Committing To Eating Fresh

Being busy busy busy all the time, I will and often admit here on MomStart that I will cut corners and buy processed foods. I use yogurt dip, spreadable cheese, and packaged cookies. I can’t do it all you know. That being said, my family goals this last year have required me to eat more fresh foods. I cook more home made meals, and buy fresh organic fruits and veggies at Costco. Costco has the largest best priced selection for our family when it comes to year round fresh organic food. However, now that it’s summer time the farmer’s markets will be open and I can’t wait to take the kids and let them pick out their own fruits and veggies. Zoe has even asked me if we could go to a farm and pick our own berries. It’s quite common in Washington to fill a bucket with your own freshly picked fruit.

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You may not know this, but a year ago I was chosen to be on the Frigidaire Test Drive program, and because of my affiliation with that program, Frigidaire keeps me informed on their activities and charity projects. Frigidaire has been working with Jennifer Garner (my favorite actress who I have not had the pleasure of meeting, but look forward to that opportunity one day in my dreams) on their Frigidaire Kids Cooking Academy Summer Session. On June 9th they headed out to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY to encourage families to eat more fresh foods.

Because many children in the world do not have access to fresh food, Frigidaire is continuing their support with Save the Children’s U.S. Programs. To help give more children access to fresh foods, Frigidaire is unveiling a partnership with the location-based “chec in” app, Gowalla. Anytime someone checks in at their local Farmer’s Market via the app, Frigidaire will make a $1 donation to Save the Children, as part of their $500,000 commitment to the cause.

And anytime you make a commitment to eat fresh at MakeTimeForChange.com you will trigger another donation AND this is a big and, be entered to win a new Frigidaire Gallery French Door Refrigerator.

 

Disclosure: I received compensation from Frigidaire with no expectations for me to post about it, I chose to post about it because I strongly believe families should try harder to “Freshen” up their diets.

Kelly Ripa Electrolux Banana Split for Ovarian Cancer 25.00 American Express Card Giveaway

Even with my new spacious Frigidaire Double Door refrigerator (which happens to be a brand of Electrolux) I still need more space after going to Costco. I love getting meat and ice cream in the summer and could fill a freezer with ice cream along. Yes, I have an addiction to ice cream and I think my husband shares that addiction with me because we have ice cream almost every night after the kids go to bed. Which makes me love the new banana split campaign that Kelly Ripa and Electrolux are doing together. They are joining forces once again to celebrate the launch of Electrolux Appliance’s new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer. Which is great because I could use an extra freezer. To sweeten the celebration, they’re bringing in the "Emperor of Ice Cream" Stephen Bruce, owner and founder of Serendipity 3, the landmark New York City restaurant and dessert spot, into the mix.

Kelly and Bruce teamed up earlier this week to make banana splits for a cause.  Yes that’s right, not only are the celebrating a split, they are raising money for charity. And now we want you to dig in, with your virtual spoon! Go to www.Kelly-Confidential.com, where you can build your ultimate banana split using virtual ingredients from classic whipped cream to caramel sauce to rainbow sprinkles. For each "split", Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as part of its $750,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer. Check out my split!!

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Your Reward:

Of course Electrolux has something in it for you. Everyone who logs on to the site and builds a split will be automatically entered for a chance to win the daily prize.

$50 towards sweet summer treats

or

The grand prize:  the new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer from Electrolux. 

 

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Enter to Win here too:

25.00 American Express Gift Card

To Enter:

Visit Kelly Confidential and make a split, it only takes seconds and you’ll be donating a $1 to Ovarian Cancer.

Extra Entries:

 

Tweet or hit the RT button up top:

Electrolux  Banana Split for Ovarian Cancer 25.00 American Express http://bit.ly/bIOZSN #giveaway #contest

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This giveaway Ends July 19th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

 

 

This is a sponsored post, and an entry into a contest with Mom Select for a stand along freezer and fridge.

Thanks for Saving me Time Frigidaire

After three months of using my new refrigerator I am finally a believer. Tonight it dawned on me that because of the wonderful ease in organization this fridge did save me time. I do not have to re-organize the freezer every time I come home from Costco.

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As a mom, I’m sure you need no help picturing the following story, but here is ours.

My children are in the best mood in the morning after they have breakfast, after we have played and had snacks. Of course mom has been in the background doing the dishes the laundry and taking care of everything waiting for Costco to open so we can get the groceries.

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Finally, the time has come and we are off to the store of bulk, we just had a snack, but still, all the food looks good and mom forgot to eat breakfast in all the hustle of the morning chores. We come home with much more than we intended on purchasing. I’m actually worried it won’t all fit. In my old refrigerator, we had to use a second freezer for Costco visits, and the deep freezer did not move into the new house with us.

Arriving at home, I realize that it’s lunch time. The kids are grumpy and ready to eat, they directly go to the table and sit in their seats. I have to throw lunch, together feed them, and put all the groceries away. Putting groceries away, keeping the fridge organized, and finding the groceries is a breeze. With shelves and drawers that are easy to raise, lower and see through, I’m saving all kinds of time and the kids have time sneak in an make sure their toys are cold too. Refrigerator_Interior

Some of my favorite features:

· PureAir Ultra™ Filters: eliminate odors better than baking soda and keep your refrigerator interior cleaner and fresher. An indicator light signals when the charcoal filter can be easily replaced.
· Automatic Alerts: Refrigerator alerts you if the door is left open or if temperature rises.                                                                                     
· Thanks to the Energy Saver Plus Technology, if my refrigerator door is not opened for 24 hours and the refrigerator system is set to the 12-hour defrost cycle, then the system automatically goes to a 96-hour compressor run time defrost cycle to conserve electricity.
· Most usable shelf space as compared to other counter depth side by side models and ability to store full week’s-worth of groceries for a family of 5 inside.
· Comfortably store cold weather comfort foods and with PowerPlus™ Freeze: Quickly freeze whatever you store to keep foods at their freshest.
· SpaceWise Organization system, which includes extra bins, food-storage containers, rack extenders, etc., makes it easy to keep food organized and easy to find when you need it.
· Real stainless steel with a protective coating that reduces fingerprints and smudges so it’s easy to clean.
· SpillSafe Shelves: Designed to keep spills contained, making clean up a breeze.

Some of our favorite moments:

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“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

On a video date with Frigidaire Professional

As one of the Frigidaire Test Drive Moms for this year, we have to put together a video of our appliance. I received the Refrigerator and we love it. It’s pretty, it’s my kids newest toy, I have room to stock up a freezer and I don’t have to bend over to reach into it. I’ll post another post closer to the end of the month making sure you know all of the technical features, but for now, here is a “mom’s” review. You know, what makes a busy mom with two kids happy.

 

 

I accidentally hit the picture taking mode and the video stopped, so here is the rest of the video diary.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

Why My kids Love the New Frigidaire Double Door Fridge

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Our last refrigerator was stainless steal just like this one, but it was not magnetic and it was so sad. My husband and I had a ton of magnets of the kids that we gave away when we changed refrigerators. The kids have never had a large surface for the magnetic toys and then one day Zoe put one of her Mickey Mouse magnets on the fridge. I told her it wouldn’t stick but lo and behold it did. So now, my brand new Frigidaire double door belongs to Zoe and Miles. It’s their Play board.

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We’re leaning letters and how to spell. Zoe loves to spell “Zoe” “Dad” and “Miles” oh and occasionally she wants to know how to spell “mad”. She likes to say, Mommy I’m mad at you. ‘Cause she didn’t get something she wanted.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

The Frigidaire Swap and Save – Energy Star Rating

The newly introduced Frigidaire line (the new fridge that I’ve been talking about from time to time) just received the EPA’s prestigious 2010 Energy Star award for their “Swap and Save” Energy Star Promotion. This award recognizes Frigidaire’s commitment to smart energy management and its efforts to share the importance of energy efficiency with a wide audience. (I save money on my electricity bill) In addition to the time-saving features you already know about, the new Frigidaire collections also save you considerable amounts of energy and water – from washers that use up to 82% less energy and 60% less water, to dishwashers that use at least 41% less energy and 40% less water than was used just 10 years ago.

What you can do is go the Frigidaire’s website and check out their swap and save and you can find out how much money you can save by purchasing a new appliance.

 

The Frigidaire refrigerator saves me time because it is so easy to keep organized. The shelves are easy to adjust making a perfect fit for creamer, milk, jams and everything we keep in the door.

 

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I also save time with the freezer because in my old fridge, I had a bottom drawer and the only way to find stuff was to dig. My new freezer side of the fridge the drawers are smaller and I have them organized into, cheese drawer, meat drawer, and a frozen veggie drawer. Then we have a shelf with frozen fruit and the door has some extras. My husband loves the top shelf in the freezer because he says it’s made especially for ice cream cartons.

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In this picture it’s empty but since then he has filled that empty top shelf with two cartons of ice cream. I’ll have to get a picture of that too.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

What a Man finds important in Fridge Specifications

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While I was gone in Texas my husband ordered Pizza. He left it in the fridge so that I could take a picture of it when I got back. See the lever above the second pizza box. You just crank that clockwise and the shelf raises. This is what’s important to a man when getting a new fridge. I think he’s hoping he can raise it enough to get one more pizza box in there. He loves the fact that it’s a perfect fit for a large pizza. Just in case this is your first time looking at my blog. This is the new double door Frigidaire refrigerator.

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

The Installation of our Frigidaire Refrigerator

Right before I left to go to Blissdom our new Frigidaire Refrigerator arrived. I wasn’t expecting it until the end of the month but it came quickly and very painlessly. A local company moved our old refrigerator to the garage and installed the new one in the house. They hooked up the water that the home builders had already set up for us and we had running filtered water. The water is supposed to come out at a half gallon per minute but our water pressure in our house is very sad. So my husband said that our conversion is more like three minutes. So thanks to our refrigerator we will be calling our water company and finding out if there is a way to get our water pressure increased.

 

Refrigerator_Interior The first thing that really impressed my husband and I is the fact that our old freezer was so jam packed. We had the drawer and I thought I loved it. It’s just that after time I really got tired of bending over and searching for things. I mean for a month I wasn’t even able to bend over and look for things, my husband had to do it. It also was difficult to pack things in and I like to keep my freezer stocked up with lots of goodies for me to cook with. I wish I would have taken the pictures I told myself I was going to take but I was taken off guard with how fast it arrived.

 

Anyways, try to picture this. A drawer filled with frozen veggies in one side and meat, ice cream, and frozen meals in the other side, some tortillas frozen at the bottom of the drawer and not sure what else was hidden, other than some fruit that I forgot about because of the sheer amount of stuff in my freezer. So I ended up filling up three huge reusable bags with stuff from my freezer and when the new fridge was there I placed everything in my new freezer. The left side is the freezer and after everything was transferred we still had room. Yes the refrigerator is a little bit bigger in dimension but the space is used so much more efficiently. With the double doors instead of a drawer I am able to find more places to put things and still have room for an ice maker and filtered water.

 

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I’m very excited to be a part of Team Refrigerator and having a new fridge. I’m not even that upset about my water pressure and I’m ecstatic that it arrived early. I hope that my tone is not too negative because it is a pleasure for me to be able to write about a new appliance. Thank you Team Mom and Frigidaire.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

Make Time for Change with Jennifer Garner and Frigidaire

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Last year, Frigidaire introduced more than 250 new appliances. They were all designed with the idea of creating more time for Moms. To prove just how serious they are, Frigidaire offers a “More Me-Time Guarantee.”

Moms will save a minimum of eight hours a month or their money back. 

How promising is that?

Do you remember when I posted about Jennifer Garner, my all time favorite actress, becoming the “face” of Frigidaire?

She teamed up with Frigidaire to launch the new line and to kick off the “Make Time for Change” campaign to support Save the Children. (She’s also a philanthropist).

 

  
I was asked to share with you the details about the newest campaign to support Save the Children, called Spin & Win. Starting, today, January 18th, you can log on to www.maketimeforchange.com to play Spin & Win for a chance to win prizes including a new time-saving Frigidaire Affinity washer/dryer. Plus every day you take a spin, Frigidaire donates $1 to Save the Children as part of their $250,000 commitment to this worthy cause.

Refrigerator_InteriorYou might be wondering why I’m posting photos of a Frigidaire Refrigerator?

This is my first post as participation in the Frigidaire Test Drive Program and I’m on “team refrigerator”. Over the next three or four months I’ll be sharing my experience with my new refrigerator. I’m very excited to receive a new appliance. It feels like winning the lottery. We really need more freezer room for all of my bargain shopping. ;-) It should arrive some time in February so be on the look out for the inside scoop.

 

 

 

 

 

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“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

 

 

Jennifer Garner is the new face of Frigidaire

Pledge Now

Jennifer Garner is my favorite actress hands down. I love her. She was in Alias and was amazing. Even when she became pregnant she was still amazing. She always seems like she is a down to earth mom and I feel so connected to her. Ok, not in a sick way, I guess I mean more that I can relate to her. So having her be the face of a brand of appliances that I know and love just seems fitting. If you’re a company that feels that having a movie star will sell more appliances for you.

This afternoon Jennifer will introduce Frigidaire’s new line of appliances, designed with features that help us Moms save time in our busy schedules, and challenge us to pledge a bit of our own time to help children in need. Frigidaire’s new “Make Time for CHANGE” campaign supports Save the Children’s U.S. Programs, dedicated to making a difference in children’s lives.

My Mother LoadFrigidaire and Garner are asking Moms to think ahead to November 1st – which happens to be daylight savings – and pledge to use that time to help make a difference in the lives of children. Save the Children created the CHANGE program (Creating Healthy, Active, and Nurturing Growing-up Environments) to promote healthier lifestyles for children living in poverty by providing nutritious snacks and regular opportunities for them to be physically active. Charity is big to me, I love helping others as you can see on my website. Which I have taken a break from and I need to be punished. ;-)

2 Chances to win a Double Oven

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1)

Starting today, everyone who goes to Frigidaire.com and raises her hand with a pledge to make time for a child, will commit Frigidaire to donate $1 to support the CHANGE. As an added bonus, everyone who pledges her time will be entered for a chance to win a new Frigidaire Professional double wall oven.

2)

Mom Central is giving a Frigidaire Professional double wall oven 

To enter to win, simply go to  and tell us about your pledge and how you would give back your time to children in need. Mom Central will pick one lucky winner in a random drawing from all entries received!

 

"Make Time for CHANGE" – How I would make a change:

Well, for one I think change starts at home. I would make sure that my kids were healthy and well cared for. I would make sure that we get plenty of exercise as a family. Then I would encourage other’s to exercise in my community and make sure that we continue to provide food for our local food bank.

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."