IFBC17 is just around the corner. If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, don’t miss out. 

The below post comes to us from IFBC17 sponsor, Sacramento International Airport. If you’re joining us via the airport, make sure to check out their new concession offerings.

It’s safe to say we are truly in an airport concessions revolution. Sacramento International Airport (SMF) will celebrate its 50^th birthday on October 21^st and out of the many ways the airport has evolved over five decades, the concessions choices are certainly one of the most dramatic.

“When we began concepting the concessions for the new Terminal B, we wanted them to mirror Sacramento’s food culture, which was just beginning to reflect the Farm-to-Fork movement,” explained Laurie Slothower, Communications and Media Officer for Sacramento County Dept. of Airports. “Now that we’ve completed our concessions renovation in Terminal A as well, we are proud that both of our Terminals’ offerings define a sense of place and reflect the cuisine and rich food ethos of the Sacramento Valley.”

Airport concessions have come a long way from a singular coffee shop between terminals, or a generic bar/restaurant and a few mainstream fast-food outlets. Trends in airport design have opened up the opportunity to develop more creative dining concepts.

According to Frank Sickelsmith, HMSHost’s vice president, adult beverage and restaurant development, in an October 2016 Airways magazine article, “Airports have changed and their design has followed that. But as airports change aesthetically, brands have changed too. And what we do in airports now is representative of what’s already in cities. It’s sort of a smaller version of what’s happening in the city and that’s pretty cool.”

Sacramento International Airport caters primarily to travelers beginning their journey versus layovers, so having attractive concessions options is an incentive to get travelers to the airport and through security early. It features popular restaurant concepts right from the streets of Sacramento – Esquire Grill, Cafeteria 15L, Dos Coyotes, Iron Horse Tavern, Paesanos, Squeeze Burger, Taylor’s Market-Selections by Vino Volo, Burgers & Brew and Jack’s Urban Eats.

“In the early days of airplane travel, the entire experience surrounded the glamour of flight, the meals, the excitement of being at the airport. Now with air travel hampered by increasing security demands, crowded planes and no complimentary in-flight meals, concessions play a much more important role in the air travel experience,” added Slothower. “We hope that our design and concessions planning have now made Sacramento International Airport travelers look forward to enjoying a meal as a part of the travel ritual, including arriving early at the airport!”

IFBC17 is just around the corner. If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, don’t miss out. 

The below post comes to us from IFBC17 sponsor, Avocados from Chile, whom you will be able to meet September 29 – October 1 at the IFBC. 

We don’t have to convince you of the merits of the increasingly popular avocado. Loaded with twenty vitamins, minerals and oils, avocados are cholesterol-free and packed full of unsaturated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (the good kind).

Avocados are a daily staple for many.  The numbers are quite staggering, but weekly avocado consumption in the U.S. is estimated to reach 50 million pounds by 2019.  That’s right, 50 million pounds consumed each week!  Lucky for us, when local, California-grown avocados have finished their season in September, Avocados from Chile come into the market to fill the gap, keeping your grocery store well stocked and your fruit bowl happy.

So, why Avocados from Chile? Our avocados are as rich as the culture that nurtures them and as lush as the country they come from. Chile’s unusually diverse geography offers excellent growing conditions, with avocados a prime and renowned crop. Avocados from Chile are also grown responsibly and fairly by farmers who bring their pride and passion to each avocado they harvest.

Have questions? Want to learn more about avocado usage ideas and nutrition, or what goes into growing a Chilean avocado? Avocados from Chile will be at the Expo and the Live Food & Drink Blogging event. We’ll also be hosting a Discovery Session. Join us and learn more about Super Natural Avocados from Chile.  Or shoot us your questions in advance, using the hashtag #IFBCavocados  on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

 

We’re only one month from IFBC17!!! If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, don’t miss out. 

The below post comes to us from IFBC17 sponsor, Zaycon Fresh, whom you will be able to meet September 29 – October 1 at the IFBC. 

Have you ever thought about where your food comes from? Have you ever considered the importance of it? The quality of it? The freshness of it? Even the value of it?

My name is Cassie and I am a frugal living blogger, stay-at-home mom to six kids.  I run a family on a tight budget and share with others what I am doing to accomplish this goal. It isn’t always easy, but there are many things I have learned over the years that have improved our lives and our budget.

One of the turning points in our budget and in our diet was the use of food co-ops.

When I first started my frugal journey, as a young, new mom many years ago, I was only concerned about getting the lowest possible prices. I wasn’t as concerned about what we ate. If it was in the “grocery” store, then there should be no issue with the quality of what we ate because they couldn’t sell it otherwise, right? I was just thrilled to get as much food as I could for nearly nothing.

As time went on, I learned that there is responsible food buying for health and for the community, but how do I reconcile this against my tight budget?

As I dove into this topic more, I realized that I could buy foods in bulk and spend my time better preparing fresh foods from home, from scratch instead of spending my time clipping coupons. Once I began to implement my more simple food solution with just a bit of prep, I was actually saving time! Even with me becoming a pro at couponing and store sale shopping, it still took a few hours per week to get those foods at such a low price.  But once I began implementing my new system, I was spending even less than that, staying in budget and eating healthy! 

Our journey into a healthful diet has been a gradual one over many years, but one of the best ways that we have found to accomplish our goals in eating healthy on a tight budget is the use of food co-ops.

Today, our diets consist of nearly all fresh, plant-based foods, adding in a few healthy bulk grains like quinoa and wild rices, along with fresh, direct from-the-farm-to-table meats.

With those three basic categories, a handful of homemade rubs, sauces, mixes and dressings, we have an endless menu of delicious, fresh, healthy, budget-concious meals every day.

So where do I find my basic three groups of foods?

1. I can buy my fresh produce with the rock-bottom produce sales that week at the grocery store, fill-in with produce from my local produce co-op and my own garden, along with being able to get fresh, delicious options through our abundant farmer’s markets.
2. I can buy my healthy grains in bulk at the big warehouse stores and bulk food stores in my area (Winco and Honeyville), Amazon.com, and a few other online sources are a great place to grab wild rice and many other healthier, hearty grains for much less.
3. The biggest and most revolutionary area of change in budget was when I found a source for farm fresh meats in bulk, Zaycon Fresh Foods. Once I discovered this, I haven’t purchased meats in the grocery store for seven years.

I simply place my bulk meat co-op order of 40 lb of fresh chicken a few times per year, and I pickup my order in my local area at the specified date and time a few weeks later, which comes direct from the farm and is to my table in about three days time. This one trick has not only saved me about 40% on average for my meat purchases, but I am getting fresh, not frozen, farm fresh chicken with no added hormones or added antibiotics. I am also buying the meat for the exact poundage, not being charged for the liquids grocery stores add to their meats.  I was also thrilled to find out that they use farms that treat their animals humanely.

I was first hooked on Zaycon Fresh Foods with our amazing chicken orders, but they later added meats of all kinds from Wild Alaskan Caught Salmon (nothing farmed), steak, to ground beef, and any other meats you desire all for that great value.

With these three tips, I have successfully stayed within that same budget I had as a crazy couponer, but now a farm fresh, healthy cooking, simple menu family!

As a blogger, late last year, Zaycon Fresh Foods started an affiliate program. You can bet that I was super excited to now be earning money off of something that I have already been telling all of my readers about for so many years!

You can join the Zayon Fresh affiliate program. Then visit their booth at the International Food Bloggers Conference and tell them Cassie sent you!

If you want to try the program yourself – I would encourage you to sign-up as a customer as well and try those fresh farm-to-table meats for your own family as well.

Cassie is one of the frugal living writers at TheThriftyCouple.com and author of The 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast. 

Join Us for a Fresh Thinking Excursion with

Join Mootral on an exciting trip to the UC Davis beef farm where you will have the ultimate farm-to-fork experience – being the first in North America to try the world’s first climate-friendly beef!

The way that cows usually digest food results in GHG emissions being released into the environment. On this tour, you will learn about Mootral, an all-natural feed supplement that helps cows digest, reducing GHG emissions by a minimum of 30 percent and you will see it in action. Upon arrival to the UC Davis beef cattle feedlot, you will be greeted by one of the leading scientists in sustainable agriculture, Professor Ermias Kebreab.

Ermias will provide an overview of different activities to achieve sustainable livestock agriculture, including what are enteric fermentation and methane emissions and why they matter. Most importantly, he will walk you through the current trial you will witness in action, of beef cattle eating the Mootral feed and GHG emissions being measured through the GreenFeed system.

Following the tour, you will be pampered with a world-first, premium dinner featuring climate-friendly, dry-aged and smoked prime rib beef raised, processed and prepared at UC Davis. After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel with a new appreciation for farm-to-fork and some Mootral swag to remember the experience.

This event is now open! If you’re not yet registered for the IFBC, you can register here now. If you are registered you can reserve your seat at the link below.

Fresh Thinking: Mooving towards a Climate-Friendly Cow, Max capacity: 50, $25, Reserve your seat today! Note: Participants must confirm and sign a waiver that states they have not been outside of the continental United States within the 7 days prior to this excursion.