miss the BBG Awards. I’ve bestowed this honor on my favorite high-scoring foods. NuVal inspires me to try new things all the time, so there will be more awards to come.
And finally, Field Trips. I love finding new healthy and/or family-oriented places to visit. It might be a restaurant, a farm, a vacation spot, or maybe just one of my foodie friends’ homes so that we can get in the kitchen and cook together. The possibilities are endless.
So let’s get going! Here’s my First Trade-Up Tuesday Blog Entry:
The Ultimate Breakfast Cereal Trade-Up
I did it. I finally made the big Trade Up. The huge one. The Big Kahuna. That’s right. I’m eating Shredded Wheat. It is the almost perfect breakfast cereal with a score of 91. Now, let me tell you that I did not leap from Cheerios (34) to Shredded Wheat (91). No, it was more like I climbed the ladder of more nutritious cereal until I got to the top, stopping at Kashi Go Lean with Protein (47) and Special K with Protein (60) along the way. In the morning, I need something filling that I can eat quickly as I juggle getting the kids off to school and myself to work, hopefully with dry hair and at least a little make-up on. Shredded Wheat is doing the trick and I’ve given it a BBG Award. And this afternoon, my 4 (and a Half!) year old asked for some!?! We’ll see if she wants it instead of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the morning.
So, here’s where you come in. This Housewarming Party of mine is Pot Luck. I want you to bring me your Trading Up Stories. Now that you’ve learned about NuVal, how have you traded up for better nutrition? There’s a Door Prize involved. One lucky A Better Bag of Groceries reader is going to WIN my fabulous NuVal Breakfast Trade Up Bag.
Included in the prize is a NuVal shopping bag, a NuVal water bottle, a box of Shredded Wheat, a container of Quaker Steel Cut Oats and some roasted unsalted almonds. To enter the drawing, tell me one trade up you’ve made for a better NuVal score (or one that you plan to make) in the comments below. The contest will close Tuesday, November 17th at 11:59 P.M. and the winner will be announced on Wednesday.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like my new home as much as I do!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Shredded Wheat, Trade-Up Tuesdays, Uncategorized
