The latest from our Heart and Soul
It’s Monday morning and I’m walking the kids home from school when they utter those dreaded words: Mom, what’s for dinner?
The question is pretty harmless; the problem of course is I don’t have an answer. Menu planning has never been my strong point; sometimes it just seems easier to wing it. However, I have found winging it tends to lead to a lot of repetitive meals (yup, pasta again) or take-out.
In the hopes of changing this I gave Pocket Full of Posies’ Perfect Pocket Meal Planning System a try. Created by busy moms Emily and Cammie, the meal planning system was designed as a way to keep grocery shopping on budget while eliminating the headache of meal planning.
Their Monthly Pocket Package arrived in the mail and consisted of a magnetic monthly recipe holder (4 pockets), recipe package 1 & 2 consisting of 40 recipes in total, 8 ingredient lists and quick instructions on how to get started.
I actually went through their tutorial video that does a great job explaining how the system works. It really is easy:
So to get started I picked out my 4 weeks of meals. Each recipe is already organized within a week behind an ingredient card that sits in front. I slotted each week into it’s own pocket. You don’t have to choose your recipes by their ingredient grouping; you can choose your week’s menu solely on the recipes. This just means you won’t have a weekly ingredient list.
The advantage of having the already printed ingredient list (when you organize your recipes by ingredient list versus individual recipes), is that it makes grocery list building a breeze; all the items you need for the 5 meals that week are printed on the ingredient card. All you need to do is add your other staples (or leave out things you may already have in your cupboards). I love the idea of the ingredient list however it didn’t indicate quantities for some items: do I need 1 cup of chicken broth or 2 cups? Is that a 48 oz or 26 oz can of tomato soup? I found I had to refer back to the original recipe to put my list together.
The recipes are varied though I found them very chicken heavy, which wasn’t too bad since my kids love chicken. The recipes were easy to follow which is great for someone like me who isn’t the greatest cook and more importantly the family, including kids, loved everything I’ve made so far.
I now know Monday morning what the meals for the week are and can quickly put a list together. If my kids want to know what’s for dinner I can answer them no problem or better yet, they can check the menu planner themselves. I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy a system it is to follow and how less chaotic dinner time has become. I never realized what a difference menu planning could make.
Beyond the 4 weeks of recipes that came with my initial package, you can order individual weekly recipe packages too. They also have diet recipe packs and a freezer/crock pot dinner pack. They do offer custom weekly and monthly packs based on formatting your own recipes to work with their pocket system.
* Product was provided for the purpose of this review
| GIVEAWAY! |
The lovely ladies at Pocket full of Posies have offered one (1) EverythingMom member their own monthly pocket package system, just like the one we reviewed. To enter visit their site and let us know which monthly pocket package you would like to try (package 1 with recipes pack 1 & 2 or package 2 with recipe pack 3 & 4)
This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is open to Canadian and US residents and ends April 29, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom member will be randomly chosen after that.
With five people in our house there never seems to be a shortage of laundry; however, there does seem to be a shortage of time to get the laundry done. That means laundry baskets get pretty full and baskets full of dirty laundry aren't really pleasant to have around.
In the past I've used air fresheners to mask unpleasant or lingering odor but neatfreak, a privately owned Canadian-based company, seems to have come up with a natural way to eliminate odor in your laundry containers.
According to their media information, everfresh, neatfreak's laundry line, has friendly enzymes built into the fabric that work continuously to eliminate odor resulting in a fresh and clean laundry bag, basket or hamper. That means everfresh is non-toxic, 100% natural and environmentally friendly.
I received a single fashion laundry tote to try it out for myself. I placed it in my three-year-olds room; I knew in there it would be put to the test. Some days the laundry in her room can be a little over powering, especially when you have to get your face up close to scoop it out of her basket.
The single laundry tote is actually quite roomy. Because it is a soft-sided laundry bag it doesn’t stand up perfectly straight like a laundry container but it doesn’t just crumple into a heap on the floor either. 
My daughter could easily put her dirty clothes in the bag without any assistance. The tote style is actually great for carrying her laundry from her room into the bathroom (where our washer and dryer are located). It has both short handles and long handles depending on how full the bag gets and what’s easier for you to handle. There is a small side pocket too if you had to carry laundry soap or something else down to your laundry machine.
So it’s a stylish, easily transportable laundry bag but does it fight odors like is promises? After a few days of my daughter’s dirty clothes ‘maturing’ in the tote, I took a sniff. Nothing. I stuck my head right into the laundry bag, right up close to the clothes. Nothing. I pulled items out and sniffed them. Still nothing. And by nothing I mean no terrible, nose-crinkling odor. I’ll be the first to admit I was surprised. Since using the everfresh laundry tote I haven’t had to use air freshener in my daughter’s room, which is nice since I wasn’t a big fan of spraying her room to begin witih.
We tried the single laundry tote, but neatfreak! has an extensive line of everfresh laundry products depending on your needs and space and are available for sale across the country.
* Product was provided for the purpose of this review
| GIVEAWAY! |
The folks at netfreak! want you to experience the natural odor eliminating powers of their everfresh products. They are offering one (1) EverythingMom member a single fashion laundry tote just like the one we reviewed. To enter tell us how long does your laundry sit before you get time to wash it.
This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is only open to Canadian residents and ends April 20, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom member will be randomly chosen after that.
With a family of five we seem to use a lot of water in our house: laundry, dishes, baths and showers. Technology enables us to have a washing machine and a dishwasher that runs on less water, now to take care of the water used in the many daily showers.
The Ecoflow brand showerhead from Water Pik is designed to reduce your water consumption (by up to 48% according to their calculations). That’s great, but what does that mean for my shower experience. Sometimes a good shower is the only thing that gets me on the right foot in the morning.
So the folks at Water Pik sent over an EcoFlow 5 Mode showerhead to see (or rather feel) for myself.
The installation was easy. I mean, EASY. The package comes with everything you need, including a little wrench for tightening the connection. No need to make trips to the hardware store for a washer or special tools. We installed the handheld version (you can get the fixed mount option too, but I like to have control over my shower).
Then the big test, the shower. Nice. Perhaps it’s because the EcoFlow 5 Mode uses OptiFLOW technology, the water pressure didn’t seem that different (it’s designed to increase water force by up to 30% according to the site).
What I did notice and enjoyed was the five different spray settings: full body spray, mist, concentrated fan spray, circular massage and circular message mist. You can change the settings easily by turning the outside ring of the showerhead. The movement was easy and smooth, no fighting to move it to the next setting. I used the full-body spray and the circular massage spray the most. The kids loved the mist, kind of like being out in the rain.
The five spray settings are great, but I think the one feature I really love, the one that gets used most, is the water-pause setting. A simple switch at the base of the shower wand and I can turn down the water. This means when I’m lathering up I can turn the water down without adjusting my other water settings. Then turn it back on when I’m ready to rinse.
The design of the EcoFlow 5 Mode is nice too. The chrome finish is nice and the overall showerhead offers a good spray surface. The handheld version comes with a faux metal hose that I found a little stiff to use, but that would probably loosen up over time.
Overall I’m really happy with the water saving features of the EcoFlow 5 Mode showerhead, especially since it doesn’t feel like I’m sacrificing any of my shower experience.
* An EcoFlow showerhead was provided for the purpose of this review
| GIVEAWAY! |
The folks at Water Pik want you to enjoy a really good shower too so they’re offering one (1) EverythingMom member their own EcoFlow 5 Mode showerhead (handheld model). To enter just tell us how many showers are taken in your house during the week.
This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is only open to Canadian residents and ends March 31, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom member will be randomly chosen after that.
With three kids, correction, with three very active kids, I seem to do a lot of laundry. I don’t want to be rewashing loads so the detergent’s got to work the first time, but I can’t help but be cognizant of the impact the detergent I use has on the environment.
The folks at Sunlight feel they have a laundry product that helps you clean while being green and they sent a sample over to me to prove it.
According to the company, Sunlight Green Clean is a ‘super concentrated formula [that] includes plant based cleaning ingredients, contains no chlorine or dyes, works in cold water and is bio-degradable.’
The formula is also designed to be ‘low-sudsing’ so it can work in both standard and HE (high efficiency) washers, which is good news since I have an HE machine and have experienced the super suds some detergents can cause.
So Sunlight Green Clean sounds green but can it clean? My kids were kind enough to offer well-worn and dirty clothes for the test. The first thing I noticed was how little detergent was required for the wash (less than a capful and the cap is quite small). The second thing was the fragrance or rather lack of. The sample sent over to me was the Free and Clear version, which means no fragrance just clean smelling clothes. You can get other fragrances like Citrus Fresh, Wild Lavender, and Orchid Blossom. I actually like fragrant laundry detergent but the Free and Clear proved the clothes actually came out clean and weren’t just being masked by scent.
The clothes actually looked clean too, even my son’s white undershirts (and they usually start to look gray after a few washes). So I guess it is possible to be green and clean with Sunlight Green Clean laundry detergent.
To celebrate the launch of Sunlight Green Clean, Sunlight is inviting kids, ages six through 13 to tell them how they are making a positive impact on the environment or inspiring others to go green. Ten kids will be chosen to help inspire others to be environmentally friendly and rewarded with $2,000 each as part of the Sunlight Green Clean Kids program. Please note the final deadline for grant applications is November 30, 2010. Checkout SunlightGreenCleanKids.ca for more information.
* Sunlight Green Clean detergent was provided for the purpose of this review
| GIVEAWAY! |
The folks at Sunlight want to help one (1) EverythingMom member go green while getting clean with a Sunlight Green Clean gift pack (includes a year supply of Sunlight Green Clean laundry detergent, a set of four towels and dryer balls). To enter tell us roughly how many loads of laundry you do in one week.
This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is only open to Canadian residents and ends April 7, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom member will be randomly chosen after that.
I use my dishwasher everyday, sometimes twice a day. Some people might view owning one as a luxury, but with three kids and non-stop schedules, I consider my dishwasher a necessity.
I take care of my dishwasher, using the recommended detergent, ensuring the filter is cleaned and scrapping any extra food items off before putting them in the machine, but I’ve never thought of cleaning it. I mean, it’s cleaned all the time when it cleans my dishes, right?
However some days, when emptying my clean dishes, I notice my dishwasher doesn’t have the freshest smell. I use to just think it was the residual smell from the detergent in the heated dishwasher, but now it turns out it could be caused by food and mineral residue build-up.
Affresh is a cleaning product designed specifically for your dishwasher. A little skeptical, I had a sample sent over to me to try first hand.
The first thing I noticed was the wonderful lemon scent, even before opening the package. I love the scent of lemon in the kitchen. A standard bag consists of six individual tablets but you need to use two for each cleaning, that means one bag is good for three-months. I was thrown off at first by each tablet being packaged individually. I thought I only needed to use one tablet per cleaning, but if you read, you put one in your soap dispensor and one sitting loosely in the bottom of your dishwasher.
You use Affresh with your dishwasher empty, setting it on the heaviest cycle using the hottest water. While the dishwasher was going I could smell the lemon scent slightly near the end of the cycle. With the wash over, I opened to inspect the dishwasher. I was worried I would find grit or other deposits from the tablets but the dishwasher was clean. I must admit I was a little disappointed the lemon smell wasn’t as lemony as the original tablet but surprisingly my dishwasher didn’t have the previous odor. I didn’t notice any odd odor on my dishes either, which sometimes has occurred, especially with Tupperware items. Even after just one use, I’m impressed at the difference Affresh has made. I’m curious if I will notice a greater improvement over time, using Affresh on a regular basis.
* Product was provided for the purpose of this review
| GIVEAWAY! |
The folks at Affresh want to help you get ready for Spring by offering one (1) EverythingMom member a Spring Cleaning Gift Basket containing a year’s supply of Affresh plus other cleaning supplies. To enter leave a comment telling us how often you use your dishwasher.
This contest is only open to EverythingMom members. Not a member? It’s quick and easy to join. Contest is only open to Canadian Residents and ends March 23, 2010. One (1) EverythingMom members will be randomly chosen after that.
