Mindful Momma

Where to Find Natural & Organic Coupons

A kind commenter on a post about Organic Food on a Budget over at the Huffington Post yesterday, mentioned me as a source for info about coupons for organic and natural foods.  I'd hate to disappoint any HuffPo readers who happen to come my way so I decided to do a quick post on the topic!!  Truth be told, this is not a topic I cover very often, but I am a die-hard coupon-clipper and I do write about it occasionally, either on the blog or over on my Facebook Page. 

Here's my basic philosophy about coupons:  Never buy something you wouldn't buy anyway.  I saw a photo in the newspaper recently of a woman showing off her pantry full of food that she had purchased for pennies on the dollar by using coupons.  She had a pantry full of junk food!!  When I use coupons it is mostly for staples like organic dairy, natural cleaning products, fair trade coffee...and of course the occasional box of cookies. (Trust me, I'm not that healthy!!)

So without further ado...here's a round-up of my favorite sources for organic and natural coupons:

• Mambo Sprouts- Sign up to get free coupon books in the mail or go for the printables available on the site.  I dig the high value coupons like $2 off Equal Exchange coffee or BOGO (buy one, get one free) on Back to Nature products.
• Co-op Advantage - The National Cooperative Growers Association puts out an excellent coupon book that comes out quarterly (I think).  Find it in participating stores. I get mine in the mail but I couldn't find a place to request books online so you may need to ask about that at your local co-op.  Coupons are good at participating locations only (meaning they're no good at your regular grocery store).
• EcoMetro Guide- This fabulous coupon book sells for $20 but it's loaded (and I mean loaded!) with valuable coupons that you can use throughout the year.  It is also a great fundraising tool - I ran the fundraiser at my son's elementary school this year!  Here in the Twin Cities, it goes by the name Blue Sky Guide but the book is also available in Portland, Seattle, Denver, East Bay - CA and the Silicon Valley/Santa Cruz area.
• HealthESavers- Printable coupons available online or by email subscription - I've used coupons for Organic Valley but they seem to be more focused on vitamins and supplements so I stopped my subscription.
• Whole Deal - If you shop at Whole foods you should definitely get on the Whole Deal email list to get the scoop on in-store deals.  Or download the bi-monthly brochure - you'll find a bunch of good coupons in there!
• Vitamin Angels - I recently received a coupon book in the mail that is a collaboration between a group called Vitamin Angels, The Organic Center and the Organic Trade Association.  Apparently it's available at many natural food retailers, including Whole Foods. 
• Company websites - Many company websites offer printable coupons on-site.  Some of the ones I peruse are Organic Valley, Stonyfield Farm and Seventh Generation.  You may have to register first before you can get to the coupons.
• The Mix - If you live in the Twin Cities be sure to check out The Mix, a publication of Twin Cities Food Co-ops, for the latest on in-store specials + great articles about health and nutrition.  Lots of great deals here!!!

Update:  Some of my readers are chiming in with more great resources:

• Tiffany just gave me the scoop on another fabulous coupon resource called the Natural Food List.  Sign up for the free coupon newsletter and be a fan of their Facebook page to learn about even more deals on natural and organic products! 
• Janelle reminded me about EcoBunga - a guide to green giveaways and deals. Click on the Save Green tab to find deals on a variety of consumer products including body care, clothing, light bulbs, food, even a bicycle!
• Sprout Twin Cities wants to make sure everyone knows about their website full of great green deals around the Twin Cities.  Join for free and then start clicking on deal after deal.

Where do you find coupons for natural and organic products?  Please share!!

Mindful Momma Giveaway: miessence Certified Organic Skin Care

Back about 15 years ago I used to be a buyer for a natural bath & body care company here in the Twin Cities.  This was in the hey-day of the 'natural' body care boom...when companies like The Body Shop and Bath & Body Works were opening stores faster than mold grows on cheese. 

Many, many skin care products passed over my desk during the 5+ years I held that job and I let me tell you...there was a lot of crap (disguised as natural) mixed in with the quality products.  I didn't know much about the beauty industry when I started but I learned a TON about product ingredients in that job!  One of the most surprising things to me was that if you want to have a truly natural product...one without synthetic preservatives or artificial fragrances...it is going to have a limited shelf life.   

And unless you move a LOT of product, a shelf life can pose a problem for a retail store.  I remember turning away some product lines because we could not risk buying product that might not sell fast enough before it went bad.  Natural preservatives found in plants, herbs and essential oils do help to keep products fresh but most skin care lines contain some type of synthetically processed ingredients (even if they are derived from plants) as preservatives.

Well that's a long-winded segue into what I'm really here to tell you about today:  miessence certified organic skin care.  miessence is what I would consider to be the Cadillac of natural skin care lines.  It is truly natural and YES, it does have a shelf life (of about 6 months after opening).  That's also the reason why you won't find miessence in many retail stores. The products are typically sold online so that they can be shipped fresh as customers need them.  Besides the fresh-factor, here are some more reasons to love miessence:

• Certified organic by Australia's leading certifying body - Australian Certified Organic (ACO).  It's an independent, third-party guarantee of quality and purity of ingredients.
• Products contain ACTIVE levels of botanical ingredients that are directly beneficial to your skin.
• Cold formulation assures that heat has not reduced the potency of the ingredients in any way.
• Concentrated, rich formulas means a little product goes a long way.
• Pump containers dispense just the right amount (so you don't use more than you need) and protects the product from contamination.

A couple other things to keep in mind:

• Cost- No doubt you will notice that miessence is more expensive than some other natural brands.  Just remember - you are paying for high quality botanicals and certified organic ingredients.  The concentrated formulas last a lot longer than most conventional products!
• Location- miessence products are made in Australia which means they are far from being local.  That's a trade-off that you will have to make for yourself but I would argue that your skin is worth it!

Erin Ely of Ely Organics is an independent miessence representative based in Eugene, OR and she was kind enough to send me a skin care travel set (at no charge) to sample.  I chose the rejuvenating line for my 'mature' skin. :)  The set includes a cleanser, a skin conditioner (like a supercharged, botanical toner) and a moisturizer.  And here is my completely  unbiased opinion.....the products are lovely!!  All three have a wonderful herbal scents that I love.  They are very natural scents based on essential oils and botanicals of course (no icky phthalates here!)

The cleanser is my favorite product...soothing and creamy and not at all drying.  It's harder to tell what's happening with the skin conditioner because it is a liquid, but a peek at the ingredient list tells me that my skin is being nourished with organic rose and chamomile to rejuvenate and firm...and I can't complain about that!  You can tell the moisturizer is super high-quality because it is light and rich at the same time...without being the least bit greasy.  That's a hard formula to create!  My only problem with the moisturizer is that it is not quite rich enough to handle my super-dry, Minnesota-winter skin.  Erin suggested that I try a few drops of the rejuvenessence serum on top of the moisturizer.  I'm planning to order it and check it out...but wanted to hurry up and get this giveaway going first!

Speaking of the giveaway...let's get to it!!  Erin has offered up a $50 miessence gift certificate to one Mindful Momma reader!! Whoa - wouldn't that be fun to spend??  For a chance to win, please check out Erin's Ely Organics website and let us know what miessence products you would be interested in trying!  Also please consider joining the Erin's Facebook page to keep up with all the latest sales, giveaways and new product information.  Or follow her on Twitter @erinely.  The giveaway will run through Monday, March 1st at midnight, central time and the winner will be chosen using my trusty random number generator.

P.S. In case you're interested: miessence organic perfumes are 20% off through the end of February!

The lucky winner is:  Maura who said she would like to try the firming eye and neck serum!!!  Congratulations Maura!!

Green Discoveries: Recycled Jewelry

Everyone knows that a fun piece of jewelry can totally make an outfit.  Why not make even more of a statement with jewelry made from recycled or repurposed materials?  Here are a few fun companies making eco-minded jewelry for you to contemplate...

These pretty Blossom earrings by artist Chaya Caron are made from recycled silver and can be found at Turtle Love Committee - a business dedicated to creating cool jewelry that's good for people and the planet.

Chiossone & Co. takes reclaimed wood and uses a laser to cut it into gorgeous designs!  I just love this Seed of Life necklace- made from reclaimed cocobolo wood.  Be sure to check out the rest of the collection...found at 1000 Markets (yet another online marketplace for handmade gifts!)

Vintage 1960's lucite meets modern design with these AnyWhoo earrings from Buzz Buzz Designs.  Artist Kristin strives to keep old plastic jewelry out of the landfill so she transforms it into special pieces that modern-day gals love!  I'm feeling groovy just looking at them!

Shopping in the Basement

Last weekend my husband and I went shopping in the basement.  Not Filene's Basement, but our very own basement/storage room that is filled to the brim with stuff that has no better place to go.  We went searching for picture frames but came upstairs with a jackpot of long-forgotten goodies with which to decorate our home! 

Various remodeling/redecorating projects over the years meant that many perfectly good household items made their way to the basement and never came back out.  Seriously - I had forgotten about many of them!  What fun it was to rediscover things and put them back into circulation...we were redecorating without spending a dime!  Here are a few of the things that we found...

• An old wall clock that has finally returned to the kitchen (it had been taken down when we last painted the kitchen)
• A beautiful hand-blown glass vase that goes perfectly with our kitchen decor.
• Vintage pottery pieces we have collected over the years.  It's great to put them back into the mix again....I tend to rotate things like this.
• My old juicer that I had banished to the basement after I got my VitaMix.  (I had forgotten how much I love carrot juice from a regular juicer - the VitaMix version is too thick for my taste.)
• An old coffee grinder that just might be cleaned out and put into use for spices.
• A metal bar that my husband repurposed as a sunglasses holder for the coat closet.

All that plus at least 8 picture frames that we updated with new photos.  It saved me a trip to the store and my husband was thrilled to have current photos for his desk at work!

Have you ever shopped in the basement?  Tell me what you've discovered!!

Handmade Valentines are the Sweetest!

Last year I went all out and made Valentine's Day cards out of Liam's old artwork.  This year (sigh!), I opted for store-bought because there just wasn't enough time. 

But I want to share this adorable homemade Valentine's Day card that Liam brought home from his preschool Valentine's Day party today.  It looks like it's made from old wallpaper and wrapping paper scraps. 

On the back it says "I'll Owl-Ways Be Your Friend" 

Send me a pic of your favorite handmade Valentine's Day cards and I'll put them up on my Facebook page!!
 

Preparing to Reduce TakeOut Waste

Before I left the house yesterday I chucked a banana in my purse thinking it would tide me over while I was out running errands.  One errand led to another, the banana was long gone and all of a sudden I was starving!!  So I ended up with a salad and a drink from a deli at the mall.  I also ended up with a bunch of garbage:  a plastic deli container, a drink cup, lid and straw and a couple of paper napkins. I'm sad to say that it all went into the trash. 

Getting better at reducing this kind of waste has been on my mind for awhile.  I always feel guilty about it but I haven't come up with a solid plan for how to avoid it.  Truth be told...I'm a bit embarrassed to be seen as an eco-geek.  I'm cool with bring all sorts of containers to the co-op, but out there in the 'real' world, I'm less comfortable rocking the boat.  Let's say I bring a reusable container to the deli and ask them to fill it up instead of using a new plastic container.  What if the salesperson gets confused or thinks I'm a nutcase?  What if people look at me weird for bringing out my own utensils?  What I've realized during my many years on the planet is that I don't like to draw attention to myself.

But this is a hurdle that I'd like to try to get over.  Why should I care if someone thinks I'm a nut?  What do I really have to lose?  Taking the time to educate people about a greener lifestyle is obviously something I enjoy doing, why not do it with complete strangers every once in awhile?

Part of what's got me motivated is this awesome new campaign called TakeOut WithOut.  It encourages both consumers (that's us!) and restaurants to reduce restaurant waste by forgoing unnecessary food packaging.  I'm psyched that they are working to get restaurants on board with the program because, just like bringing plastic bags to the grocery, once you get the store in on it, customers will feel much more comfortable participating.  The campaign website also offers downloadable wallet cards that you can hand out to your favorite restaurants to help explain the concept.

The other thing that got me motivated was that Beth from Fake Plastic Fish asked us GreenMoms about how we handle this kind of stuff and I was kind of embarrassed to admit that I'm not very good at it.  So I came up with a plan for reducing waste from takeout.  Take it or leave it...

Think Ahead - Anticipate when you will need to eat out.  Don't be unrealistic like me - thinking that a banana will tide you over for hours on end.  

Make a TakeOut Kit - You can keep it in your purse or your car - whatever works for you.  For awhile there I was keeping my glass straw and my nifty utensil wrap in my purse but it was getting too cluttered so I took them out. Now I am going to keep those things plus some previously used takeout containers in an old lunchbag - in my car.  My plan is to pull out what I think I will need before I go into the store.   

Choose Wisely - Support restaurants that are cool with people bringing their own containers...or at the very least, provide compostable ones.  Skip stuff you don't need like straws, lids, plastic bags or extra napkins.

Next time I need to eat while running errands, I've got no excuse.  I'm viewing it as social experiment....and a test of my own courage. :)  Wish me luck....

How do you handle takeout?  Do you bring your own containers?  How about a reusable straw?  Does being viewed as an eco-geek worry you or are you a brazen eco-warrier without concern?

A Trip to the Co-op

A simple trip to my local food co-op is never very simple.  First I round up a bunch of bottles, jars and tubs to use for oats, nuts, sugar, soy sauce, honey etc...

Then I grab any plastic bags I have around to use for produce or to dump in the It's In the Bag, plastic bag recycling center.

Of course, I don't want to forget my little envelope of money-saving coupons!

 
and finally, the shopping bags (which I keep in the car).
 

Do you bring all this stuff to the co-op too?  What tricks do you have for organizing and remembering to bring everything?  The hardest part for me is figuring out which jars and containers I need to bring.  I have to store my empty containers in the basement because I don't have enough room in my kitchen so it's a bit of extra work to get it all together.  Totally worth it, but sometimes a pain! 
 

Sustainable Chocolate for Valentine's Day: Part 3 - A Few More Gems

Are you sick of chocolate yet?  Is that even possible?  Here are a few more of the Organic, Fair Trade chocolate-makers I've run across in my search for chocolate I can feel good about eating.  (be sure to read my first two posts about Equal Exchange and Kallari chocolates if you haven't already)

Green & Black's - Many a chocolate bar from this purveyor has been consumed in our house.  They have lots of yummy flavors like ginger, mint, cherry and espresso although I have to admit, plain old dark is still my favorite.  While they have always been organic, the company has only recently committed to begin using 100% Fair Trade ingredients.  Good move!  (Note:  they say it will take through the rest of the year for the complete line to become Fair Trade certified but their popular Maya Gold bar already is.)

Divine - A UK-based company whose mission is to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana, West Africa.  Products are Fair Trade certified but are not organic because there is currently no system in place in Ghana for organic certification.  I don't think I've tried Divine yet, but I'm going to be on the lookout for this Mint Dark Chocolate bar!

Theo Chocolate - Claims to be the only bean-to-bar Organic, Fair Trade chocolate company in the United States. (if you live in Seattle you can go on a factory tour to see their magic in action!)  I can't vouch for them personally (yet!) but I'm betting they're good!  (love the artsy packaging on the new Origin line - with bars sourced from Costa Rica, Ghana and Madagascar)

Sweet Earth Chocolates - Splurge on a heart-shaped box of truffles or help the people of Haiti by purchasing a Haiti Relief Bar where $1.00 per bar goes to Partners in Health to provide health care in Haiti.  I indulge in their individually-wrapped chocolates from time to time.  My local co-op smartly stocks them right next to the cash register. :)

This is by no means an exhaustive list of Organic and Fair Trade chocolate companies...just a few that I've tried (or would like to try!)  What are your favorite sustainable chocolate brands??? 

Sustainable Chocolate for Valentine's Day: Part 2: Kallari

Next up in our chocolate investigation, we sampled 3 single-source chocolate bars from Kallari, a cooperative of 850 indigenous Kichwa families in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Kallari Association pays a high premium for beans and puts 100% of the profits from sales back into the cooperative to support sustainable development, health and education programs.  Because of this, Kallari claims their chocolate is four times as fair as ‘Fair Trade'. (They choose to carry the Rainforest Alliance seal instead of being certified by the Fair Trade Association) 

And if you're wondering what single-source means, it simply means that the cocoa beans come from one specific location, as opposed to a blend of beans from all over the world, as is very common with chocolate manufacturing.  It does NOT mean however, that the beans are all one variety.  Similar to wine, Kallari chocolates are a blend of varietals, the most prominent being the Cacao Nacional de Arriba bean.

Kallari produces 3 types of bars - 85% cocoa, 75% cocoa and 70% cocoa.  Yep, that's it - no hazelnut or cherry or flavor of the day.  Just cocoa, sugar and vanilla. But enough explanation, how did they taste? The wild thing is that each bar tastes different, even though the basic ingredients are the same. 

70% Cocoa - The 'sweetest' of the bars (although it's all relative, this stuff is not sweet compared to the chocolate most people eat). My 9 year old said it was creamy and I liked the way it melts in your mouth.  Mmmmmmm!

75% Cocoa- My husband noticed the concentration of cocoa flavor and the long finish (remember, he's the wine guy!). I noticed that it was more bitter than the 70% but in a good way.  My palate must not be very well developed because the description of this bar speaks of a rich passion fruit flavor and I was at a complete loss to notice any fruit in this bar.  I liked it though...it's very rich and a bit smoky.

85% Cocoa- Whoa!  This is one strong chocolate bar!  Once again my husband had the most salient point:  it seems more like an ingredient than something you would eat on its own.  I would have to agree.  While I enjoyed trying it, this chocolate was very satiating...it didn't leave me clamoring for more.

You can find Kallari chocolate bars at many Whole Foods locations as well as on chocosphere.com.  Buy some for your sweetie and have your own little chocolate tasting experience!!

(come back tomorrow for Part 3 of my search for great Organic, Fair-Trade chocolate!)

Sustainable Chocolate for Valentine's Day: Part 1 - Equal Exchange

We've really had it rough around here lately.  My family has had the tough job of taste-testing chocolate to recommend for Valentine's Day.  Organic, Fair Trade chocolate, no less. 

We began with a chocolate and coffee tasting.  Equal Exchange sent me a Chocolate & Coffee Pairing Gift Bag, a nicely packaged set that includes 2 bags of Organic, Fair-Trade certified coffee (Love Buzz and Mind, Body & Soul) and 2 each of the Organic Extra-Dark and Organic Milk Chocolate (w/a hint of hazelnut) bars.  Plus instructions for how to go about doing a chocolate & coffee pairing. 

So after lunch on Sunday, I brewed up a pot of Love Buzz and we got to work.  First we sniffed, then we popped a chocolate square in our mouths and took a little sip of coffee with it.  Then we had fun describing the flavors.  My 9 year old took it very seriously (although he was a little short on descriptive adjectives) while my 5 year old just gobbled up the chocolate. My husband, who used to work in the wine trade, came up with more sophisticated things to say like 'smoky' and 'balanced' to describe the flavors.  Personally, I thought both chocolates were excellent but that milk chocolate with the coffee was seriously good!!! (and I'm a dark chocolate gal all the way!) 

Yes, my boys got a tiny little serving of coffee and they were none the worse for it!  Personally, I think it's good to teach your kids to slow down and really taste and appreciate what they eat.  If you want to try a chocolate and coffee tasting for yourself you can purchase the set at the Equal Exchange online retail store.  Use the code 'chocolatelove'for free shipping in the contiguous US (good through February 14th).

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 in our quest for great-tasting, sustainably produced chocolate!

{Full disclosure: There are affiliate links for Equal Exchange in this post}