A Great Excuse to Try Some Organic Beer
OK, so you’ve decided to switch off the lights at 8 p.m. in honor of Earth Hour. What then?
How about kicking back with some great Organic Pale Ale? DH just returned from Whole Foods, tickled to death that he scored this fantastic LaMar Street Organic Pale Ale on sale for $5.99 a six pack. Actually, he bought a case, so there was another discount, which made it $5.69 a six pack. We’ve seen comparable organic beers at $9 or $10 a six pack, so this is a great deal. A legitimate excuse to try some organic beer.
I just found a site that has a bunch of posts about saving money at the grocers. Not too many on organics, but a few… you can check out Crystal over at Money Saving Mom.
Have fun!
–Lynn
Filed under Easy Green Weekend Projects, Food, Organic Prices, Organics, Tips, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comments (5) |“Non-Toxic Tots”
Thought you might be interested in this Washington Post article about how parents are shelling out big bucks for natural and organic baby products in an attempt to buy peace of mind given the safety concerns surrounding so many baby products. The article includes lots of interesting research and a quote from yours truly!
— Lynn
Filed under Baby, Blog, Marketing, Organic Prices, Parenting, Pregnancy | Wordpress Comments (5) |When Green Means Chic
There was a time when the Greens conjured up images of anything but fashion. The original “Greens” were a political movement that rejected fashion and other bourgeois values. But today’s “Greens,” at least in the US, are primarily female and, as the New York Times pointed out, increasingly bourgeois. So of course they’re interested in fashion. Perhaps that’s why twice in the past few hours I’ve stumbled upon green fashion launches – Organic Style, a new online “green style” magazine, and today’s launch of Mimi and Motherhood Maternity’s new lines of organic cotton clothing and “eco-accessories.”
Organic Style is a brand extension of Organic Bouquet, and an adaptation of a print magazine published for several years by the venerable Rodale Press, the leading health and wellness publishing firm. Organic Style is quite highbrow, promoting items such as cruelty-free footware “custom made to your specifications” for $450 to $800 per pair, luxurious eco-friendly resorts with suites costing $1500 per night, and “the world’s tallest roses,” starting at $249.95. It’s like Town&Country for the eco-set.
At the other end of the spectrum is Motherhood Maternity, offering organic cotton maternity tops for just $17. The selection is quite small, with just fifteen items encompassing organic t-shirts, Burt’s Bees potions, and organic pregnancy and baby books. Mimi’s selection is more upscale than Motherhood’s, so you’ll pay a higher price for an organic cotton top – about $30 more than at Motherhood.
What I really want to know is – where can I find regular (non-maternity) stylish organic cotton tops for around $17?
— Lynn
Copyright OrganicMania 2008
Filed under Baby, Eco-friendly gifts, Marketing, Organic Clothing, Organic Personal Care Products, Organic Prices, Pregnancy, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comment (1) |Organic Frozen Baby Food? And Bloggy GiveAways! Interview with Heather Stouffer, Founder of Mom Made Foods, LLC
Many new Moms make a list of all the things they are going to do for their baby. Making home made baby food is often near the top of that list. But a lot of these new Moms find that time gets the best of them, and they simply can’t follow-through on everything they’d like to do. So they end up like yours truly, with an unopened “frozen baby food ice cube tray” collecting dust on top of the fridge, and jars of organic baby food sitting inside the kitchen cabinets.
Now there’s another option. Back when I posted about a sale on organic baby food, I heard from several companies making frozen organic baby food. Frozen organic baby food didn’t exist five years ago when I had my first born, and last year I left the grocery shopping to Darling Husband (DH), so I wasn’t aware of this new option until I heard about it through the OrganicMania community.
Following is an interview with Heather Stouffer, founder of Mom Made(Tm) Foods LLC and another “Organic Mommypreneur” in the spirit of Karen Gurwitz of Mothers & Menus, who was interviewed here as well. OrganicMania was curious about why a mother would choose frozen baby food, and Heather was more than happy to discuss this, along with a host of other interesting issues about organics and feeding a growing baby.
OrganicMania: We all grew up eating jarred baby foods. In fact, the icon of a happy baby was the perfect little “Gerber baby food baby.” What made you decide to look beyond the conventional, beyond jarred baby foods?
Heather Stouffer: When my son Emory, who is now nearly three, was a baby, I found it difficult to find the time each day to prepare home made baby food. I couldn’t find any freshly made, store-bought alternatives that I felt good about feeding him. So I started to think about making my own brand of frozen organic children’s foods. My brother is a professional chef, and he helped and inspired me.
OrganicMania: Why did you choose to focus on frozen baby food? What is it about frozen baby food that is special?
Heather Stouffer: My goal is to produce organic food products for children that are as close to homemade as possible. Freezing is our “preservative.” Research has shown that frozen food can be as healthy or even healthier than fresh food, depending on how long it takes fresh food to get from the farm to your table. It can be quite time intensive to go from the farm to a distributor to the store produce section.
This is in contrast to frozen food, which is picked at peak harvest and then either directly frozen or gently cooked, for example, blanched, to capture peak freshness, and then frozen. Of course, if you’re talking about locally bought produce from a farmer’s market versus frozen, the frozen food might be less fresh, but still pretty close to being on par with fresh food.
But then if you compare it to jarred food, there’s a big difference. The jarring process is very intensive. In order to jar food, you need to cook it at extreme temperatures. You can actually see the color change. The food is cooked to death, and natural nutrients are lost in this process. You see the difference in the color and the loss of texture. Jarred baby food has a “yuck factor” for parents when they feed it to their babies.
I believe babies and young children starting their journey into a lifetime of eating, should be fed the very best from the start – foods that we would welcome tasting along with them.
OrganicMania: So you’re suggesting that frozen baby food tastes better and is more nutritious than jarred baby food?
Heather Stouffer: Yes, it’s sheer delight. We freeze Mom Made products immediately after they are prepared. So it tastes like I’m biting into a fresh Bartlett pear right off the tree, and it tastes like a real sweet potato. It tastes like real food that adults eat, unlike the way jarred baby food tastes.
It sounds simple but after parents taste our food, I often hear them say something like “ooh, yum, it tastes just like a real apple!” It makes me laugh because it’s as though they expected it to taste awful. The great taste of Mom Made Foods means baby has a better experience learning to eat than is typical with jarred foods. It’s better for your baby too.
OrganicMania: You could have chosen to make conventional frozen food, which still would have been a new option for babies and would have provided the taste advantage you describe. Why did you choose to make an organic baby food?
Heather Stouffer: Your baby’s first year is the most important for growth and development. Organic food is best because your baby’s brain, immune system, and hormone system are still developing. Many non-organic fruits and vegetables contain pesticides and toxins, which can affect how our little ones grow and develop. Plus, organic food is better for the environment than conventional food, because farmers use natural methods like crop rotation and composting instead of chemicals.
OrganicMania: How much does Mom Made Foods cost as compared to jarred organic baby food?
Heather Stouffer: The retail price is $3.99 for two 3.5 ounce containers. The price difference with jarred is in the quality and care we put into making each individual serving. We use only fresh ingredients in our products and do not add any fillers, preservatives or junk.
[Editor’s note: This compares to the prices noted in this post of the non-sale price of $1.05 for a jar of Earth’s Best baby food, so this would be $3.99 versus $2.10 for roughly the same quantity of jarred organic baby food].
OrganicMania: Quite by accident, I’m starting an interview series focusing on what I call “Organic Mommypreneurs.” You’re the second interview, with more to come. Why do you think so many Moms are starting organic businesses?
Heather Stouffer: I have found that the organic message hits home with many of us moms once we are pregnant and have children. All of a sudden you’re responsible for this other little person. It’s something Moms are focused on, and so we identify the gaps in the market.
OrganicMania: How do you do it all? What advice do you have about combining motherhood and entrepreneurship?
Heather Stouffer: Focus is critical. At any one time, there are 67 things that need to be done. You need to pick out the top three strategic projects that you are doing and focus on them. Then, at the end of the day, if you didn’t get to a task that impacts one of your strategic projects, you need to ask yourself, what did I get done today? It can be really difficult some days…some days more than others.
Also, I always advise other entrepreneurs to seek out and maximize the existing resources for small businesses. You need to be able to pick up the phone and call people, which can be scary sometimes. But you need to get the word out there about what you are doing and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
OrganicMania: What’s next for Mom Made Foods?
Heather Stouffer: Right now, our products are distributed in the Mid-Atlantic region, but we’re in discussions now with national retailers. We’ll be launching new products and massively expanding our distribution this year.
Update 5/29/08 — Full disclosure: Lynn’s consulting biz, Miller Strategic Marketing, is now working on an assignment for Mom Made Foods. At the time this post was written back in February, there was no relationship between us. Pretty cool, though – we met through OrganicMania and now will be working together!
Editor’s Note:
And leave a comment to win Bloggy Giveaways of a Mom Made Foods rebate coupon for $3.99, a baby spoon, and for those of you who aren’t yet convinced, my two trays of unused baby food/breast milk storage cubes – a $12 value! (I’ll even wipe the dust off the $12 price label!) I have 10 coupons to give away, so leave a comment with your address (no fears, the comments don’t show up till I enable them, so I’ll delete your address before posting your comment to the blog!) . I’ll mail the coupons out to you. The winners will be contacted by email.
Photo Credit Family Picture: Wirken Photo
— Lynn
Copyright 2008 OrganicMania
Filed under Baby, Food, Interviews, Organic Mommypreneurs, Organic Prices, Organics vs. Conventional Foods, Parenting, Pregnancy | Wordpress Comments (17) |The Day After Super Tuesday: Need a Good Cuppa Joe?
I was planning to post more today about green and organic alternatives for Valentine’s Day, but like many of you, I suspect, I can’t stop thinking about last night’s thrilling election returns. I don’t want to turn this into a political blog, so commenting seems off-topic. But what do we politically aware, green and organic Dems, Republicans and Independents all have in common? We’re probably all tired from staying up late last night waiting for the returns!
Now here’s where the dividing line may occur. Some of you may have sworn off coffee for health reasons. But I’ve seen just as much science showing that coffee in moderate amounts can be good for you. Since espresso has less caffeine than coffee (and I think it’s more delicious), I drink café lattes in the morning to get me going, especially on a day like today. After getting to bed at midnight, today was a three latte morning.
And if you’re looking for a good cuppa java to help you make it through the day, I’d like to introduce you to Café Altura. I love this stuff! It is biodynamic, organic, and fair trade. What’s more, as you can see from the photo, they deliver! So convenient and so delicious! And at under $11 per pound (including shipping), it’s a great buy, too! (Lest you wonder, I have no affiliation with Altura other than the fact that I drink their coffee, which my darling husband buys! In other words, this post is not a paid post or advertisement! In fact, to-date, OrganicMania has not accepted any advertising).
By the way, MamaBird at Surely You Nest had a great post about Fair Trade recently…great explanations…check it out.
— Lynn
Filed under Biodynamic food, Food, Organic Prices, Product Recommendations, Uncategorized, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comment (1) |DC Area Shoppers Alert! Organic Corn on the Cob!
Organic corn on the cob is hard to find, which is a shame given that such a large percentage of the corn crop in the US is now genetically modified (and not labeled as GMO). I searched in vain last season for organic corn on the cob, so I was shocked when I found some yesterday at MOM’s (My Organic Market). Check it out! The ears are relatively small, and they’re priced at $1.29 per ear. They were delicious!
Bon appetit!
— Lynn
Filed under Organic Prices, Product Recommendations, Tips, Uncategorized, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comment (0) |Green Works(TM) Really Works!
I hate to clean. Really, really hate it. That’s the reason you haven’t read about green cleaning products on OrganicMania™. After all, it’s so much more fun to try organic foods than to try organic cleaning products!
But the fact is, toxins in the home – many from chemical-laden cleaning products – are one of the greatest dangers to health. When considering which organic and green products to buy, cleaning products should rank near the top of your list, along with “the dirty dozen” fruits and veggies. Yet deciding which green cleaning products to purchase is a tricky and expensive process of trial and error. Like many Moms, I have a shelf full of barely used green products that simply didn’t do the job as well as the tried and true standards we all grew up with – Ajax, Clorox, Mr. Clean, and Spic n’ Span.
Now, improvements are coming with the introduction of green product lines like Clorox’s Green Works. Green Works products include all purpose cleaner, bathroom cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, dilutable cleaner, and glass and surface cleaner. When I spied some prominently displayed at my local Giant for just $2.99 per 24 oz. bottle, I decided to try the natural bathroom cleaner. After all, I’ve spent more than twice that much on natural cleaners from companies that specialize in green products but are hardly household cleanliness icons, like the Clorox Company.
Here’s what I noticed when I put Green Works to the test on my dirty bathroom sinks:
• Easy-to-pump trigger – it felt like a “real” cleaning product with foam and spray options;
• Mild, clean scent; and
• Fast working effectiveness.
Incredibly easy to use, all I needed to do was swish some wet towels around the sink and the caked on soap scum and dreck came up really quickly. The entire cleaning process took only seconds, with just a wipe, rather than a true hard scrub.
Some skeptics may question whether Clorox can be trusted to introduce a truly natural product. While there’s no true standard for “natural” products, the Clorox Company states, “We set ourselves a very stringent standard. The ingredients must come from renewable resources, be biodegradable and free of petrochemicals. Green Works™ cleaners are at least 99% natural. In certain cases we had to use synthetic ingredients, like the preservative and green colorant.” The package ingredients are clearly listed. For example, the natural bathroom cleaner contains coconut-based cleaning agent (nonionic surfactant), glycolic acid, essential lemon oil and filtered water. The label also points out that it contains no bleach and no phosphorus.
My only complaint? I didn’t see any large refill containers. I hope Clorox is not expecting green consumers to repurchase these relatively small 24 ounce containers. Sure, there’s a bold printed request to please recycle the packaging, but I didn’t see any large refill containers in the store, nor pictured on their website or mentioned in their press release. These would be an obvious addition for such a complete product line, so lets hope the large refill containers appear in grocery store aisles soon.
Filed under Green Cleaning Products, Marketing, Organic Prices, Product Recommendations, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comments (2) |Savings on Organic Milk: Check Your Giant Receipts
A quick note apropos to the discussion earlier this week about the price of organic milk. Twice this week at the Giant grocery register I’ve received coupons for $1 off a half gallon of Stonyfield Farm organic milk. So take a careful look at the papers stuffed in your hand as you leave the register!
By the way, Stonyfield ranks well (“very good” or 3 cows) in the Cornucopia Institute Dairy scorecard.
Filed under Organic Prices, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comments (2) |What to Buy? Organic Olive Oil?
DH’s question was ever more insistent: “Are you sure you want the organic olive oil?”
It wasn’t until I visited Whole Foods that I realized why he was asking. Organic olive oil is $12.99 a bottle versus $7.99 for the conventional, store brand 365 Everyday Value line of olive oil. At the rate we plow through olive oil (close to two bottles per month), that’s a price premium of $120 per year for organic versus conventional olive oil. And with recent price increases pushing the price of just a half gallon of organic milk to $4.19 at our local Giant grocery store, it’s important to make sure we’re spending money on the right types of organic foods.
That’s when I was reminded of a fantastic resource: the Environmental Working Group’s list of the “dirty dozen” most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables – the ones you should always buy organic. Olives don’t even make the broader list of 43 fruits and veggies surveyed. That made my decision easy – pass on the organic olive oil and save the money for our ever increasing organic milk bill!
Check out the “dirty dozen” and the “cleanest 12” lists here – you can download a wallet card to carry with you to the market.
— Lynn
Filed under Food, Organic Prices, Organic Product Needs, Organics vs. Conventional Foods | Wordpress Comments (12) |A New Organic Market: Roots
The latest buzz in the DC burbs? A new organic market in Olney, Maryland. Despite 20 years in DC and its close-in suburbs, I’ve never ventured out to Olney, but after hearing my waiter at Bethesda’s Black’s Restaurant rave about Roots Organic Market, I decided it was worth the trip.
Nowadays, it’s not unusual for a family shopping for a mix of organic and conventional food and cleaning supplies to visit two or even three grocery stores to satisfy their needs. Then there are “Organic Maniacs” who frequent specialty organics grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes and MOM’s Organic Market, conventional grocery stores with organic sections such as Safeway and Giant, neighborhood health food stores a la Yes! Natural Gourmet, Balduccis gourmet grocer, the local co-op, and then top it all off with a weekly trip to a CSA.
Add Roots to the list! I felt like a jaded New Yorker given my organic shopping habits – I was just not prepared to be impressed by a store a solid 40 minutes from Northwest DC. But impressed I was.
I had barely walked in the door when I spied the hot mulled cider, free for the taking. This was just the start of more food samples than I’ve ever encountered in any grocery store. I enjoyed noshing on organic samples including pizza, apples, pears, cookies, biscotti, brownies, crackers with cheese, and chips with guacamole. And to top it all off, organic champagne!
The store is quite upscale – from its design to its product selection, which ranges from raw foodist to vegan to meat eater and seemingly everything in between. Non-food items include books, household cleaning items, make-up, and clothing. In fact, I saw products that I’ve not seen at the other (gulp) nine organic and conventional grocers I frequent. The service is as attentive as Nordstrom’s – three employees asked if they could be of assistance during my twenty minute stay in the store.
Prices are similar to Whole Foods. To help save a bit of money, take advantage of the fact that Roots heavily promotes coupon savings where products are displayed. You simply request the coupons at check-out. They also offer monthly sales circulars, which you can peruse on their website or in the store.
This store so intrigued me that I’ll be writing more about it in a future post. Let me know if you visit!
— Lynn
Filed under Food, Organic Prices, Organics, Where to Buy Organics | Wordpress Comments (2) |
My StumbleUpon Page
