YumSugar

Taste Test: Lance Cracker Creations

Susannah Chen — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:32:24 PDT

As a schoolkid, I grew up eating the same thing for lunch every day - a whole wheat deli meat and cheese sandwich with a pear and baby carrots. Our Michelle Obama-approved pantry had nary a cracker, chip, cookie, or cake in sight. So it was a bit like finding lost treasure every time I managed to get my hands on a four-pack of Lance Captain's Wafers at school. When I recently discovered Lance had released a new line of all-natural snack packs, the 10-year-old in me couldn't resist giving them a try.

Cracker Creations are described as "seasoned crackers with a cream cheese filling" and tout "real cheese, real vegetables, and 5 grams of whole grain per serving." They come in boxes of six individually sealed cracker twin-packs, in two savory flavors. Find out what we thought of them when you read on.

Taste Test: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Cheddar Explosion

YumSugar — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:20:22 PDT

I eschew processed foods, but with a few glaring exceptions - like anything with processed cheese. (Yes, I already realize I can't reconcile sustainably raised seafood and organic, local produce with Velveeta chile con queso. And no, I have no plans to ever change that.) You should've seen the cheesy grin (no pun intended) that spread across our faces when a giant box of Kraft's latest macaroni and cheese arrived. With an active name like Cheddar Explosion, how could one not feel a blast of giddiness? We were excited to test it out, and I even used the occasion as an excuse to make the stovetop original for comparison. What were our ultimate thoughts? Find out when you keep reading.

Diet Tip: Stock Your Kitchen With Healthy Convenience Foods

FitSugar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:00:00 PDT

If you're watching your waistline, you're probably watching what you eat, too, not to mention exercising regularly as well. Yay for you and your healthy and possibly new habits, but in truth they can sometimes leave you hungry. Set yourself up for success by loading your cupboards and fridge with healthy convenience foods. Stock your kitchen with ready-to-eat snacks that are healthy, delicious, and packed with fiber. These will satisfy your cravings and keep you feeling full longer, so you're less likely to return to the kitchen for more snacks. Here are some ideas:

Fresh fruits like bananas, apples, pears, and berries
Real fruit and veggie juices
Frozen edamame
Tomatoes (slice one and sprinkle a little cheese on top)
Hummus and whole grain crackers

What else makes for delicious and quick snacking ideas? To find out

A Doctor Dishes: Which "Superfoods" Are Worth the Cost?

LearnVest — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Most people you speak to these days are trying to stretch every dollar as far as possible - even the ones they spend buying apples and oranges.

Food prices are expected to increase yet again this year, and food manufacturers are making portions smaller without reducing prices. Not surprisingly, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 93 percent of adults report paying more for groceries now than they did a year ago.

So how can we supercharge our grocery dollars and get them to do overtime for us?

Yes, some foods are obviously a better nutritional deal than others (think apples vs. potato chips), but there’s another class of foods that blows the rest of the field away in terms of nutrients and health-protecting qualities: superfoods.

Superfoods can help prevent diabetes and heart disease, repair damage to your body’s cells, and more. But before you go piling them into your cart, know that some superfoods are better nutritional bargains than others. As a doctor and a mom, I’ve sleuthed out which ones are worth the extra cost in terms of their long-term health benefits. Below is the scoop on which ones may help you age better, ward off cancer, and more.

What to Know Before Buying Superfoods

Before we dive into what to buy, there are a few important things to remember about consuming these foods:

Eating foods fresh and in their natural state, especially fruits and vegetables (rather than in pill or powder supplement form), usually allows us to absorb the greatest amount of their nutrients. The way a superfood is processed or cooked can significantly lower its antioxidant content.
If the superfood can’t be eaten fresh, look for easy and appetizing recipes containing it. No matter how “super” a superfood may be, if you don’t know how to cook it, you’ll probably let it go to waste.

Are Superfoods "Good Buys" If I’m Shopping on a Budget?

Read on to find out.

6 Strategies to Save More This Year

Kiplinger — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:27:21 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Saving doesn't come easily for us young adults. Entry-level salaries don't give you a lot to work with. And, well, we also tend to spend what we make - and then some - on the latest gadgets and flashiest fashions.

But don’t worry. We’re not doomed to frivolity and the wreckage it can make of our finances. Here's how you can start saving smart throughout 2012:

Periodically calculate how much you spend. What better time to review your budget than at the start of a New Year? “It’s really hard to [track your spending] each month, so aim for just once or twice a year,” says Jill Boynton, a certified financial planner in Newington, New Hampshire.

Just be sure when you do it that you track everything. Boynton recommends filling out a spreadsheet with a month’s worth of spending. Or you can try an online budgeting tool such as Mint.com (See our slide show: Which Budgeting Site is Best for You?). But note: Mint works best for those who deal mostly in plastic as opposed to cash. When you make an ATM withdrawal, the site labels the transaction as “Cash & ATM.” Unless you diligently manage your cash transactions (you can manually edit Mint’s labels), you can easily lose track of where the money goes.

The drudgery of tracking spending can pay off when you find surprising expenses you could easily cut. At the end of 2011, I crunched my own numbers and found that I shelled out about $200 a month at Starbucks and other restaurants. I’m sure I could cut that by at least half. That’s like finding a $100 bill every month in my back pocket.

Read on for more strategies.

Sexism, Stereotypes, and the Super Bowl: Recent Ads That Sexualize Women

Anna Monette Roberts — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:05:00 PST

Sex sells - especially for Super Bowl ads - and year after year, major companies try to get away with the raciest, steamiest ads possible, often at the expense of women. Cars, food, technology - it doesn't matter what the product is; these ads throw in a hot, skin-baring woman for distraction and buzz. Ahead of the big game tomorrow, let's look back at some of the most scandalous ads in the last few years. And maybe one day we'll see more Super Bowl ads that show women some respect.

Skechers: "Kim Kardashian For Shape-Ups"

Kim teases her trainer by telling him he's "the best she's ever had, but it's not working out," and she prefers her Shape-Up Skechers over him. This 2011 ad is confusing and mismarketed, because it's eye candy for men, yet targeting women. Plus, no woman in her right mind would pass up that smokin' trainer for a pair of sneakers.

Click here to check out more sexualized Super Bowl ads.

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Eating

Jenny Sugar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:44:03 PST

Between meetings, appointments, work deadlines, errands, family obligations, and trips to the gym, our lives can be so busy that we fill our bellies with the quickest, easiest bites we can get our hands on. Whether your goal is to drop unwanted pounds or eat healthier, it's in your best interest to pause before you take your first bite and ask yourself these four important questions.

Am I hungry? Seems like a silly question, because you're eating, so you must be hungry, right? Many times we reach for food out of boredom, convenience (the bag of chips was open), depression (chocolate to drown your breakup sorrows), happiness (to celebrate a promotion), or desire (who could pass up the amazing brownies your co-worker brought in?). But if we recently ate, then we're not even hungry. Make sure you're due for a snack or meal before sitting down to eat one.

Is this food filling holes in my diet? We eat to live and that means the food we gobble down should offer our bodies the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function properly. Aside from being healthy, our daily diet should also be balanced. If you ate a high-protein breakfast of eggs and Greek yogurt topped with nuts, then for a morning snack, you probably want to eat something that offers your body something besides protein, such as fiber, potassium, or vitamin A. Think of each snack and meal as a piece of your daily diet puzzle; an opportunity to take in what your body is lacking.

Keep reading to find out the other two questions you should ask yourself before eating.

Do Solid Foods Help Babies Sleep Through the Night?

BabyCenter — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:37:30 PST

We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Andrea Updyke about that old wives tale that says babies sleep better after eating solid foods.

Feeding a baby can be a non-stop barrage of questions. Is he getting enough? Is he getting too much? How many wet diapers did I change? What color is the poop? I mean seriously, the amount of poop I have inspected just inches from my face is terrifying. And I will tell you this about the first few months of life; things change so fast it can be nearly impossible to keep up.

My babies are big. At birth, my boys were 11lbs and 10lbs. The first was a week early, the second a week late. I just make big babies, what can I say. Couple that with my choice to breastfeed and I was basically a non-stop all you can eat buffet. I don’t think my babies' bellies were ever the size of a marble or a ping pong ball or really anything smaller than a tennis ball ever. I mean, they ate all the time. And though all the experts said it wouldn't make a difference, both babies did immensely better when they started solids.

You can safely start solids between 4-6 months of age. While I had hoped to breastfeed exclusively until 6 months, we opted for solids at 5 months for both boys. Why am I telling you this? Well, because I think sometimes we get so caught up in what we think is right and normal that we forget to have conversations about what actually worked for us. No judgement, just dialogue.

My youngest is now just over 5 months old and until the past couple of weeks has been nursing or sometimes drinking a bottle every 3 hours around the clock. I discussed when to start solids with our pediatrician and he gave the same warning I have read all over the internet, solids won't really help the sleep thing. It's more about learning how to eat.

So I thought, why rush it? He is a happy baby. He eats well and sleeps well (when he sleeps). Maybe he just isn't there yet. But then 2 or 3 wakings became 4 or 5 and he was no longer content with a pacifier and eating more frequently during the day all the while watching my every move when I ate my meals. Over Christmas we decided to start feeding him oatmeal. Let me just tell you, there was no learning how to eat. This boy knew exactly what to do. He ate and he ate.

In the past two weeks he has increased to two meals a day, each with oatmeal and banana and he seems so content! His naps are better. He goes right to sleep when it's time for bed and last night he only woke up once in a 10 hour period.

Can it be the solids or is it really convenient timing? Maybe it's because my boys were so big to begin with? All I know is the more sleep mama gets, the happier we all are.

Someone pass me the sweet potatoes.

More great stories from BabyCenter.com:
How did I miss pneumonia?
20 cures for cabin fever
Warning: New acetaminophen dosage change
You know you're at grandma's when . . .
4 cool ways to store Legos

Source: Flickr User dacia mitchell

Save on Eating Out in 2012 With These 12 Realistic Tips!

Emily Co — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:05:07 PST

One of the hardest thing to budget in the past year was eating habits, according to SavvySugar readers. Of course, there is always the simple solution of just eating at home more often, but you can still cut your food bill here and there when you're eating out. We've given you plenty of tips in the past on how to save when eating out so we're rehashing some of the best ones as well as throwing in some our new frugal ideas! Here they are:

Use coupons. Go to Restaurant.com and enter in a coupon code for restaurant.com that'll get you a $25 voucher for only $2. You can find the coupon code by searching the keyword "restaurant.com" on the coupon site RetailMeNot. Buy a local Entertainment book worth $15 that will give you lots of buy one get one free coupons for restaurants.

Don't eat out when you're dining solo. Try to save your meal excursions for when you're with friends and family. This means that if you're planning on grabbing a quick bite by yourself, it's better to prepare something at home to eat instead. A big part of the joy of eating out is ambiance and company, so save your money and skip grabbing quick meals when you're alone.

Ration meals with friends. Even if you're saving all your meals out for when you have company, don't be too liberal when you're scheduling them. Try to rotate among different people if you're planning on having one-on-one dinners and space it out. Remember you can always catch up with people over drinks or during a fun activity so don't feel bad about skipping dinner.

Opt for lunch: Oftentimes, the lunch menu is a lot cheaper than dinner. When meeting up with people, try to opt for lunch as your preferred meal. Be sure to also pick their lunch specials.

Read on for more tips.

7 Tips For Being the Best Gift Giver

Colleen Barrett — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:46:41 PST

Like most things, all you need to know to be an amazing gift giver can be found in the words of 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy. "Gift giving is the purest expression of friendship," he tells Liz Lemon. "I'm going to think about what I know and like about you and that will lead me to the perfect gift. And you do the same."

The problem is we don't always know the people we're buying gifts for as much as we'd like, so I've rounded up some advice that will make you the best gift giver under the tree. After all, competition is what the holidays are all about.
Get the tips below.