Earlier this month, I attended a fun lunch hosted by Stop & Shop. I have written about his company over the years. I just think that they are really smart and care a lot about their customers. Now that I live in Queens, I will actually get to visit one of their stores, so I’m excited about that. The lunch was made all the more special because some of my favorite blogger friends were there (including Jennifer, Melissa, Nicole and Victoria).

We all had fun making various “creations” at three different stations (floral centerpieces, chocolate covered pretzels and dry mixes). I skipped the floral station, since my florist skills leave much to be desired. I do better with things like bamboo. I did cover a pretzel in chocolate and cover it with sprinkles. That was a nice and easy gift idea. The one that I like the most though was the dry mix station. We had the choice between making cookie or soup gifts. Of course, I chose the cookies. (It won’t be a gift though, because I made them with my boys. They enjoyed them, so I guess that it was a gift after all.) I liked them so much that I asked for the instructions for you. They really make easy, thoughtful (and inexpensive) holiday gifts.

Country Soup Dry Mix

Ingredients:
1/2 cup barley
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 cup dry lentils
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
1/2 cup uncooked alphabet pasta
1 cup uncooked twist macaroni

Directions:
In a wide mouth 1 quart jar, layer in the following order:
• Half of the uncooked twist macaroni
• Barely
• Peas
• Rice
• Lentils
• Onion,
• Parsley,
• Salt,
• Lemon Pepper
• Bouillon
• Alphabet Pasta

Fill the rest of the jar with the twist macaroni. Seal tightly and decorate with ribbon. Attach gift card.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Dry Mix

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:
1. Combine the flour, baking soda, white sugar.
2. Place 1/2 of the mixture in a clean quart sized glass jar, and pack firmly.
3. Place the brown sugar on top, again packing firmly.
4. Place the remaining flour mixture on top and pack firmly.
5. Place the chocolate chips on top.
6. Seal tightly.
7. Decorate with ribbon, attach gift card and baking decorations. (The recipient will need to add a few non-dry ingredients – vanilla, eggs and butter).

The ideas for these gifts came from Andrea of Stop & Shop. The recipes are from Allrecipes.com (but you can substitute your favorite recipes.)

After the stations, we sat down for a wonderful lunch at Lady Mendl’s. (I have been there with friends before and they have a nice high tea service if you’re into that type of thing.) While eating, Andrea shared some helpful tips regarding saving time and money during the holiday season. To see various tips that Andrea has provided for our site over the years please visit this page. I really like her and I was happy to hear that in addition to her other duties, she writes the introduction for Stop & Shop’s new mini-magazine Small Victories. I have a copy of the first issue and it has a lot of useful recipes, coupons and more. (I’ve noticed that more companies are doing that – creating their own mini magazines – lately. Although they won’t replace my regular magazines, I think that they are a nice addition to my reading pile.)

We received a gift bag as we left. It included a $100 gift card. I was so impressed by their generosity that I did a quick twitter giveaway (yes – you should be following me on twitter!) where I used a portion of it to give to someone who would donate it to a needy family this holiday season. (I thought of it because Stop & Shop has complete heat and serve holiday dinners – turkey or ham – that serve six to eight people for only $59.99. That’s inexpensive, right?) Anyway, my family has been so blessed this year that it makes me happy to help another family out!

Stop & Shop, a supermarket company that really cares about their customers, gave me a $50 gift card for Mother’s Day. I’m passing the kindness on and giving it to one of you!

To enter, please tell me your favorite special meal in the “Comments” section below by Saturday, May 16th at noon.

For additional entries:
1. Link to this giveaway post on your blog.
2. Follow me on twitter. (If you’re already following me, you can tweet about this giveaway.)
3. Leave a comment on any of my other (non-giveaway) posts this week.

Good luck!

There are several companies that I love writing about and Stop & Shop is definitely one of them. I’m sincerely impressed by how much thought they put into meeting the needs of consumers. It is obvious that they want to help their customers stay (or become!) healthy during these challenging economic times. Recently, I learned of two new initiatives that they are taking which demonstrates this yet again!

1. They have started a FREE antibiotic prescription program. From now until March 21, 2009, interested shoppers will receive a 14-day supply of some of the most popular (36) generic antibiotics in nine categories for free. (All that is needed is a valid prescription from their doctor.) In addition, they have a generic drug program where shoppers can get a 90-day supply on over 350 drugs for $9.99. To learn more and to see a list of the antibiotics included in this program, visit www.stopandshop.com/antibiotics.

2. They also recently launched a “Healthy Ideas” program. In almost 400 of their stores, they have tagged over 3,000 items with their Healthy Ideas symbol so that shoppers can make smarter decisions about what foods to eat. They worked with a panel of experts including people from Harvard’s Medical School. The tags identify foods based on the USDA/FDA’s definition of “healthy,” the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid.gov. You can read more on their website here.

If you get a chance to see/use either of these initiatives in the Stop & Shop stores, please let me know your thoughts. (They still need to open one in Manhattan!)

Earlier this week, I attended a Stop & Shop lunch at Friend of a Farmer (they serve an amazing “Old fashion Chicken Pot Pie” …). I’ve said/written it before – Stop & Shop is a really smart company. It’s obvious that they care about their customers and are thinking about their lives. (They really do need to open a Manhattan branch!)

At the lunch, it was great to see some familiar mom-writer faces: Jennifer, Issa and Shannon. It was also wonderful to get holiday planning tips. (Fortunately, I don’t need to worry about that too much. We go to my husband’s aunt’s house for Thanksgiving – I just need to bring one dish.). We also talked about the innovative methods that their company is using to meet their customer’s financial concerns. There were several ways (that I’ll be sharing about in the future) but the one that stood out to me the most was in their meat section. They have made it so that people can choose how much meat they want from the butcher and get it individually wrapped rather than get a prepackaged amount. That’s so smart – some people can’t afford as much meat anymore. Lastly, they gave some really smart gift ideas (i.e. themed baskets filled with various grocery -tea/chocolate/etc.- items. I’m not especially crafty, but even I could do something like that!

The best thing that I like about Stop & Shop events is that I always come away with a lot of great information to share with you. So, this is what I’ll be sharing over the next four weeks (beginning today).

1.Thanksgiving Checklist

2. Shop Seasonally (this is a great one – you can plan your bulk purchases in advance for the entire year!)

3. Tips for Saving Time and Money at the Supermarket

and

4. Easy, Nutritious and Economical Family Meals (along with a $50 gift card giveaway)

Enjoy!