Brandless, a new Instagram, and more
This post contains affiliate links.
I tried Brandless.
Again, this keeps popping up in the frugal blogosphere, so I gave it a try.
Brandless is a company that sells foods that are natural/organic for $3/item.
Nothing is brand name (as you may have guessed from the company name), which is no biggie for me. I'm an Aldi shopper! I totally do not care about brands.
(mostly)
Some of the items come in pretty small packages in order to be $3 (three dollars of beef jerky is a small amount), but some of the items are surprisingly large for $3.
For instance, I would not have guessed that these organic peanut butter jars would be only $3.
And this maple syrup jar is also bigger than I expected it to be.
On a customer service note: my bag of quinoa arrived with a rip in it, and when I emailed them about it, they credited me $3 back. So, thumbs up for that.
I'm not affiliated with them, but you can check out their offerings here, and you can get $1 shipping on your first order.
I made a new Instagram account.
I wanted to talk about Hungry Harvest more without annoying the people who don't want to hear about it!
So, I made a Hungry Harvest-specific account, and if you want to hear more about food waste, food rescue, and watch what happens with my harvest, follow me over there.
You can find the account here, and the username is Kristen_HungryHarvest
Don't worry; I will definitely still be posting on my main Instagram account (thefrugalgirl). This is just an additional account.
You can now subscribe to Sonia's blog.
I took forever to set up email subscriptions for her, which is dumb because obviously I do know how to do that! Ahem.
I've only been blogging for, you know, 10 years.
Anyway, you can subscribe to her blog, SoniaMakes.com, via email now, for posts about all the stuff she's creating (mostly knitted animals and other cute creatures.)
Just visit her homepage and you should see the signup box in the sidebar (or at the bottom on mobile).
I have been interested in Zaycon myself after hearing from so many that love the service. Unfortunely, when I checked into it, it's not in my area yet. I haven't checked Hungry Harvest in a long time but last I checked it wasn't available in my area either. I'm going to keep checking though because eventually it will make its way here. I love Sonia's bunny so much! I wish I could have a couple of those for Easter for my kids. Does she ever take orders for stuff if she has lots of advance notice? I think my kids would cherish those cute bunnies, especially knowing they were made by a kid just like them.
Actually, who am I kidding, I want that bunny for myself, lol.
She does take orders! I think she has a couple of bunnies almost finished...send her an email (soniamakesthings@gmail.com) so that she knows to contact you about what she's got. : )
Oh great, I will do that now, thanks!
Something is wrong with my email! I can't get anything to send. I will send Sonia an email as soon as I figure out what is wrong.
I ordered two otters from her yesterday for my twin daughters. Can't wait to give them to them and so happy to support a young entrepreneur! Thanks for sharing her site with us, Kristen.
Check Imperfect Produce. It might be available in your area if Hungry Harvest is not.
These are such cool ideas/businesses, especially Brandless. Beef jerky is indeed expensive. I wonder if the seemingly cheaper items make up for the prices of those above $3. It's something like "You win some. You lose some."
We eat lots of pork at home and usually buy moderate amounts from Great Wall (Chinese grocery store) and Costco. My MIL and husband think it's not good to keep meat in the freezer for months. It's no longer fresh.
Great yourself ready for some crazy comments about Zaycon. I've read about them before and people are DIVIDED!!!
I had to tell you Kristen that you would be super excited to know that I found an American Giant hoodie at the Goodwill Outlet and paid $1!! It is in great shape and I plan to sell it on Ebay. when I saw the brand, I immediately thought of you!
Oh man, I better brace myself for some controversy, I guess. Oof.
That's an amazing price for an AG hoodie! I hope you make lots of money off of it on eBay.
Thank you.
Just wanted to let you know that I was able to sell that hoodie in one day!! Profited $25!
Woohoo! So awesome!
I heard of Zaycon but not Brandless. That's a new one to me. I'll have to check that out. I tend to buy meat direct from the farm, so I doubt I would actually use Zaycon, but I'm interested to hear what you think. I've read it's just "factory farm" meat, I've read no, it's not... I'd like to hear someone tell me what he or she really thinks, without an agenda, so I'm glad you tried it. Thanks for trying these things so I don't have to :).
And the bunny is adorable.
Still no Hungry Harvest here, sigh.
I've done Zaycon a few times for chicken breasts (always have been good, never tough as I've read for others) and the salmon is fantastic. We'll keep getting those.
The Italian sausage and breakfast sausage, while tasty, is so so so fatty/high in calories. I really should have looked at the nutritional info before I bought them. We have a local sausage maker that you can purchase at the plant, and since I've been very happy with their products I've gotten at the grocery stores, I'm going to see about purchasing in bulk at their plant.
Aahhhhh Sonia makes such cute little knitted Porg things!!!
I've never heard of Zaycon but e-butchers has always been curious to me. Cowshare (I think that's the name) is something I've always wanted to try. They only kill a cow after every cut on the cow has been purchased online (hence shares...like shares of stock) and it's shipped to you. It's not frugal but for quality beef. . I'd try it.
Too bad I've been only on their waiting list for 2 months. Argh! I might just fold for Zaycon if it's good.
Oh just remembered, it's called CrowdCow like crowdfunding a cow.
I hope you are happy with your Zaycon Fresh order! I got my first order from them this past week and I was very pleased, but admittedly, I'm not any kind of a chicken connoisseur. I loved that I didn't even have to get out of my car to pick up the order, they put it right into my trunk for me! Isn't that awesome? My advice to you is to make sure to do a lot of presswork before your order comes in. I cleared out space in my freezer, made a bunch of marinades, and made sure I had enough Ziploc bags on hand in the days before my order came in. The morning of my pickup, I cleaned my kitchen so that I could come straight home and "process" the chicken.
Now THAT is a great idea! I am going to do that before my big grocery shop, thank you.
I've order chicken breasts from Zaycon twice. My DIL and I split an order of 40 lbs. and canned it. I can attest to the chicken being awesome - fresh or canned - and they are HUGE breasts! I was surprised at the taste after canning them. I've eaten plenty of canned chicken but this chicken has such a . . . I don't know how to describe it other than, such a "clean" taste; much better tasting than commercially canned chicken. Just cooking them fresh - they are also great tasting - tender and juicy.
Has anyone on here actually worked for VIPKID?
I haven't (no undergrad degree!), but they have 4.2 stars on GlassDoor, which is pretty good.
I would not work for this company. I know they do a lot of recruiting in every state. Before I unsubscribed from their emails through a teaching positions/recruiting website, I received several emails every day from this company. I was hired (did the Skype interview) and backed out during the orientation (also on Skype) when I saw the user manual and what working for the company entailed. VIPKID is not the only name this company uses; it advertises under other names as well. The company has a high turnover rate, and it penalizes the tutor financially if he/she does not document (phonetically) every error the child makes. I teach middle school and am certified in ESOL, and I did not feel that I could confidently track all the errors. The thing that really turned me off about working for this company was the sales pitch that the tutor has to do at the end of the session to get the child’s parents to purchase more lessons. As for the positive reviews on Glassdoor, all I’ll say is it’s very easy to leave a review-anyone can.
Thank you, Susan, for recounting your experience with VIPKID. You certainly saved me a lot of time as I was considering it. Scary that they operate under other names too.
I love Zaycon. Their bacon is the BEST that I've had, especially for the price. I also think that their chicken breasts are tastier than what we typically get at the grocery store. We freeze ours and were so pleased with the results that we bought two cases to be delivered in June. I love their 80/20 hamburger and am SO excited to get the 1-lb packages next month. We got it in the 10-lb chubs last time, so it was a hassle to get it all portioned out.
Hope you enjoy it too!
The idea of "organic" maple syrup is very amusing to me. I can't imagine anyone actually sprays full-grown maple trees with anything, but maybe they do. Certainly not here in maple country. We buy gallon jugs of syrup (43 dollars here) and go through about one every month or so. We're thinking of moving to the southwest and one thing I would very much miss is plentiful maple syrup. I love it.
I agree...I mean, they say organic maple syrup is tapped from trees in areas free of pesticides, but don't most maples grow in untreated forests anyway?
I don't know. Maple syrup production, like so many things, has become a thing where some people are trying to maximize production for profit. It's no longer always just family businesses using actual spiles (the hollow tap part) in trees with buckets or whatever. There are vacuum systems, miles of tubing, reverse osmosis instead of boiling, and even actual maple farms now that do nothing but extract the maximum sap from trees with as little expense as possible. That kind of intensive set-up--like any kind of intensive agriculture activity--may require pesticides.
What are some of your favorite frugal blogs, Kristen? Sounds like you read a lot of them...don't worry, yours will always be my fave 🙂
We love Zaycon here in Washington! The chicken breasts are huge. You will need to plan time to process them as they come in butterflied breasts. I typically trim the excess fat, split the breast and trim off the tender to package separately. They are huge breasts so I usually package 2 to a quart bag. The salmon is outstanding too. My daughter also loves the hamburger.
Apparently everyone agrees that Zaycon's chicken is tasty, but seems like a good time to ask this...are these huge chicken breasts one sees lately "natural?" My store brand ones are huge and I call them steroid chicken breasts. I grew up on a farm with happy free range chickens and they never looked like that. Maybe they had too much exercise.
That makes me a little uncomfortable too...I remember chicken breasts being so much smaller when I was a kid.
Ooh, this all sounds super neat! I need to get in gear with buying more local meat. We went in on a quarter cow last year and it was a great experience. The meat is such a higher quality, too. I'm still struggling to find a good local chicken purveyor, so I may poke around Zaycon.
Thank you for trying Brandless! I've been very curious about it and will need to check that out as well.
I have done Zaycon too although it was so long ago that was about all they offered. It was good chicken back then, prep was time consuming. We cut some for nuggets, marinated some then packed individually using a Foodsaver. I would have bought again but it was really more than what our then family of 4 used. One thing I did not like is when I got to the bottom several pieces had huge chucks of fat and there was a lot of water in the bags. I would buy again if I had someone to split it with.
This makes me want to try Zaycon again. I have only bought chicken & didn't I didn't love it. The breasts are HUGE and I felt they were a little tough.
We really like Zaycon and have been buying from them since 2010, 2011 maybe? We've done the chicken breasts, 93% lean hamburger, bacon, bacon wrapped pork loins, turkey breast roasts, and breakfast sausage. I got my whole dang family buying from them too. My parents have tried the shrimp, chicken wings, hot dogs, some sort of fish too (I can't remember what it was). My mom didn't like the hot dogs but she's a bit of a hot dog snob. Everyone else who tried them liked them. My uncle has purchased so many other things from them. I think he's probably tried their entire product line! He smokes his own meats and loves Zaycon as much as I do. I've never been disappointed with anything I've received. I always tell people to be prepared to repackage it yourself though. The chicken comes in big bags in a box. The breasts are connected together. You have to cut them apart and I always cut off what looks to me to be the chicken tender piece as well as any fatty bits that are left on them. Then we package them 2 breasts per package and use our foodsaver to vacuum seal them for the freezer. Everything we've gotten has been packaged similarly and we've had to repackage it into usable portions. It's not hard but takes some time to do so you really have to set aside a good part of the day when you pick it up to get it done. I've seen them say it should be fine in the fridge for a few days after pick up but obviously the sooner you get it done the better! At some point I want to try canning the chicken. I hope you like them. It's a big savings for us and we enjoy always having meat in the freezer thanks to buying in bulk.
Yeah, I think raw chicken is best dealt with immediately, also considering it will spend time in the fridge when you get it back out to defrost, but as someone who's had food poisoning from chicken I'm super careful.
I have avoided using Zaycon due to the size of the breasts. It seems odd they could be huge without hormones etc. We live in a rural area and have many chicken farms here that grow for several major brands. A farmer told me I was crazy to think this was natural growth. I have never found any honest info on this. Anyone have any reliable research?
I just picked up my first order from Zaycon, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. There was a special promo code for first time buyers (posted by another blogger) which lowered the price to $.99 per pound (!!). I don't mind the prep & processing as I did the same for grocery sales on meat. I will most likely order again depending on what is available.
You mentioned that you're picky about chicken -- I am, too. I'm wondering what brand/where you normally buy if you don't mind sharing.
I've heard mixed reviews on Zaycon's chicken (people either love it or hate it) so I'm eager to see what you think.
I recently saw a code on FB for zaycon. Chicken breasts were .99lb. I'm super picky about chicken too. I only eat breasts and I only like organic. I buy reduced packages at Target for 5lbs a lb( they end up at that price because they have a 5.00 coupon attached.). I know the Zaycon breasts have to be broken down and packed up and that kinda grosses me out.
My favorite chicken was "Just Bare". My local target carried it and it always had coupons on it. They stopped carrying it and I was sad because no one else locally has it. It had a great taste.