Trading Up Downtown

Walking into the new HyVee grocery store in Madison, WI, I was expecting to roam the aisles of an unfamiliar store and explore what they had to offer. What I was not prepared for was the sensory overload I had walking through the door. Where should I start? To the right was a Health Food section to my left was a buffet of delicious smelling food. I checked out the options and settled down into a seat with my salad bar concoction. A brochure caught my eye….a NuVal brochure to be exact. I recognized the company name from reading Tina’s blog Carrots N Cake, so I knew the basic premise of the company, but I was interested to learn more.

Reading further, I found out that HyVee and NuVal have partnered to help shoppers make more informed food choices with a points system. This was the first HyVee in the state. I realized Madison had gained more than just a new grocery store, it gained a new way to think about grocery shopping.

I made a second trip to HyVee determined to shop using the NuVal scores to make the best possible choices for the items on my list. I was curious to see if I was in for surprises. Was I already making informed decisions? What effect would generic vs. name brand and organic vs. non-organic factors have on the NuVal score given? Would I be willing to spend more money for a product with a higher score? I decided to focus on “trading up” two items on my list: pasta sauce and cereal.

Pasta Sauce

I started my search in the Health Food section. I prefer organic pasta sauces over conventional sauces. Did I mention I’m also on a budget? I immediately honed in on the affordable HyVee brand of organic sauces. The inner wanna-be vegetarian in me was attracted to the Organic Vegetable Marinara sauce with a score of 46. Upon futher investigation it seemed not all flavors are created equal. I was able to find a Tomato Basil flavor that had a NuVal score of 60. I took a peek at the conventional sauces in another aisle and had to smile. Similar flavors had a score of 41. Trading up is fun!

Cereal

Next up was cereal. I either wanted a shredded wheat biscuit cereal or a Cheerio-type cereal. Here’s the breakdown:

Kashi Autumn Harvest
Nuval score: 40

Kashi Cinnamon
Nuval score: 34 (more sugar?)

Shredded Wheat Honey Nut
NuVal score: 28

Shredded: Wheat N Bran
NuVal score: 90

Full Circle Organic O’s
Nuval score: 32

Cheerios
NuVal score: 34

HyVee brand O’s
NuVal score: 31

Clearly the best choice based on the NuVal score is the Shredded Wheat N Bran. I do enjoy this cereal but was looking for something just a tad sweeter. While the Honey Nut flavor was tempting, my devotion to all things Kashi and a higher NuVal score sent me back to the Health Food section to pick up a box of Kashi Autumn Harvest. The $2 Kashi coupon I brought with me helped offset the higher price of the Kashi cereal.

Product Surprises

Of course, I wandered many other aisles. There were a few surprises. Corn tortillas had a score of 91! I was shocked. I knew they had fewer ingredients than flour tortillas but had no idea their score would be that high. Hodgson Mill Cracked Wheat cereal boasted a score of 91 as well. It beat my go-to breakfast cereal….oatmeal! I scooped up these NuVal powerhouses and have thoroughly enjoyed them many times since then. My mom was looking for Hodgson Mill pancake/waffle mix. While she searched for that I checked out the competition. Aunt Jemima had a score of 4, even the whole wheat. Poor Aunt Jemima!

I only had two disappointments on my shopping trip. The first was that some of the items I was shopping for did not have a NuVal score. I’d be interested to hear why some products at HyVee are scored and some are not. The second was that if an item was on sale often the HyVee sale sticker blocked the NuVal score. Believe me I tried to peek; but those suckers were on tight!

Overall I had a great time shopping by NuVal scores. I felt like I was playing a game! The integration of NuVal into the Madison HyVee makes it one of my favorite places to shop. What are you waiting for? How can you “trade up”?!