3/13/13

The social media website Pinterest is loaded with clever ideas of how to take everyday pantry staples like instant pudding, cake mixes, snacks and frozen food and mix them together to create homemade treats and meals in minutes. If you see a fun idea that you've pinned to try later, remember this: You don't always have to use the same conventional brands when you try the recipe at home. With organic food brands becoming more prevalent, swapping out a conventional cake mix for an organic one means better quality ingredients and the likelihood of fewer or zero artificial dyes and flavoring.

3/12/13

Parents who set up a sandbox in their backyard as a place for the kids to play may also be setting up the perfect environment for insects to nest and build colonies. Instead of reaching for chemical pesticides to keep your sandbox insect-free, search in your pantry instead. Generously sprinkle cinnamon all over the sandbox, and rake it through the sand. Cinnamon is a natural insect deterrent, and it smells great, too. If you need a lot of cinnamon for your extra-large sandbox, look for generic brands or inexpensive bulk containers at your local warehouse club store.

3/11/13

Who knew those little UPC stickers on produce actually do more than help speed up the checkout line at the grocery store? The numbers on the sticker -- called the PLU code -- also tell you how that apple, orange or cucumber was grown. Four numbers means the produce was grown conventionally using pesticides; five numbers starting with an eight tells you it was grown using genetically modified seeds; and five numbers starting with a nine means it's organic and grown without any genetically modified seeds.