pileofcrapola

I love the idea of organic food, but the price? Ouch! According to the 2013 U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Beliefs study, I’m not off. Sponsored by the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the study, which surveyed 1,239 parents, found those who buy organic foods report spending more each week on groceries ($119) than those who don’t buy organic ($104).

It adds up. Still, the OTA contends that you can feed a family of four three meals per day using only organic ingredients for $25 or less. To prove their point, Heather Hartman, a Minneapolis chef, recently prepared a dinner for a group of journalists like myself. Here’s one of her delish cost-cutter recipes with an estimated cost for each ingredient. Go ahead—try this at home.

Chicken Tamale Pie

3 cups shredded cooked organic chicken ($2)

1 ½ cups prepared organic salsa ($2)

½ cup frozen organic corn ($1.25)

15 oz can organic black beans, drained and rinsed (kidney or pinto beans work well, too) ($2.39)

2 ½ cups water 

1 teaspoon each organic ground cumin and organic dried oregano (15 cents)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon organic cornmeal (75 cents)

1 cup organic sharp cheddar cheese, grated ($2)

¼ cup organic milk (10 cents)

Salt and fresh cracked organic black pepper (5 cents)

Organic sour cream or plain yogurt for garnish ($1)

2 teaspoons lime juice (50 cents)

Fresh chopped cilantro (optional)

Organic butter (for greasing the pan)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium sauce pan, add the chicken, salsa, corn, black beans, ½ cup water, cumin, oregano, and 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
3. In another medium sauce pan, add the 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the cornmeal, and whisk frequently, reducing heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt, the cheddar cheese, and the milk. While until well combined and cheese is melted. Add fresh cracked black pepper, and taste for salt. Remove from heat.
4. In an 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish, butter generously. Spoon the chicken-bean mixture into the dish. Top with the cornmeal mixture and spread out evenly. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
5. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream, and chopped cilantro, if desired.

The total cost for this entrée, which serves six, is just $12. To keep organic food costs down for this and other recipes, Hartman offered these organic thrift tips:

1. Go with private-label organic products. The quality is often just as good as branded products, but generally as much as 20 percent less.
2. Check out alternative cuts of meat. For example, buy a whole organic chicken rather than skinless chicken breasts. For the chicken tamale pie, Hartman started with a whole chicken. Only the amount of chicken she used was accounted for in the cost of the recipe. But you can make your own stock out of the bones and use any leftover chicken for another meal.
3. Plan meals a month ahead and keep your pantry 80 percent stocked with the basics, such as beans, corn meal, oats, canned tomatoes, etc. That way you can just fill in from the greenmarket.
4. Freeze organic fresh fruit when it’s in season and plan your meals around seasonal items.
5. Sign up for coupons on manufacturer websites. Companies want you to get hooked on their products. “There are lots of good coupons out there,” Hart says. At Fresh Express, for example, (the packaged salad people) you can sign up for Fresh Updates and watch the coupons roll in. 
6. Buy organic milk... at the gas station. Gas stations tend to offer low organic milk prices. Try private-label organic milk, too, and sign up for coupons and special offers on organic milk sites, too, such as Organic Valley. Bonus: “Organic milk is ultra-pasteurized, which makes it more shelf stable, so it lasts longer,” Hartman says.

Want to add your two (organic) cents? How do you cut costs on organic food?  

Oil stains on your clothes are part and parcel of cooking. Act fast and they won't stay on. Food52 has a quick trick to remove them with common kitchen ingredients like baking soda and a little bit of dishwashing liquid.

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Got an old baking sheet that is all blackened and battered from overuse? Don't throw it out just yet—this is exactly what you need for perfect roasted veggies in the oven, says The Kitchn. And there's the added advantage of not having to thoroughly clean them each time either.

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Oof, that was a rough one, I know.

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When it's a super cold day or you have aching joints, nothing quite beats the soothing heat a microwave heat bag can deliver. With some basic sewing skills, you can make your own right at home.

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Showers can be tough to clean and most of the time we only remember to do it when we're already showering. Check out these easy tips for keeping that shower looking its best.

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We throw a lot of food away each year and much of that comes from food going bad due to less-than-ideal storage. We've talked before about how to store food in your fridge and freezer and the general basics of food storage. This graphic from PartSelect serves as a handy at-a-glance guide to keeping refrigerated food its freshest.

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This might be a bizarre-sounding tip for cooking vegetables, but it's an old technique that can produce more flavorful, crisper, and attractive veggies compared to other methods. Bake them within a head of lettuce.

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If you've been exploring the fine art of animated GIFs, but found that some of them were a bit too large to share easily, Gfycat can help.

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An important aspect of having well-rounded finances is charity. Giving is generally accepted by many personal finance experts as an essential part of good money management. Your giving, however, should be like other aspects of your financial management—an effort should be made to ensure that you are getting the best value for your dollar.

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If you're looking for a deal on airfare, common wisdom is to book early and be flexible with your dates. While flexibility is good, the advance part may cost you money. Peter Greenberg, CBS News' travel editor, shared some of his tips to save money and avoid costly mistakes when booking airfare.

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Words that you never want to see in close proximity to each other: “toilet,” “explosion,” and “shatter.” That’s why the Flushmate flush-assist system has been recalled, though: one of the welds in the system can break, shattering the toilet tank and posing an “impact and laceration hazards to consumers,” as the Consumer Product Safety Commission elegantly explains. 

The same model of the Flushmate was recalled in 2012. Technically, this is an expansion of the 2012 recall, affecting the same product: the series 503. The expansion covers units made between March 2008 and June 2009. Serial numbers for this product have a production date code as part of the serial number.

The flushing system cost about $110, and was sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and any specialty stores that sell toilets. If you have questions, you can call Flushmate at (800) 303-5123 or visit the company’s site.

Flushmate Expands Recall of Flushmate III Pressure-Assisted Flushing System Due to Impact and Laceration Hazards [CPSC]

Who needs an actual debit card when there are hordes of prepaid debit cards on the market? That’s a question you might have to ask yourself with more retailers (and at least one wireless provider) launching their own cards. But while the branding on the front of the card might be for a store, it’s the bank behind that card that is cashing in.

Every prepaid debit card is required to be backed by a bank. The banks act as a conduit to route transactions and hold deposits in exchange for fee income. And business is booming for these banks, thanks to an exemption on capping fees for prepaid cards in Dodd-Frank, the Washington Post reports.

Prepaid products cover a spectrum of uses including for general purchases, payroll, and government tax refunds, allowing banks plenty of opportunity to cash in.

Banks sponsoring prepaid cards make money from deposits, fees incurred by customers using the card and the fees merchants pay when people purchase goods using the cards. With more than $99.2 billion in prepaid transactions taking place in 2012, banks aren’t exactly hurting.

Becoming a prepaid card sponsor isn’t easy, though. Banks are required to comply with federal and state regulatory guidelines and must be able to provide a large investment to manage the programs.

Officials with Bancorp Bank, the bank sponsoring T-Mobile’s new prepaid card, said the goal for banks getting into the prepaid card sponsoring business is to balance their portfolios.

But with an increase in prepaid card use, federal regulators are paying attention, especially to fees tied to benefit and payroll cards.

Many banks, including JPMorgan Chase, have planned to stop issuing prepaid cards for corporations and the government after a probe into the fees workers incurred when using the cards, the Post reports.

Banks aren’t just sponsoring prepaid cards for retailers, many offer their own cards. So how much are banks making off their own cards? That’s not so cut and dry, since most banks don’t break down the revenue in their earnings.

Since prepaid cards don’t seem to be going away anytime soon, at least take a look at Consumer Reports’ ranking of the best. And remember to look for all those hidden fees.

Rise in prepaid debit cards entices banks to sponsor them [The Washington Post]

It’s exceedingly obvious: the easiest way to save money on something is to not buy it in the first place. Everyone has to wear clothing (outside of the house, anyway) but clothing is now so cheap that many of us don’t put much thought into making it last longer. Avoid trips to the store: make your clothes last longer.

Our friends over at Dealnews, who are usually looking for great deals to buy new stuff, compiled some tips to keep your clothes looking presentable for as long as possible.

Give your clothes a day off. Yes, you can wear items like suits, bras, shoes, or skirts a few times before washing, but those days shouldn’t be consecutive. Let items rest and air out between wearings.

Buy some drying racks. Maybe a dehumidifier, too. The dryer is an amazing convenience, and you can’t beat it as a source of toasty-warm towels. However, it’s not good for your clothing. If possible, dry items on a line or rack. This saves energy and wear on your clothes.

Store clothing items well. Especially if you don’t wear something every season, it’s a good idea to protect it by storing it somewhere other than wadded up at the bottom of a laundry basket.

Wash with care. Don’t overdose on detergent, use the coldest water possible for the fabric you’re washing, treat stains as soon as possible, and

How to Make Your Clothes Last Longer [Dealnews]

McDonald’s attempt at using Twitter to promote its role in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, has not gone exactly as the fast food chain planned — that is, unless it planned for the LGBT community to use this campaign as a way to publicly shame the company for its sponsorship of the games.

As you probably already know, many people — gay and straight — are concerned about the Winter Olympics taking place in Russia during a time when the country’s leadership has undertaken an effort to effectively criminalize homosexuality, equating non-straight sexual orientations with pederasty.

Groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, have already asked many of the major sponsors of the 2014 games to reconsider associating their brands with the event, to no avail.

Earlier this week, the McDonald’s Twitter account attempted to get people in the Olympic spirit with a Tweet that read, “We’re kicking off a way to send your well wishes to any Olympian today. Are you ready to send your #CheersToSochi?” and linked to the company’s Cheers to Sochi website.

In the days since, those opposing McDonald’s involvement in the Sochi games have taken that #CheersToSochi hashtag and used it to tag Tweets expressing disappointment and anger at McD’s.

A search for the #CheersToSochi tag turns up a massive (and growing) number of protest Tweets, directed not just at McDonald’s, but also at other Olympics sponsors like Coca-Cola and Dow.

“Social media campaigns are particularly perilous, given that they are far more a dialogue than a monologue, as McDonald’s found out,” writes HuffPo’s Scott Wooledge about the backlash. “The company is usually a Chatty Cathy to folks on Twitter; they have not responded to any LGBT objectors.”

In fact, while McDonald’s has continued to link to its Cheers to Sochi website, it looks like it has abandoned the #CheersToSochi hashtag, most recently using it two days ago.

While it has not responded directly to Tweets, McDonald’s has released a statement to the Chicago Tribune:

“McDonald’s supports human rights, the spirit of the Olympics and all the athletes who’ve worked so hard to compete in the Games… We believe the Olympic Games should be open to all, free of discrimination, and that applies to spectators, officials, media and athletes.”

Turning a marketing hashtag against the company that started it has been done before. In Dec. 2012, Starbucks made the mistake of asking UK customers to share happy Tweets with a #SpreadTheCheer tag. These Tweets would then show up on a huge public display in London. Instead of feeling the holiday cheer, anti-Starbucks Twitter users took the opportunity to use the hashtag on Tweets protesting the company’s controversial tax breaks in the UK.

Undeclared dairy products seem to be showing up in lots of places where they aren’t wanted: candy, gluten-free bread mixes, and even dietary supplements. Welcome to the January Recall Roundup for edible items.

Our monthly Recall Roundups have grown so expansive that we’ve had to separate them into two separate roundups: one for consumer goods, and one for consumables.

If you have any of these listed items in your pantry, first check the varieties and flavors against the ones listed on the recall site or press release, then check expiration date or lot numbers.

If there’s a match, don’t panic! If an item is listed as having undeclared walnuts and you’re not allergic to walnuts, for example, you don’t have to do anything at all. You can keep the item, eat it, not eat it, or return it to the store or the manufacturer for your own peace of mind.

Items that may be contaminated with bacteria or foreign objects are worrisome for everyone, and you should return them to the retail store where you bought them, or contact the company for a refund and further instructions.

DESSERTS AND SNACKS
Araya chocolate products – various undeclared allergens
Crunch’N Nutter – Mixed Nut – undeclared peanuts
Paskesz Candy Company Chocolate Coins – undeclared traces of milk
Tonia’s Biscotti samplers, individually wrapped biscotti, and lemon biscotti – may contain undeclared wheat, milk, and soy
Giant Eagle Candy Place Chocolate Santas (may be a little late for this one) – undeclared peanuts
Concertos in Chocolate milk chocolate Santas – undeclared milk products
Sweet Spots (candy) – possible undeclared egg protein

DAIRY
Flat Creek Farm & Dairy – possible Salmonella contamination

PREPARED FOODS
Kinnikinnick Foods waffle and bread mixes – undeclared milk
Marlyce’s Butterballs – undeclared undeclared wheat flour, soy flour, whey, and milk
Prego Traditional Italian sauce (24 ounces) – risk of spoilage
The Cultured Kitchen cashew non-dairy cheese – possible Salmonella contamination
Victor’s Sesame Hummus – possible Listeria contamination
Kraft Velveeta Cheesy Skillets Singles, Cheesy Mac – undeclared soy

SEAFOOD
St. Mary’s River Smokehouses Oven Smoked Salmon Stix, Chili Mango Flavor – possible Listeria contamination
Fosforel, Atlantika herring in oil – possible Listeria contamination

SUPPLEMENTS
StemAlive 90 Capsules – undeclared milk
Pro ArthMax – actually contains variety of undeclared prescription drugs
Boost Ultra, XZone Gold, Sexy Monkey, Triple MiracleZen Platinum, Magic for Men, “New” Extenze, and New XZen Platinum – contain undeclared prescription drugs (Viagra and Cialis to be precise)

MEAT
European Meat Products Inc. beef and pork rolls (Huong Duyen) – undeclared wheat
Cloverdale Meats Seattle Mariners Beef Franks – undeclared milk products

It’s no secret that the robot revolution is coming, when our machines achieve self-aware intelligence and rise up against us as our new overlords. But really, we’re letting it happen because it’s just so much easier to let a robot pump your gas. Especially in the winter when the car is so toasty warm and the pump is so icy cold. Brrr.

The local buzz in St. Louis is good news for anyone who dreads facing the arctic blast outside the car when it comes time to pump gas, reports Fox2Now.com in St. Louis. One company is testing a robotic pump and showed it off to the news station.

“We already have drive-thru McDonald’s, drive-thru banks and drive-thru car washes,” said a company executive. The pumps aren’t going to show up at your local gas station anytime soon, however, as the product still has to go through regulatory testing and won’t be ready for probably another nine months.

Here’s where the old, cranky person inside me asks, How does this damnable robot get the job done? It’s surely not as talented as I am at pumping gas. Or if you’re in a state where only gas station employees pump gas, gas station employees.

Infra-red lights and cameras locate the fuel door and then an arm with a suction cup pulls it open. Out comes a nozzle into the fuel tank and the desired amount of fuel comes gushing through. Tick, the tank is full, and the nuzzle returns to the pump (note: while many newer cars no longer have fuel caps, there’s an adapter available for those that do need to be unscrewed first).

As for payment, there’s a touch screen outside the car for making fuel selections and paying, but the company predicts a phone app will also be developed to allow customers to pay with a swipe of their phones.

“I think it`s going to have an appeal in Northern regions, especially where weather is really bad,” the company exec explains.

Of course this is just one prototype and one potential product. I’ll start to get really scared when a robot comes by to sell me the Slim Jims it knows I want from the gas station.

Robotic gas pumps will likely come to St. Louis [Fox2Now.com]

Airports can be one of the most frustrating places in the world to spend an afternoon. Getting to the airport two hours early, waiting in security lines, taking off your shoes, walking through space-age like metal detectors, it can all be a huge hassle. But it wasn’t always that way. Before the days of 3.4-ounce liquids and random screenings, airport security was pretty simple. 

While the events of Sept. 11, 2001 facilitated heightened security measures, the catalyst behind the beginning of airport security occurred 46 years prior.

The date was Nov. 1, 1955. The flight was United Airlines Flight 629 from Denver to Portland, Ore. Just minutes after takeoff the plane exploded over a beet farm in Longmont, Colo. All 44 people onboard died.

Federal investigators determined the explosion was the result of a dynamite bomb in a checked bag. A passenger’s son, Jack Graham, confessed to placing the sack of dynamite in his mother’s suitcase. He was looking to cash in on his mother’s life insurance.

The explosion of Flight 629 was the first major act of criminal violence on a United States airline and the years following the tragic flight ushered in the beginning of the Federal Aviation Administration’s modern security measures.

The first security measure, beginning in 1961, was the simple addition of armed guards on planes, but only when requested by the FBI or by airlines.

The FAA more aggressively began security requirements in the late ’60s and early ’70s after more than 130 successful and attempted airplane hijackings. First came the FAA’s hijacker psychological profile used by ticket agents to determine if passengers were a threat to the skies. Flyers who exhibited odd behavior, such as lack of eye contact or inadequate concern for their luggage might be subjected to additional scanning.

Next came the creation of the Customs Air Security Officers Program, also known as sky marshals, followed by the Explosive Detection Canine Team Program.

Even with increased security, airplanes were still under constant threat. The lack of manpower resulted in additional hijackings, including one of the most captivating unsolved incidents — that of D.B. Cooper. A man claimed to have a bomb, hijacked a flight and ransomed passengers. The passengers were released and the man parachuted from the plane, never to be found.

Two years later, in 1973, the FAA began requiring all commercial airlines to use X-ray machines, metal detectors, and personal searches to screen passengers and carry-on baggage for weapons and explosive devices.

Over the next four years, the FAA reported only one successful hijacking since the beginning of standardized security measures were implemented.

The security measures following the 70s were by far and wide more reliable than those in the 1950s and ’60s, but it still wasn’t enough.

Passengers were allowed to arrive just 30 minutes before boarding, families and friends were allowed at gates and security was often outsourced to underpaid contractors.

Following the events of 2001 – the Sept. 11 attacks and the infamous attempted shoe bombing in December – the Transportation Security Administration was created.

Today we have boarding pass inspection, strict checkpoints and constant reminders never to leave your bag unattended.

Is airport security moving backwards now? Not quite but some standards are being relaxed.

In 2008, the TSA began using state-of-the art Advanced Imaging Technology at airports. The scanners took detailed photos of passengers to detect metal and metallic objects. However, after much controversy the units were removed in June 2013.

In recent years, the TSA began implementing the PreCheck program for qualified frequent fliers. The program allows for quicker transit through airport security, while the passengers can leave on their shoes, belts and light outerwear. Some airports are even using layers of security to allow for expedited screening – as one Consumerist editor recently experienced.

Just as airport security evolved following the 1955 explosion of Flight 629, it continues to evolve today.

Pick up any package of food at the grocery store, turn it around, and there it is: the ubiquitous, standardized nutrition label. It’s second nature at this point: we all know exactly what it looks like, and what we can expect to find listed on it.

That’s because the label hasn’t had any significant changes in twenty years. Meanwhile, the priorities of consumers, and the understanding of the science behind nutrition, have both changed a great deal. The FDA agrees: it’s time for a makeover.

The Minneapolis StarTribune reports on some of the potential changes consumers might see to the labels. Although for some of us the early 1990s may not feel quite as long ago as they really were, a great deal has changed in the science and awareness of nutrition since then.

For example: remember the four food groups? They went out of vogue more than two decades ago, and since then the USDA’s dietary guidelines have gone from groups, to the first food pyramid, to the second food pyramid (MyPyramid), and now we’re back to groups (five, now) on “MyPlate.”

In the 90s, the dietary craze was all about making sure products were low-fat or fat-free. Now, consumers prefer to separate out fats by type (trans-fat labeling was added to the label in 2006) and bring back the focus to calorie content.

Health advocates suggested a range of changes that would make the labels more useful to consumers, including:

• Adding or changing the units of measurement: teaspoons mean more to most American consumers than grams do.
• Making serving sizes make sense: when a clearly single-serve package makes claims “per serving,” but insists that a package contains 2.5 servings, that’s hard on consumers.
• Making calorie content more prominent: the number of calories per serving should be big, clear, and easy to see.

A representative for the FDA told the StarTribune that the new label design has been in the works for a decade, and that they have sent guidelines for the new labels to the White House, but that there is no time estimate for when they might be released.

20 years old, FDA is remaking the nutrition facts panel on the backs of food packages [Minneapolis StarTribune]

Being the mascot for a company for 100 years can put some wear and tear on a gal, so we’re sure the Morton Salt Girl is pretty pumped about her first makeover in 45 years. The company announced this week that it’s changing things up in celebration of the Girl’s 100th birthday this year.

The Chicago company first started using the logo with the iconic girl and her umbrella on the package back in 1914, explains the Chicago Tribune in its slide show gallery of all her six past looks.

So why the umbrella? What does that have to do with spilling salt? The slogan then was: “When it rains, it pours.” Get it? Rain? Pouring salt? Boom.

“This is a milestone year for Morton Salt,” CEO Christian Herrmann said in a statement. “With the Morton Salt Girl’s centennial and our Morton brand refresh, we have two major reasons to celebrate our past, present and future.”

The new logo has what the company calls a “fresh and friendly font,” with the “R” in Morton carrying “a slight kick to mimic the Morton Salt Girl’s step.”

The updated look will appear first on a special edition table salt packaging and should be on shelves soon.

The Morton Salt Girl gets facelift at 100 [The Chicago Tribune]

- Two white doves that were released by children standing alongside Pope Francis as a peace gesture have been attacked by other birds.

- Strangers who helped try to find an autistic New York City teen who walked out of his school and disappeared joined his family and friends Saturday for his funeral, somberly marking the tragic end of their three-month search.

- Paul Cortez can remember the night 31 years ago as clearly as if it was last week. He had walked into the pediatric intensive care unit of Riverside County Regional Medical Center to find his 7-year-old son, Mikey, barely clinging to life.

Tennessee, for two years before his arrest. Loskarn was fired immediately after his arrest.

- Teams of biologists are investigating the deaths of 25 pilot whales in the shallow waters off southwest Florida.

- PepsiCo has quietly gotten rid of the word "Natural" in some of its products and instead is going with "Simply."

- A man carrying a shotgun opened fire at a busy shopping mall in suburban Baltimore on Saturday, killing two employees of a skate shop and then himself as panicked shoppers ran for cover, police said. Five others were injured.

It's a small town in Prince William County with a population of about 1,900. But the town is once again without its police chief since he's been suspended again.

Traffic delays in the District of Columbia have been much worse lately. For the past several months, the city's army of highway help trucks have been forced to sit in the very backups they themselves are tasked with preventing.