This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. I am cross-posting it also at Hobo Mama Reviews. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.
EasyLunchboxes is offering our readers a giveaway of a Bento Lunch Box System: a container set and one cooler lunch bag (winner chooses color), a value of $21.90.
This system is a sustainable and eco-friendly way to carry meals and snacks on the go! EasyLunchboxes are the perfect solution for packing lunches and snacks for school, preschool, daycare, work, playdates, family outings, or any time you need to bring your own healthy meal — without a lot of waste.
Get a jump on your New Year's resolution to stop brown bagging it or paying too much for lunch out, and enter to win one of these fun and environmentally conscious bento lunch box sets!
We actually won a set of EasyLunchboxes in a giveaway (so I'm here to tell you it can be done!), and Mikko was excited to immediately put them to use for picnics and snacks out. Since Mikko was three at the time and in only a half-day preschool twice a week, and since Sam and I worked exclusively from home, we didn't need them for traditional purposes perhaps, but they still came in handy, and do even more so now.
Sam now works part of the time from an outside office and has to bring his own sustenance since there's no other possibility within walking distance. We also take turns bringing our (now) two boys out for excursions, and it works well to bring along healthy and kid-approved food to eat.
I can see EasyLunchboxes being ideal for whenever you or someone in your family would otherwise pack a meal or eat out:
School lunches
Preschool or daycare snacks and meals
Allergy-friendly foods
Playdates
Running errands
Working in an office
The containers are so much better quality than those disposable brands (read bento bloggers' unsolicited opinions here!) – a very sturdy polypropylene. Each is subdivided into three compartments, so you can get your bento on.
We don't get all that fancy — here are some crackers, hummus to dip, and some yummy cheese slices.
I like that the compartments separate the meal or snack components, giving you options for making fun combinations (and forgoing gross ones!).
No matter what you put in them, you'll know you're giving your family the benefit of your healthy, homemade meals — and saving money to boot! You're also creating less waste by opting for a reusable lunch container over plastic baggies, and portioning out your own family-size foods and leftovers over store-bought single-serve items.
This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. I'm also cross-posting it here on Hobo Mama Reviews. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.
This fun, sustainable, and educational grow-at-home mushroom kit lets you grow up to 1 1/2 pounds of gourmet, tasty oyster mushrooms in only 10 days…right from the box! The soil inside is 100% recycled coffee grounds, and the daily care is a simple misting.
I love mushrooms. Mushrooms as the centerpiece of a dish, mushrooms as an earthy base to a dish, mushrooms as a garnish: stuffed, sautéed, stir fried, raw, I love them all.
But I had never grown my own mushrooms before. It had never, frankly, occurred to me. But when we got the Back to the Roots mushroom kit, I was eager to dive in. The soil in the kit is made from recycled coffee grounds, and nearly the whole packaging is compostable afterward, so the kit is giving a second and third life to our raw materials, and the mushrooms are a freebie bonus in that process.
Our four-year-old son, Mikko, got to help in the process, although it's so simple I actually wished there was more there to hold his interest.
All you need to do is use a knife to cut a cross in the plastic, soak the bag in water overnight, and put the bag in its cardboard container in some sunlight. It was a two-minute project (or would have been if Mikko hadn't spilled quite of bit of the brownish water on the floor when getting out the bag).
From there on out, it was a simple matter of misting the bag with water twice a day, using the enclosed spray bottle, and letting the 'shrooms sprout. I was stunned by how quick the process was.
Here's the kit on day three (nothing to see yet):
Then on day six:
Day seven (seriously!):
Day nine:
On day eleven, it seemed like the exponential growth had stopped and the mushrooms looked about the size on the picture included with the instructions, so it was harvest time. (The instructions say to harvest on the tenth day, but I was greedily waiting to see if they'd get even bigger.)
Mikko did the honors. (Again, it was about two more minutes as a project.)
It yielded a solid plateful of mushrooms.
I sautéed the mushrooms and added them to a garbanzo-bean/couscous dish I'd made flavored with onion, ground pork, and a mushroom powder I mail-order. (The oyster mushrooms don't shrink as much as button or crimini; that's simply half of the batch as Lauren and I shared.)
Lauren's the green thumb in our family and I haven't even really found the work to be worth the reward in growing things myself, but this project couldn't have been simpler. Mikko seemed to enjoy watching the mushrooms get bigger each day although he couldn't bring himself to taste one.
The only hiccup I experienced was that you're supposed to be able to grow a second batch by cutting a cross on the other side of the bag, but I didn't get any growth the second time. I was unclear whether or not I needed to soak the bag again, and I did, so perhaps that was a mistake. (Actually, in visiting their website to remind myself of the instructions, I don't see anything there about soaking the bag at all, so maybe that's something they've worked to eliminate as part of the process.)
The mushroom kit is definitely something I'd do again once Mikko is a bit older and can anticipate eating them when they're finished. The more enjoyment you get out of the process, the better value it is, of course.
Replacement bags are half the price of the entire kit if you want to keep going, and the bags keep up to six months before opening, so you could likely get your cost down (especially if you get that second or third crop per bag) to where fresh mushrooms are a kitchen staple.
Back to the Roots
The founders of Back to the Roots were inspired by the idea of producing local, fresh food from what was an urban waste stream. The company is on pace in 2011 to collect, divert, and reuse 1 million pounds of coffee grounds this year from Peet's Coffee & Tea, and to help families grow over 250,000 pounds of fresh food at home. They've also sustained 10 urban school & community gardens by donating the premium soil amendment of spent coffee grounds and mushroom compost.
You can also find the Mushroom Farm at Whole Foods stores.
If you post a picture of your grown kit on the Back to the Roots Facebook page, BTTR will donate a sustainability curriculum and kit to an elementary school of your choice!
Back to the Roots is also offering our readers a special discount!
Enter the code "Mushrooms4me10"
to take 10% off your first mushroom kit!
WIN IT!
For your own chance to win a Back to the Roots Mushroom Farm, enter by leaving a comment and using our new Rafflecopter system below.
Contest is open to United States addresses only.
MANDATORY ENTRY:Visit BacktotheRoots.com and tell us something you've learned! You must enter your name and email address in the Rafflecopter entry system for your entry to count, after leaving a comment on the blog post.
Leave a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Email addresses in Rafflecopter are not made publicly visible. Please leave the same valid email address in your mandatory comment so we can verify entries. If on Blogger, you can enter it like this to foil spambots: mail {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com
This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we'll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy both sites!
BONUS ENTRIES:
See the Rafflecopter entry system for bonus entries to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry. All bonus entries are entered directly into Rafflecopter. Just click "Click for instructions" for guidance and then "I did this" — any comments or extra information such as URLs can be entered into the "Extra Info" box. Give it a try or visit the Rafflecopter tutorial, and email or leave a comment if you have any questions!
Contest closes November 30 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Disclosure: Our reviewer received a sample product for review.
I try to seek out only products I think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If I don't like a product, I won't be recommending it to you.
See my full disclosure policy here.
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Crackerdog Sam (that's his hobo name) is a full-time work-from-home parent and a newly avid unschooler. He shares both the working and the parenting of four-year-old Mikko and five-month-old Alrik with Lauren of Hobo Mama.
Crayola Store is offering a huge weekend sale on all items, site-wide:
Enjoy 20% Off Storewide this weekend at CrayolaStore.com. Enter code CRATHXG20AFF. Expires Tuesday, November 30.
You can find toys, art supplies, creative gifts, and more! Mikko loves making "decorations," so I'm always on the hunt for new markers, crayons, paper, stickers, and other elements to amuse him. It doesn't have to be expensive, either — he can make art out of chalk, leftover ribbon, and popsicle sticks!
You'll find plenty for your own budding artist at CrayolaStore.com.
Disclosure: Crayola Store links are affiliate links.
I try to seek out only products I think you would
find relevant and useful to your life
as a natural parent.
See my full disclosure policy here.
The Ultimate Green Store is still in the swing of back-to-school deals, offering FREE SHIPPING on orders for school supplies and gear over $75 with code ECOSCHOOL!
The supplies don't have to be used just for school, of course. They'd work great in a homeschool setting as well as for crafts and everyday activities and excursions.
Teaching to mastery: How we naturally learn
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*My 9-year-old learns art techniques & origami by practicing them over and
over and over.*
[image: Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blog...
Family Breakfast
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It’s no secret that our household loves to cook and eat. We love food, we
love communing around food, and I (particularly) love reading about food.
Food m...
EasyLunchboxes is offering our readers a giveaway of a Bento Lunch Box System: a container set and one cooler lunch bag (winner chooses color), a value of $21.90.
Crackerdog Sam (that's his hobo name) is a full-time 
including bags converted out of used drink pouches
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