Simple Truth from Fred Meyer

We've talked about the Kroger company's "sharing network" program before, yes? They send people who sign up free stuff, in exchange for those people telling others about the products. I haven't taken one of their "missions" in many months, but when they emailed this month inviting me to receive and review items from their Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic lines, my eye caught on the free cloth grocery bag they were offering to send... I confess, I have a weakness for cloth bags. It is a ridiculous thing to have a weakness for, I know! But I agreed to review the other items in the box in order to get the bag. They said they would send a couple of snack foods, which I figured the kids would have fun with.

And then we started the elimination diet before the box arrived, and we couldn't try either of the foods they included, a package of salted almonds and a box of fruit & grain bars. There was also an organic strawberry-lavender lip balm, which Kit immediately claimed and has been having great fun with. The other day she told me, "Mama, I put on so much lip balm I can't even imagine!" :-) As liberally as she's applying it, I'm glad that it's made of safe ingredients like beeswax and coconut oil instead of petroleum byproducts!

The kids did enjoy being able to give the snacks to their friends, though, and they've both been excited about using the cloth bag with the Simple Truth logo on it. As a marketing scheme to get people to buy more Simple Truth-branded products, the campaign sure worked on LB: now every time we go to the store, he notices things with the Simple Truth logo and asks if we can get them. And thanks to his current obsession with it, I've noticed how many Simple Truth items I do buy.

Kit and LB went on a scavenger hunt through the kitchen for Simple Truth items, and came up with quite a few! Off the top of my head I can remember canned beans and tomatoes (they use BPA-free cans!), the quinoa, and bagged apples. LB wanted us the get the Simple Truth coconutmilk last time we were at the store, but it has carrageenan in it, so we stuck with the name brand.

It's been a good source of "teachable moments" on marketing and brands, how seeing a logo we recognize can be a good starting point but it's still important to read the full ingredient list, compare the price, etc.

And the most important item in the box, the cloth bag?

It's okay. Wanting to use the Simple Truth bag has helped the kids remember to bring the cloth bags in when we go to the store, so that's a plus; it is definitely not the sturdiest bag in my collection, but it's fine for produce. I'm a little surprised that they chose to put their logo that's supposed to carry the connotation of "high quality" onto a bag that isn't, but it was free.