Where Does Our Food Come From? A Family Lesson While Making a Natural Heating/Cooling Bag DIY

Joanna Fowler August 15, 2016 Blog, Home, DIY, Lifestyle, Food

This blog post was created with Hellmann’s® and JONES Voice

 I am ready to admit it. For a long time, especially while I was pregnant with our twins and the year following, I was just trying to survive. I would race out to the grocery store whenever I had a minute, especially just after my husband, Mike would get home from work, so I could zip out kid-free and just get it done. I would grab loads of produce and then grab our family’s staples; foods I knew were easy to cook and everyone would actually eat.

A lot of the time when I am stocking our kitchen in such a rush, I don’t really think too much about what the ingredients are in our foods. I am big on fresh produce, but as far as everything goes, I just opt for what is easy and has some nutritional value.

I know so many moms who are hyper aware of ingredients and base their decisions while shopping on their vast knowledge. There are times when I feel a bit guilty and embarrassed that I don’t know more about our food.

Our oldest kids; Holden who is seven-years-old, and Beau who is five-years-old, have hit this extremely inquisitive age. They want to know how everything works and how everything is made. This means that I need to start learning the answers to all of their questions quick, and sometimes just jumping on Google doesn’t always cut it.

I have started including them in activities around our house, like gardening, and picking up magazines and books that have loads of photos and information on food, for them to pour through and understand what we eat a little better.

Recently I had the opportunity to watch a live stream on Facebook as three families took a tour of a Hellmann’s Blue Ribbon canola farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. The live event was very informative and in the end I felt relieved learning about the simple ingredients: egg, canola oil and vinegar, that go into the perfect jar of mayonnaise.

I decided to take this little lesson one step further with our kids, and create an everyday item using foods from a farm: a seed/grain heating/cooling bag. To get started, I cut out two pieces of fabric into rectangles, eyeballing what size would sit comfortably on my shoulder. I then sewed three sides together, leaving a small opening on one side.

Before filling the bag with grains and seeds, I sat down with Holden and Beau handing them each a cup. One contained oats and the other contained flax seeds. I then asked them where these grains and seeds come from. Beau proudly stated, “an egg,” and Holden thought he was correcting her by answering “heaven.” Oh boy! I had my work cut out for me.Hellmanns

As Holden and Beau each poured their cup into the bag, I explained how these were each grown on a farm and talked about the simple ingredients in many of their favourite foods.Hellmanns 2

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After Holden and Beau finished pouring their cups into the bag, and I finished answering many questions about farming, we sewed it up and each took turns trying out the heating pad, which worked really well! I have since enjoyed our little educational and practical DIY project more than anyone.

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Although I still feel like I have a long way to go on educating my family and myself more about what is in our foods, I think this is a great start.

You can learn more about Hellmann’s mayonnaise and the simple ingredients that go into making a tasty jar here…

Check out more about Hellmann’s and “Where does your food come from” by visiting Hellmann’s on Facebook.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Hellmann’s. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Hellmann’s.

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