Showing posts with label Safe Products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safe Products. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Celebrating Earth Today and Every Day
We all know the tried and true mantra of "reduce, reuse, recycle" but how do each of us actually put it into practice? Carmela and I really do try to do so in both our personal lives and with Simplify. For example, at Simplify, we offer green housecleaning services with natural non-toxic cleaners that are not harmful to our health or our environment and we go paperless as much as possible, emailing invoices and communications to clients and offering automatic credit card payment. We've even had beautiful reusable grocery bags made up (pictured above) that you can win today - see below for details!
Green living is one of our principles and we blog frequently on the subject, including celebrating a green Halloween, green cleaning with natural alternatives and simple money-saving green tips.
Personally, my family tries to recycle as much as possible and we use reusable bottles and containers, use natural cleaners and cleansing products and even recently have started using cloth napkins. Now, every time I use a paper napkin or a paper towel, the phrase "these come from trees" pops into my head like a Pavlovian response!
However, I'm most impressed with my kids who know all the rules about turning lights off and shutting the water off when brushing their teeth. They even get to lecturing me - the other day after my 6 year old daughter put the avocados in our fruit bowl, she told me we should reuse the mesh bag and proceeded to put her leftover plastic Easter eggs in it!
How do you celebrate the Earth today and every day? Please share your tips with us - best comment today wins the snazzy Simplify reusable bag pictured above! Happy Earth Day!
Green living is one of our principles and we blog frequently on the subject, including celebrating a green Halloween, green cleaning with natural alternatives and simple money-saving green tips.
Personally, my family tries to recycle as much as possible and we use reusable bottles and containers, use natural cleaners and cleansing products and even recently have started using cloth napkins. Now, every time I use a paper napkin or a paper towel, the phrase "these come from trees" pops into my head like a Pavlovian response!
However, I'm most impressed with my kids who know all the rules about turning lights off and shutting the water off when brushing their teeth. They even get to lecturing me - the other day after my 6 year old daughter put the avocados in our fruit bowl, she told me we should reuse the mesh bag and proceeded to put her leftover plastic Easter eggs in it!
How do you celebrate the Earth today and every day? Please share your tips with us - best comment today wins the snazzy Simplify reusable bag pictured above! Happy Earth Day!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Costco & Safeway Organic Eggs Recalled
You may have already heard, but Costco & Safeway brown organic eggs have been voluntarily recalled because of a potential of salmonella contamination. Here are the details:Costco: The eggs are Kirkland Organic Brown Eggs in 18 count cartons. Expiration dates and plant codes are as follow:
April 1 062, 35 P1776
April 8 069, 35 P1776
Safeway: The eggs are sold at 71 Safeway and Pack n’ Save stores as O Organic Grade A Large Brown Eggs in one dozen (12 count) cartons. Expiration date and plant code are as follows:
April 1 062, 35 P1776
There haven't been any reported illnesses in connection with the eggs, but better safe than sorry!Thursday, February 5, 2009
Update: Peanut Butter Product Recall
And the list of products on the recall list is growing - some don't even have peanuts or peanut butter, such as Kellogg's Keebler 2.5 oz. Soft Batch Homestyle Chocolate Chunk and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies "Best-by" June 30, 2009 and Special K Protein™ Meal Bar Honey Almond variety only, 6-count and 8-count packages, with a “Best If Used Before” date prior to February 1, 2010. Kellogg's press release says, "Although these products do not contain any peanut ingredients from Peanut Corporation of America, they were produced at another company’s facility on the same line as products that were made for other companies using potentially contaminated PCA ingredients. For that reason, this voluntary recall is being issued out of an abundance of caution."
Check out the product database on the FDA's website, or search directly in the handy widget below!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
List of Peanut Butter Product Recalls
The FDA has a list of recalled products by category on its website and you can also perform a search by brand name, description or UPC code.
Our household is generally staying away from peanut products just to be safe, because it's a little overwhelming just how many products peanuts are in.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Cool Safer Toy Gift Guide
I love to shop. Especially for my kids - toys, clothes, accessories, you name it. But, Toys R Us is a little dizzying for me and with all of the recalls of late, I find myself looking for alternatives.
We've stumbled upon this cool Safer Toy Guide from the Cool Mom Picks website. There are handcrafted, locally made, organic, fair trade, and safer toys. Check out this year's guide by clicking on the image below. There's also links to online stores and discount codes. Happy shopping!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Lean Cuisine frozen chicken meals recalled
The three types of meals recalled by Nestle Prepared Foods Company are: Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta, Chicken Mediterranean and Chicken Tuscan. The meals were all produced between August 18 to October 27 and distributed to retail establishments nationwide. The USDA's press release on the recall contains production codes of the specific products. Nestle's recall hotline is (800) 227-6188 and the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline is 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854).
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Good/Bad Plastics Numbers
Today I was trying to remember which plastics are the good ones and which are the bad ones. Because let's face it, with kids plastic is a part of my life. After a little Googling, the good plastics are #1, 2, 4, 5 and the bad ones are #3, 6, 7. Here's a good Smart Plastics Guide that describes what's in each type. Bisphenol A (BPA) leaches from polycarbonate plastic which is #7. I downloaded this handy card from The Green Guide for the next time I'm in the store and I forget (which I know I inevitably will!).
Friday, November 7, 2008
Get Notified of Product Recalls
Click here to sign up for emails from the FDA when they recall products.
Click here to sign up for notification emails regarding product recalls from the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can specify to receive all product recalls or only those involving infant/child products, household products, specialty products, etc.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Update: Picture of Gold Chocolate Pirate Coins With Melamine
These are the candies that have been sold at Costcos in Canada that contain melamine. For more information on melamine and the Chinese candies with melamine, go to the FDA's update on Melamine Contamination in China or the MomsRising.org website.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Halloween Warning: Melamine Found in Candy Made in China
The following post was written by Tara Tucker who is in one of my mom's groups and it's the most thorough summary I've seen so far on this issue. Be sure to check out the youtube video too which is very informative.
~~~~~
I have been reading this morning about concern that any candy made in
China may contain Melamine, specifically chocolate candy. In addition
to baby formula being contaminated with Melamine, dry milk powder has
been contaminated with Melamine. They have found melamine in chocolate
pirate coins in Canada, and Canada just called for a full recall. The
same chocolate pirate coins are sold at Costco. Cadbury is recalling
all its candy made in China because tests show it contains Melamine.
Many news reports are speculating that candy sold at many of our
retailers (Target, Walmart) are made in China. They have dry milk
powder as a main ingredient, so may contain Melamine. The concern is
not currently about traditional small candy bars, but more unique things
like white chocolate "eyes" and chocolate novelties.
Check out this youtube video about candy available at Target and other stores.
The reason is that they can put less milk in the milk powder, and if
they add melamine, it gives an artificially high reading on protein
content, so the nutrition test doesn't catch that the milk powder is
diluted.
Many heard on the news yesterday that in addition to the baby formula
and dry milk powder that China found laced with Melamine, they have now
found Melamine in raw eggs (not egg powder, real eggs). That is because
the Chinese chicken feed manufacturers added Melamine to the chicken feed.
Please be careful about buying any food that was made in China, and read
the ingredients. If it has milk, milk powder, or eggs, maybe it isn't
worth the risk.
Monday, June 9, 2008
BPA free sippy cup update
However, I just bought the Nuby 10 oz Two Handle Sippy Cup & the Nuby Easy Grip 10oz Sipper Cup. I haven't yet tried them, but they don't have too many parts, all the reviews I've read say they don't leak, and they're about half the price of the Thinkbaby. Now I just have to cross my fingers that my 8 month old will like them! After all, what good is all this sippy cup madness if he doesn't drink from the darn cups?!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
More on BPA-free sippy cups
After doing some more research, I ordered the ThinkBaby training cup & the Nurture Pure Grow Pure Multi-Stage Feeder & Sippy Cup. The Nurture Pure cup is interesting because it comes with 3 different tops to grow with your kid - a nipple, a sippy & a straw. But, both look like they satisfy my criteria of not having too many darn parts! We'll see...
I'm also interested in the Safe Sippy, but every online retailer seems to be out of them. Also, after reading zrecs' review of them, I'm not sure about the straw angle & ease of use for a 7 month old. The Boon Fluid cup also *looks* nice, but frankly, I just don't know how I would even clean it!
Lastly, I will just say that I really want to like the Kleen Kanteen, but I just can't stand the squeaky cap. Even the plastic caps for the sippy spout squeak against the stainless steel bottle.
I know all the mainstream brands are moving away from BPA, but I think it's just too confusing for me right now to keep track of which brand and then which cups are BPA-free (although the Z Report on BPA does a good job of sorting this mess out!)
Friday, April 25, 2008
BPA-Free Resources
BPA has been a concern of mine for some time now as well as going green and organic. Our household eats organic whenever we can, we've switched to green cleaning products, replaced our tupperware with glass containers and switched to PEG-free shampoo and soaps. However, there are some things I just can't change. I still haven't been able to find a PEG free lotion that I like. But it's an evolving process though and... you do what you can, right?
When my son Jackson was born in Sept. 2007, I had read up on The Complete Organic Pregnancy by Deidre Dolan and Alexandra Zissu, painted the baby's room with low-VOC paint, switched to Seventh Generation wipes and diapers and got glass bottles. The bottle has been a battle from Day 1 and at 7 months, the most he's ever taken over a whole day in daycare is 7 oz. total! After trying all sorts of bottles and nipples, the bottles he finally relented to were the Playtex nursers with liners. After a mini panic attack about whether these bottles & liners were safe, I found Playtex's products material chart that says in fact, the bottles & disposable liners are BPA free. Phew! Now on to the plastic teethers, bath toys, toys and everything else he puts in his mouth!
Anyway, if you're a little overwhelmed like me, I've found some helpful websites to help navigate through all this.
National Geographic's Green Guide is great and has a bottle Brand product rating chart with the type of plastic used.
Z Recs has a BPA report that has a directory listing categories of products by company that are BPA free. They have a printable wallet card and best of all, you can text them with "zrecs" and the name of a company or product from your cell phone while you're in the store to find out its BPA status.
The Soft Landing is a cool webstore that sells BPA, PVC and Phthalate free products, including bottles, sippys, teethers, bathing toys, utensils and dishes, bibs, and stainless steel bottles. Check out the Soft Landing blog as well.
And, for everyone who has a toddler, I think bamboo dishes are a great alternative to plastic, but if they're lacquered, they're not dishwasher safe. Check out the cute dinosaur bamboo plates from Green Feet. Speaking of toddlers/preschoolers, I recently put my foot down with my 4 1/2 year old and got rid of her sippy cups. Ever since she was 1, she's downed 8 oz of warm milk in a sippy cup right when she gets up because "it just doesn't taste good in a regular cup." Now she downs the milk in a stainless steel Thermos Funtainer. :) I think the straw aspect still satisfies her need to suck.
And while we're on the subject of non-plastic toddler/preschooler cups, my own personal survey results are that 1) she likes the Sigg bottle designs, but not the toddler cap and has trouble unscrewing the loop cap by herself (if I wanted to put them in her lunch); 2) I can't stand the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard sound of the Kleen Kanteen stainless steel caps against the stainless steel bottle; and 3) I've tried the Foogo sippys with my 7 month old, but I have to say, I'm not a fan of the many parts and you have to line it up & screw it on just right so it won't leak.
Finally, because my husband doesn't like Sigg bottles for some reason (which I use), I'm going to get him a cool Think Sport stainless steel bottle so he can stop wasting all the one-use disposable plastic water bottles (and stop leaving them everywhere around the house!).
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