National
Survey Reveals Moms Are ''Reddi'' for Real Ingredients
|
|
Stephanie
Moritz, ConAgra Foods
Not All Toppings Are Created Equal: Reddi-wip(R)
Real Whipped Light Cream and Award-Winning Pastry Chef
Gale Gand Team up to Encourage Real Family Fun
NAPERVILLE,
Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2008--According to a
national survey, American moms are trying to keep it
real - searching for foods made from real, wholesome
ingredients. More than 80 percent of moms surveyed say
the inclusion of real ingredients is an important factor
when making shopping decisions. In fact, moms surveyed
said the top three deciding factors are taste, nutrition
and inclusion of real ingredients. Reddi-wip, made with
real dairy cream, is one example of what moms today are
looking for. It is the only national whipped topping
brand made with real dairy cream, providing moms
everywhere with a creamy, delicious way to serve up
"real" family fun.
"Foods
made with real ingredients just taste better," said
Gale Gand, nationally recognized restaurateur, cookbook
author and pastry chef. "Reddi-wip is my first
choice when it comes to whipped toppings because it is
made with real dairy cream. Plus, it's convenient and
can easily transform fruit and simple snacks into fun,
delicious treats for family, friends and guests."
A
squirt of Reddi-wip can turn a simple bowl of fruit into
a treat or a cup of coffee into a small luxury. It is
rich and creamy because its main ingredient is real
dairy cream; most other national brands are primarily a
mix of hydrogenated oil and water.
"As
a pastry chef, I prefer fresh ingredients that are
either homemade or taste like it, but like many busy
moms, I don't always have the time to make meals and
treats from scratch," said Gand. "Reddi-wip is
a fun treat for the family and as close as you can get
to homemade whipped cream without the time and
effort." Gand adds, "Reddi-wip can make it
easier for busy moms to get their kids to eat the foods
they need."
Most
moms feel pressed for time (70 percent say they have no
more than an hour of "me time" each day, if
that) and are faced with more and more picky eaters
(one-in-four moms surveyed have a hard time getting
their kids to eat whole grains, like oatmeal, and more
than 10 percent of moms have a hard time getting their
children to eat dairy foods and fresh fruits). Reddi-wip
provides mom with a just-like-homemade touch that can
put smiles on the faces of her pickiest eaters. It also
makes moms smile with only 15 calories per serving.
Following
are some ways to add real fun and flavor to any occasion
- morning, noon or night - with the real goodness of
Reddi-wip:
-- Morning: Start the day with a smile by adding a
dollop of
Reddi-wip to
kids' favorite breakfast foods, including
pancakes,
waffles, oatmeal, cereal or muffins;
-- Noon: Make the lunch hour or
midday snack a little more
festive by
topping pudding cups, gelatin, graham crackers
(make some
s'mores with graham crackers, chocolate sauce and
Reddi-wip),
fruit cups, yogurt or fruit smoothies with a bit
of Reddi-wip;
-- Night: Reddi-wip is a
perfect way to top off the day with a
dollop on
cookies, ice cream, sorbet, brownies, cakes, hot
chocolate -
even pretzels!
For
a touch of real cream and real fun, look for all four of
Reddi-wip's real whipped light cream varieties
including, Original Reddi-wip available in a 7 oz. and
14 oz. can, Extra Creamy Reddi-wip available in a 7 oz.
and 14 oz. can, Fat Free Reddi-wip available in a 7 oz.
can, and Chocolate Reddi-wip available in a 6.5 oz can.
For more real fun tips, visit www.reddiwip.com.
About
ConAgra Foods
Reddi-wip
is a brand of ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG). ConAgra
Foods is one of North America's leading packaged food
companies, serving grocery retailers as well as
restaurants and other foodservice establishments.
Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include: Banquet,
Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew
National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville
Redenbacher's, PAM, and many others. For more
information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
(1)
Ketchum and M/A/R/C Research polled 500 working mothers
over the age of 18 who have children under the age of 18
at home. Margin of error is +/- 4.4 percentage points at
the 95 percent confidence level. Full results are
available upon request.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5641978
|
It’s YOUR choice, make it healthy
Kay Blakley, DeCA Europe
Consumer Advocate
FORT
LEE,
VA
- Feb 2008
-With
March being National Nutrition Month, you’ll no doubt be
hearing and reading lots of news about the recently
published Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food
Guide Pyramid, which is being revised to reflect those
recommendations in more detail. In announcing the
guidelines, government officials describe the new advice as
very similar to what has been in place for the past five
years – even characterizing it as “common sense.” That very
well may be, but the continued expansion of our collective
American waistlines is a solid indicator that a disconnect
exists somewhere along the line. Too little direct
communication of easily understood, easily remembered and
easily applied information is thought to be at least one of
the culprits.
DeCA leaders – having always encouraged managers at all
levels to be involved, contributing members of the military
communities we serve – view this communication void as an
opportunity to provide reliable dietary information to
commissary customers. After all, on military installations
commissaries are the primary suppliers of food for home
consumption. When is a more appropriate time to have dietary
information available than when you are grocery shopping?
DeCA has partnered with TRICARE to help carry out one
component of its recently unveiled, DoD-wide “Healthy
Choices for Life “ campaign, aimed at ending tobacco use,
promoting responsible consumption of alcohol and curbing the
growing trend of obesity among military families. DeCA’s
initiative – “It’s Your Choice, Make it Healthy” – focuses
on making sure commissary shoppers have information to guide
them in making their food selection decisions.
So what exactly does all this mean to you as a commissary
shopper? Would it be helpful to have concise messages
available to remind you of exactly what qualifies as a
“whole grain” product when you’re selecting bread or cereal,
or how you determine if a dairy product meets the guidelines
for “low-fat” or “non-fat,” or harder still, which cuts of
fresh meat qualify as “lean?” Shelf signs are being
developed right now by a joint-services team of nutrition
professionals for almost every food category in the store.
Watch for these to start appearing in the coming months at
the commissary where you shop!
Would you appreciate the opportunity to tour the commissary
with a nutrition professional who can break down all the
information on a product’s nutrition label into
comprehensible terms, answer healthy choice questions
specific to your personal circumstances, and clarify any
points of confusion you might be dealing with? Such tours
are most definitely part of our plan! Would you like to
taste a new product before committing your hard-earned cash
to a whole package of it? We can easily handle that! Look
for healthy food fairs and product sampling opportunities to
occur at your store regularly. Be sure to stay tuned as this
initiative is rolled out. These are just a few examples, but
there’s a lot more to come.
A synopsis of The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 is
available in the pamphlet “Finding Your Way to a Healthier
You.” For all the details, you can download your own copy
from
http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines, but its
major points, neatly packaged into three broad statements
are a good place to start:
· Find your balance between food and
physical activity. Calories do count – if you consume more
than you expend you will gain weight. Cutting back by as
little as 500 calories a day and adding just 30 minutes a
day of physical activity could be all the adjustment a
person might need. Could the time spent shopping the
commissary for healthier food choices count toward that
30-minute requirement? It certainly could!
· Get the most nutrition out of your
calories. If your current eating habits lean heavily toward
sugared drinks, salty snacks and high-calorie processed,
packaged foods, introduce better choices by starting with
the healthy foods food you love. For example, if you like
fresh apples, but you normally go for apple pie instead,
calculate how many apples it would take to reach the calorie
count of a slice of pie before deciding which you’ll have.
Having all the facts before you will usually lead to better
decisions.
· Make smart choices from every food
group. No additional comment is necessary on this point.
Just study the chart below, excerpted from the “Finding Your
Way to a Healthier You” pamphlet for clear, concise and
easily applied advice on making every bite count. Remember
“It’s YOUR choice, make it healthy!”
Mix up your choices within each food group.
· Know the limits on fats, salt and
sugars. Read the Nutrition Facts label on foods. Look for
foods low in saturated fats and trans fats. Choose and
prepare foods and beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or
added sugars (caloric sweeteners).
· Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of
fruits – whether fresh, frozen, canned or dried – rather
than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a
2,000-calorie diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day
(For example: 1 small banana, 1 large orange and 1/4 cup of
dried apricots or peaches).
· Vary your veggies. Eat more dark
green veggies, such as broccoli, kale and other dark leafy
greens; orange veggies, such as carrots, sweet potatoes,
pumpkin and winter squash; and beans and peas, such as pinto
beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas
and lentils.
· Make half your grains whole. Eat
at least 3 ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers,
rice or pasta every day. One ounce is about 1 slice of
bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal or 1/2 cup of cooked rice
or pasta. Look to see that grains such as wheat, rice, oats
or corn are referred to as “whole” in the list of
ingredients.
· Go lean with protein. Choose lean
meats and poultry. Bake it, broil it or grill it. And vary
your protein choices –with more fish, beans, peas, nuts and
seeds.
· Get your calcium-rich foods. Get 3
cups of low-fat or fat-free milk – or an equivalent amount
of low-fat yogurt and/or low-fat cheese (11/2 ounces of
cheese equals 1 cup of milk) – every day. For kids aged 2 to
8, it’s 2 cups of milk. If you don’t or can’t consume milk,
choose lactose-free milk products and/or calcium-fortified
foods and beverages.
The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of
nearly 275 commissaries providing groceries to military
personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure
shopping environment. Authorized patrons purchase items at
cost plus a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of
building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones.
Shoppers save an average of more than 30 percent on their
purchases compared to commercial prices – savings worth
about $2,700 annually for a family of four. A core military
family support element, and a valued part of military pay
and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness,
enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their
families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest
men and women to serve their country.
What's the Recipe for Friends?
by Greg Williamson
Freddy and his family have moved to a hew town. Freddy
is worried that he won't make new friends. His mother
shares with him the recipe: politeness, kindness and
sharing. Soon Freddy makes a new friend, Billy.
Activities
Friendship Fruit Salad: Ingredients: variety
of fresh fruit (some canned fruits may be used if desired),
2 cups of mini-marshmallows, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Peal and cut the fruit into bite size pieces and place in a
large bowl. (Note: around Halloween each year
child safety knives can be purchased in pumpkin carving
kits, the child is able to help with the fruit cutting with
this type of knife.) Add the marshmallows and a
sprinkle of cinnamon, mix and share with family or
friends. This activity can be done with a group of
children and each can bring their favorite fruit to add to
the salad.
Homemade Playdough: Ingredients: One cup
flour, one cup water, one-half cup salt, one tablespoon oil,
two teaspoons cream of tartar, and food coloring. Mix
all ingredients together except for the food coloring.
Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat until mixture
pulls away from the side of the pan. Pour the mixture
onto waxed paper and knead. Divide dough into three
balls and make a hole in the center of each and add a few
drops of food coloring in each. Place in zip locked
baggie and knead. (Note: Dough may be too hot
for children to handle so it may need to cool for a while.)
Store in air tight containers.
JenniferM is on the CinCHouse.com Advisory Board, which
recently released Married to the Military: A Survival Guide
for Military Wives, Girlfriends and Women in Uniform (Simon
& Schuster 2003). Email your questions to
jenniferm@cinchouse.com.
Bagged salads provide quick, cool meal solutions
By Carrie Williams
FORT LEE, Va. - When it's sweltering and sticky outside, who
wants to eat a hot, heavy meal? One of the best meal
solutions for this sort of weather is the tossed salad. And
it's not just about the typical garden variety anymore
either!
Bagged salad greens, widely available in the commissary, offer
customers convenience and choice. "The variety of bagged
salad blends provides customers with the opportunity to
bring home different lettuces that they may have encountered
in a restaurant but wouldn't normally serve at home," said
Polly Ring, DeCA marketing business unit commissary
management specialist, produce. Bagged lettuce mixes include
commonplace varieties such as Bibb and Romaine to the more
exotic-sounding curly endive, frisée, arrugula, radicchio
and escarole. Formerly the province of serious "foodies,"
commissary shoppers can now discover and enjoy such artsy
sounding lettuces as lolla rosa, mizuna, tatsoi, tango baby
red oak, baby green oak, red swiss chard, and white salad
savoy.
Speaking of art, imagine the creativity that can be brought to
the preparation of a tossed salad. Since most of the work
has been done for you, subtract the effort of chopping,
dicing and shredding the lettuce and apply that energy to
thinking up unusual ingredients. Commissaries carry a wide
variety of classic salad complements such as dressings,
croutons and bacon bits. If you can imagine it on your
salad, the commissary probably carries it. When you're in
the commissary produce aisle eyeing the bagged salads, keep
in mind that prices have dropped in stateside commissaries
thanks to a merchandising agreement between the Defense
Commissary Agency and a major supplier of bagged salads.
