The Zeer Blog

If you’ve just been tuning into this series, since late August, we’ve been compiling the best product recommendations on the web. We’ve already covered new Allergy products and new Parent products for fall, but now we stere our vision toward Organic products that are getting some buzz in the blogosphere.

Organic Products

Apparently We Love Jam’s Apricot Jam is so good that people can’t help but go through one jar a day, and at $20 a pop that’s a pretty steady promise. But the makers of We Love Jam who have been in Food and Wine magazine and who started their business off of one very old, organic on one of the last remaining Blenheim apricot orchards, which explains the waiting list which can be months long, so buy at their shop now for a truly rare jam experience.

Yöghund: Frozen Yogurt for Dogs? Are you serious? Well, Barking Dog, LTD of Boston, is serious! Yoghound proudly claims that it’s product is organic, made with “real yogurt,” recyclable, and apparently dogs (an pet owners – especially those with dogs with bad digestive systems or allergies) love it.

Garofalo Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti has one over Kalyn over at Kalyns Kitchen saying that “If you’re one of those people who loves pasta tossed with a bit of butter or olive oil and parmesan, this spaghetti would be fabulous for that.”

For some reason, it’s been really chilly in New England this August, and today was no exception. It reminds me that alas, summer is almost over. Boston will soon be filled with new students at the many universities and that also means a lot of products will be launching!

Using the power of the blogosphere, I have found a bunch of new products that might be worth trying out this fall that fit within Zeer’s current communities. First up is our allergy communities!

Allergy Friendly Products

Cherrybrook Kitchen Ready-to-Eat Fudge Brownie Cookies just invaded the isles of your supermarket. These cookies are getting all the buzz these days. If you’ve got little ones with peanut, dairy, or egg (or all three) allergies - snag some of these to thwart the at school lunch box blues.

Sunbutter Creamy Snack Pack - For those of you who want to have the delicious taste of sun butter while on the go you’ll love these bad boys. Parents traveling on planes, or just want to give their kid a snack for school, will adore these disposable snack packs.

For those of you who miss kicking back a beer while watching fall baseball and football, Green’s Beers are getting some pretty good buzz on the blogs these days. To get these beers delivered to the US, contact Merchant Duvin

Coconut Milk Ice Cream Those with Milk Allergies should get thee to a grocery store immediately ask them to start carrying Turtle Mountain’s organic coconut milk “ice creams” and “yogurts” — perfect for those with a soy and milk allergy.

Did we leave something out? What safe allergen-free products have you and your family been enjoying? Comment here to share your opinion with our readers!

Since we’re all about transparency of information over at Zeer, we like to share with our users what people are saying about us across the web.

A new series at Mashable started recently called The Startup Review, if your company is less than a year old and has never been featured on Mashable, and possesses an active site than you could qualify for coverage. Since we met all three requirements, we tossed our hats into the ring to see what the Mashable Team had to say about us.

Want to read our review? Check it out here: Zeer Helps You Build A Better Grocery List

For more press coverage, please check out our press page.

Ah, Back to school! Thank you to the All About Parenting Blog Carnival for reminding me school is around the corner.

Back to school is a time of excitement, new clothes, and the old classic stand by — the PB&J

But, for some children going to a new school this year, it will be a year of Soy Nut Butter sandwiches instead. As more and more schools ban products that aren’t labeled peanut safe, parents who aren’t used to the strict dietary confinements are having to open their hearts and wallets to a new kind of lunch hour.

Peanut Allergies Can Be Fatal

As any parent of a peanut allergic child will tell you, peanut allergies are serious business. Depending on the sensitivity of the child, even a whiff or small fragment of a peanut could cause the child to go into epileptic shock. If the child is not administered EpiPen ® immediately, the results can be fatal.

What makes matters worse is that cross contamination is particularly threatening when dealing with peanut allergies. A product may not have peanut or peanut based ingredients on its label but that doesn’t mean that product is ‘peanut safe.’ Even if the factory only made one product that contains trace amounts of peanuts, all the other products created in that would not be safe for a peanut allergic child to consume.

Why This Issue Should Concern All Parents

For some parents without peanut free children, it’s very difficult to understand the severity of the issue or why a peanut allergic child could be in danger if their child (who is not peanut allergic) has a peanut butter sandwich in his lunch.

Cross contamination is key here. In the case of young children, cross contamination via hands and mouths and toys is as serious a threat to children as eating trace amounts of peanuts themselves. Most parents educate their peanut allergic children not to eat strange foods, but what if another child told them the product was safe and they had a fatal episode? These are the concerns of the parents of a peanut allergic child.

As the number of children who are severely allergic to peanuts grows, so has the need for safe environments where a parent feels that their child is safe from harm. To meet the needs of these parents and to protect the children with these severe allergies, both public and private schools have made bold moves to educate teachers, parents, and children about the threat a child faces when exposed to foods containing peanuts. Some schools have even banned peanuts and products not labeled ‘peanut safe’ from the school entirely. However, the change hasn’t gone over as smoothly in the past, in 2005, a school in Indianna tried to ban peanut products from school. This decision was greeted with outrage from parents so a compromise was struck. Students with peanut allergies were to be isolated from their peers at the “peanut allergy table” – a compromise that parents of the peanut allergic are wrestling with to this very day. For schools less committed to the issue of peanut allergies, there is usually an allergy table which has problems of its own.

But, what does a parent with no experience with peanut-free foods go when faced with having to buy peanut-free products for their child? Many granola bars & cookies and other snacks contain trace amounts of peanuts.

What Can My Kid Eat?

If your school was smart, they probably sent you out some nice pamphlets explaining to you some of the foods your child can eat and how to prep your child on kids with food allergies. However, I find that the internet has a lot of great free information to keep your child happy and keep you from pulling out your hair.

• PeanutAllergy.com has a good list of foods to avoid.
• If you don’t mind doing a little blog research, you’ll discover a whole world of peanut free foods that kids love including Pirates Booty and Smart Puffs
• By doing an advanced search on Zeer, you can discover all the peanut-free foods in our site. To get more specific, narrow down your search by a keyword, food category or caloric content.
• Fresh fruit & vegetables are great year round. Be sure to check to see if a local farmer’s market is nearby – fresh fruit is a great thing to include in your child’s lunch year round. Plus, it’s healthy (and with the childhood obesity rate, that’s a good thing). If your child is fond of peanut butter and celery, stock up on Soy Nut Butter (available at most major food market chains). It tastes great, and it’s a great replacement for the childhood staple.
• Cheese is generally nut free. String cheese or cheese and crackers (might need to do some work to find out which crackers are nut free)

Peanut Free Blogs

Peanut Free Blogs are a great way to get information about recipes, tips and advice from moms who deal with peanut allergies every day. Though your child may not be peanut allergic, you’ll find great information on these blogs including links to products that your child can pack in their lunch box daily and peanut free news.

• Peanut Free Mama
• Please Don’t Pass the Nuts
• Nut At the Moment
• Peanut Free !!!
• Nut-Free Mom

Peanut Free Products

Sometimes piggy backing on other peoples great research is the best way to find out about new products for your child. The food allergy community does a great job of “taking care of their own” by providing fantastic lists of foods and manufacturers that make peanut free products.

Order Peanut Free products straight to your door at Peanut Free Planet

Divvies products are quite popular with Peanut free moms & families. You also can get Divvies cupcakes delivered to your door. If your child’s classroom is peanut-free, you can guarantee your child will be safe with Divvies cookies and cupcakes.

Disappointed dad, Matthew Amster-Burton over at Serious Eats, was sad that his daughter couldn’t enjoy PB & J like she used now that her school went peanut free. However, he now recommends turning to Sunflower Seed butter over SoyNut Butter claiming he “couldn’t in good conscience serve it to anyone with taste buds”

Peanut Free Ideas

Need some great Back to School Tips? Check out Victoria Groce’s blog for great allergy tips including this great Back to School burn down of what to do when you find out your child’s school has gone Peanut-Free.

Good Luck and We Hope Your Child Has A Happy First Day of School

As frustrating as changing your child’s diet can be, try to get some assurance that your child doesn’t have to live with a life-threatening allergy. Being a parent is difficult enough, but just imagine the extra stress you’d endure if your child was not safe from foods as everyday as peanut butter.

Though the debate is still out about whether banning peanuts completely is a good idea or only creates a fault sense of security.

However, the media coverage over this hot button issue is the best and greatest way to get the conversation started about what solution is best for all children.

Green & Organic Carnival Mentions:

In the past few months, several blogs have been showing our Green and Parent entries some love. Many thanks to Stefanie over at Focus Organic for including us in Eco Blog carnival # 13 for our blog entry Aluminum Vs Glass Beer Bottles – The New Paper Vs Plastic.

Our Earth Day post, Planning Your Eco Friendly picnic also got some recognition from Marie at Green Your Apartment’s awesome Seven Tips for Green Living Carnival.

Parenting Carnivals Mentions:

We also got mentioned within the Parents Helping Parents Carnival over at Modern Parent for our post about Mothers Keeping BPA Free. Thanks John for including us!

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To all of the blogs who participated, “Awesome Job.”

To the bloggers who are supporting community on the web, “Thanks!”

Those with severe peanut allergies won’t need to avoid the baseball stadiums cheers of “Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks” this season, as that a surge of peanut-free baseball days or peanut free baseball sections have cropped up. This phenomenon has already been well documented by a lot of allergy bloggers but Jennifer over at Food Allergy Buzz went the extra mile by creating an incredible burn down of all the peanut-free games going on across the US.

In late July, the Seattle Mariners announced they would be introducing peanut free sections during certain games this season, but as you can see from Jennifer’s list. The Mariners are not the only professional baseball team experimenting with peanut-free baseball games this season, so be sure to support the movement and spread the word.

If you know someone with a peanut allergy, grab a few tickets and attend a ballgame together. If the sections fill up and the seats sell out, there’s a good possibility there will be more peanut free places where severely allergic people can feel fancy (and peanut) free.

When many of us were younger, hard plastic was as every day as toilet paper. Our toys were made of it, our lunchboxes, and even our sippy cups and baby buggies. In a consumer shift as dramatic as the move from glass to plastic in the 1980s, is the growing movement against plastics in modern-day 2008. At the center of this debate is Bisephenol A, or BPA, an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic resins, epoxy resins, and other products.

Though BPA been used for generations to create the nearly unbreakable, often clear plastic that made Nalgene bottles a staple of the modern athlete, fear of neurological and tissue damage has caused modern day moms to roll back to the classic glass baby bottles of the 1950’s.

Why Moms Are Worried

Recently, BPA studies on rat pups have begun linking BPA to the accelerated growth of prostate and mammary tissue, a phenomenal that increases the chance of prostrate and breast cancer developing in adults. Though no formal statement has been issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services linking Bisphenol A and cancer in children and adults— pregnant women, those with small infants, and even the Canadian government aren’t taking any chances.

Moms Fight Back, Go BPA Free

A gigantic grassroots movement of parents against hard plastics that contain the chemical agent Bisphenol A has emerged and given plastic companies like Platex and Nalgene the nearly insurmountable challenge of getting rid of the very same plastics that helped their business grow. Since large companies are overwhelmed by the cries of parents against hard plastic, green and organic companies have answered the call and developed BPA-Free alternatives such as Silicone nipples and Silicone slips for glass baby bottles and metal bottles for toddlers.

Can We Really Go BPA Free?

With all of the new products emerging, on the market – everything from BPA-Free Breast pumps to BPA free pacifiers – you’d think that by the end of this year, parents would be able to avoid BPA all together.

The problem gets even more complicated when we consider the impossible task of trying to rid our lives of these plastics. BPA is so widely manufactured that it’s very difficult to reduce your exposure completely, but according to some sources there are ways to minimize Bisphenol A’s potential effects.

What You Can Do

As consumers, we’re often prey to scare tactics aimed to steer our purchasing decisions, so it’s important to remember to keep your head when making decisions for your entire family. Before you make the switch, take the time to read reviews from real moms on alternative baby bottles and food containers for your baby.

And please, always double check your sources. BPA and non-BPA bottles could look similar when ordering online. After all, we’re human and all of us are prone to mistakes. Even authors of best selling baby books!

So you’ve decided to mix up your grocery list, huh?

Maybe you’re tired of eating the same things or you’ve gone through a fundamental shift in your beliefs which affects your food choices. Perhaps you want to avoid Trans Fats or you’re simply trying a new Weight Watchers diet. Heck, you may just want to avoid a hot button ingredient like High Fructose Corn Syrup.

No matter your reasons for changing your diet, researching food before you fill your cart can be fulfilling and fun. Keep in mind; good grocery shopping is an art. And like any art, it needs practice and nurturing before you’re the Picasso of the market basket.

Make a Goal

Goal oriented shopping helps everyone make better choices.

Before you shop, think about what you want to get out of your shopping experience. A goal as simple “Buy food” lacks structure and can be easily become derailed. By created and accepting a goal, you’re not only giving your food purchases focus through implied guidelines, but you’re also giving meaning to your quest.

Research Your Goal

How many times have you gone to the store hoping to change your diet, only to fall flat on your face?

I know I have.

This year, for example, my fiancée and I decided to cut the meat and dairy out of our diet for a month. We wanted to experiment with new flavors, cut dairy fats like cheese, and try to eat more vegetables and non animal proteins.

Like most dietary changes, it was hard to implement such a radical change at first. I had never worked with tofu or tempeh before and wasn’t sure how to use them or flavors worked best with them.

Of course, lack of knowledge didn’t stop me from just charging ahead to the store without researching my goal. I ended up getting things that were, yes, vegetarian or vegan, but not very good for me. Part of my goal had been to buy foods that not only were Vegetarian and Vegan but healthy, too.

Now I research products before diving in. It’s much more fun than wandering the grocery store lost, confused and getting crowded by tons of individuals more lost than me!

I reconnected with my goal through research. By discovering blogs and people with the same goals as me. Usually bloggers are the experts on the topic. I used Google Blog Search, but I also recommend using Food Buzz to discover new food blogs.

Blogs are very approachable; search engines love them, and often contain fantastic, practical advice on a variety of niche topics. By immersing yourself in the topic online, you can help understand why others have made the choice you’re making and keep your hand on the pulse of the community. If you find a particular blog interesting, be sure to check out the links in their blog roll. Usually bloggers take careful consideration choosing the sites they link to in their blog roll, by exploring these links you may find a pathway to a larger food community.

Ask Yourself Important Questions

So you’ve read all about your new Low Carb diet, but have you asked yourself the important questions?

Diet Blog recommends asking 10 important questions before diving into a drastic shift in diet. Before announcing to the world you’ve turned a new leaf, you should research your own eating habits – questions to ask yourself include how and when you eat, how much can you afford to spend on your new diet (Vegans, Vegetarians and Green eaters will tell you Whole Foods and specialty diets don’t come cheap) and if you will be able to make better choices while eating out with friends.

Make a list of foods that will be hard for you to give up when making a diet shift and which foods will be easy to give up. Try to discover new foods that could potentially fill the void where your old foods left. If you eat cheese and crackers after work or late in the afternoon, would you be happy switching it to hummus and pita chips?

Knowing your weaknesses and food strengths will help you not only find new products you will love, but will help you learn what food cues keep you locked into your diet so you can break the cycle.

Find New Recipes You Will Love

Blogs are an excellent gateway to fantastic recipes, but you can also use sites like Recipezaar and Epicurious to find recipes that you will love.

If you’re trying to eat healthier, try not to replace food you love with “healthier versions” right away. You’ll probably have better luck trying to make something new. For example, when I started making vegetarian recipes, I tried to make more curries since I rarely ate curries with meat anyway; this was a great gateway food to trying new things in that food category. Replacement foods like “Veggie” Burgers or Veggie Sausage, Low Carb Chocolate or Low Fat Cookies are great transitional foods, but they’re only a success story if you keep yourself from comparing them to their more endowed cousins. So, stop comparing! Instead of trying to replace the foods in your diet that you’re going to miss, discover new foods that satisfy your taste buds and get you excited about your new journey.

The first week of your diet, plan ahead and memorize 3 recipes that are quick, easy, and use a minimal amount of products that are usually in your home. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hungry, tired from work and start going straight toward the phone to call in a pepperoni pizza. By having an arsenal of quick and easy meals tucked away in your brain, you’ll be less likely to resorting back to your old ways.

Another quick tip is to Google a series of ingredients you have in your house, usually the first few hits will always be from recipes that meet the basic requirements. You can also use a tool like Recipe Matcher to discover recipes you can make with your delicious new finds.

Research Food and Food Costs

Knowledge is not only power, it’s profitable, too.

Take for instance the cost of changing your diet. When you don’t know what products you love, the change can be costly. Take for instance my goal to eat Vegetarian a few days out of the week. I bought about $120 worth of groceries and it turns out ¼ of the groceries I purchased, I didn’t like or completely use before they perished.

When you buy a product you don’t know anything about, you’re taking a financial gamble. Especially with perishables, you have a limited period of time to use the product and just imagine the disappointment when you end up not enjoying the product you purchased.

Fortunately, food review blogs like I Ate A Pie and user reviews on Zeer are helping me research products before I shop. That’s how I discovered my favorite (and low fat) afternoon snack – Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus and Zeer is the entire reason that I started using Silk Vanilla Soy Milk with my granola. These might seem like small steps, but they opened up a whole new world of healthier, happier goal oriented and research fueled eating.

Over at Zeer, our team puts our heart into working out all the eccentricities of a growing food community with vim and vigor on a daily basis, but sometimes, we need outside wisdom for bigger questions that might arise.

Michael Putnam, CEO of Zeer has put together a pretty amazing advisory board to help Zeer stay the course in bringing the best food information to the masses.

If you also nose around you’ll also see we’ve linked to some Media Coverage that we’re particularly proud of.

If you’d like to write about Zeer, take a peek at our new Press Release page so you can catch up on where Zeer has been and where we plan on heading in the future.