August 20th, 2008
So I’m hyper sensitive to a preservative that some restaurants use. I figured this out thanks to our work cafeteria that spray the items in the salad bar with it. Since the effects are rather immediate, I figured it out by eating plain salad with no dressing to confirm that’s what my “allergy” is. It’s definitely something sprayed on produce to keep it fresher. Luckily I don’t run into it much at restaurants, and we try to limit how much we eat out anyway. But some of them also get blacklisted.
I haven’t run into it much with groceries – thank goodness. The odd time I do, but rare enough I don’t need to worry. However this week’s possible discovery is notable. I bought a bag of *organic* plums from Safeway. Little stickers on all of them that were marked organic. And after eating each plum in the bag, last time not eating anything else that could have done it, I had my allergic reaction. So it seems likely that Safeway (on La Playa in San Francisco) has perhaps sprayed their organic produce with a preservative.
Doesn’t this somewhat negate the POINT of organic stuff? The preservatives? The spraying of crap onto the nice “healthy” item? And the point of posting -in the unlikely event anyone is reading this- does anyone know of how common this is? Or whether this is even allowed on certified organic produce?
Thank goodness they were on sale, but I’m certainly not impressed.
Posted in Amazon, green, organic produce | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2008
My favorite, ever, are these granola bites from the folks at Nature Valley. I put them on my cereal on a daily basis, and they’re fabulous. They finally became available at places such as Safeway and Target (before I had to drive 50 miles to get them, and yes, they were delicious enough to make the drive!) I can’t recommend these things enough – six months going, and I love them just as much.
However, they’re now available from Amazon. And even better than the fact they can come to ME at the office and I don’t have to drive anywhere, I can get them on subscription, save money that way, and don’t even have to remember to order them. How freakin’ awesome is that?
Note that you can cancel a subscription any time, so if you just want to get these once to try them out, you can cancel the subscription right away and just save 15% on the single purchase (why not, eh?)
100 calorie granola bites from Amazon
Posted in Amazon, Online store, Safeway, Target, eating healthy, new products, snacks | No Comments »
November 4th, 2007
One of my favorite foods – in the world – are Nature Valley Granola Bites on top of my cereal. For serious. I am addicted and have a pack a day on my cereal (typically a small bit of oat bran, a small bit of grape nuts, some berries, and these granola bites. ).
My review is here: 100 Calorie Nature Valley Granola Bites — on your cereal
So, until now, the only place I could buy them was at Sams Club, which is about 50 miles away. I’d stock up on each visit. So I was within 20 packs of running out, so we headed out to Sams Club to get them. They were out. I nearly cried. So we headed out to the next Sams Club – another 20 miles further away from our house – (after calling, they weren’t sure if they had them… they only had the lame Quaker Oat ones). Yeah, so both Sams Clubs didn’t have them any more. I cried. Then I came home and googled online grocery retailers and everyone was “out”. I thought they were discontinued or something.
So I’ve been sulking for the last couple weeks. But I **just** found them at Target, which is a mere 20 minutes away. And they just got them in too, because they didn’t have them yesterday. So I guess Nature Valley was really in the process of rolling them out in a major way – because these things are SO FREAKING AWESOME!
Please give these things a try – without cereal they’re good, with cereal and some milk soaked in they’re AWESOME. Target is starting to carry them, and they’re cheap. YAY for Nature Valley 100 Calorie Granola Bites!!!
UPDATE: You can now buy them from Amazon, even on subscription to save money!
Posted in Amazon, Online store, Target, eating healthy, grocery store find, snacks | 3 Comments »
August 13th, 2007
So I’ve always loved me some Kraft Mac and Cheese. But after going on a low-fat diet, it was off limits.
So recently I found this Mac & Chreese stuff (Road’s End Organics) – vegan mac and "cheese" – at Rainbow Grocery (1745 Folsom St, San Francisco). We tried the "Shells and Chreese" first and this stuff is really tasty, and low fat. I dare say it might almost taste better than the product they’re imitatin’! We made it with 1/4 + a splash of skim milk, and a bit of Promise (fat-free-margarine). And it ROCKED. It was creamy, flavorful – almost tasted like a real white cheddar on there. It didn’t have any odd, soy-ish, non-authentic after taste at all (like some of the fat-free cheese products do…)
We tried another flavor, the Mac and Chreese with the whole wheat elbow macaroni – it wasn’t quite as good as the Shells and Chreese.
But I absolutely recommend finding this stuff, especially Shells and Chreese, and trying it out. Again, we found it at Rainbow Grocery in the pasta aisle.
Amazon.com
Road’s End Organics – Mac and Chreese
Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco
Posted in Amazon, Rainbow Grocery, grocery store find | No Comments »
August 13th, 2007
These little granola bites were first introduced to me in the Nature Valley cereals, which are readily available just about anywhere (Safeway, Target, you name it). I always loved the granola pieces the most, and was absolutely excstaic to find them in 100 calorie packs. This means that I can enjoy them in pretty much any cereal I want (including lower carb-higher-fiber cereals).
So every single morning (yeah, every single morning – I’m that much in a rut and that much in love with these buggers) I pour 1 pack of these things onto my oat bran (I also add a scattering of either grape nuts or Trader Joe’s high-fiber cereal). Let the granola bites soak in a little milk and they are FABULOUS.
These are one of my very favorite foods of all time. They are absolutely amazingly delicious in cereal. I have only found them at Sam’s Club (both the Concord and Vacaville locations), so I stock up on several warehouse boxes each time we drive all the way out there (and yeah, it’s about 25 miles or so to the closest one…) But they’re cheap, delicious, and worth the drive.
Check them out!! If you’re not sure, try the Nature Valley Cereal (Oats ‘n Honey or Cinnamon) – they’re identical to the small granola pieces you find in that.
Nature Valley 100 Calorie Granola Bites
Sams Club
Nature Valley
UPDATE!!! The last time I went to Sams Club, I couldn’t find these large boxes of Granola Bites. However – tonight I just found them for the first time ever at TARGET. Which is actually close to my house in Daly City and/or South San Francisco. SCORE!!! Check them out in the granola bar aisle.
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Tags: granola, 100calorie, NatureValley
Posted in Amazon, Safeway, Sam's Club, Target, grocery store find, new products, snacks | 1 Comment »
June 29th, 2007
Desert Pepper makes the best salsa’s, and luckily they’re also pretty easy to find. The best flavor, I think, is the Corn Black Bean flavor – it’s not very spicy, but still really delicious. It’s great on some Light Tostitos (you know, the ones with the fake fat…). Peach Mango is also quite good, and the pinto bean one is really good (but honestly, Trader Joe’s Spicy Black Bean dip is just as good – perhaps better with that slight vinegary flavor – and cheaper). Naturally, the salsa’s listed above are all fat free.
Anyway, I have found these salsa’s in a bunch of places, including Whole Foods (every location I’ve been to), and Cost Plus of all places. You can also get it from Amazon.com.
Posted in Amazon, Cost Plus, Whole Foods, condiments, grocery store find | 1 Comment »
June 26th, 2007
Camel Halvah Bars (Noble Foods). These amazing bars are not the lowest in fat, but at least they have healthy fats (and are very filling – watch the serving size tho), no additives, and barely any sugar in ‘em. And they (when fresh) taste out of this world.
Halvah bars are made mostly out of sesame seeds. The ones we’ve tried have varied in taste and texture, depending on how fresh they are. When they’re fresh, there ain’t anything better. When they’re not as fresh, they can still taste pretty great, but are prone to stick to your teeth a little.
We have tried Pistachio (amazing), Chocolate (my fave), and Marble which is a mix of plain and chocolate.
We have found Pistachio and Marble at Rainbow Grocery (1745 Folsom St. San Francisco), Chocolate at Whole Foods (4800 El Camino Real Los Altos), and most flavors are available online (we get most of ours from Amazon).
Update: The Deluxe flavor arrived from Amazon – and these ones are great too. They have pistacios, sunflower seeds, raisins, almonds mixed in the plain flavor. They aren’t quite as fresh as the chocolate and pistachio flavors -it’d rank right up there with pistachio if it was!
But remember, these bars, while healthy and containing healthy fats at the same time aren’t very low fat or low calorie – so watch your portions people 
Posted in Amazon, Online store, Rainbow Grocery, Whole Foods, grocery store find, snacks | No Comments »