Honor the Earth Giveaway Hop featuring If You Care Earth Friendly Products! Review & Giveaway - Ends 4/22 (US/CAN)

Welcome to the Honor the Earth Giveaway Hop, hosted by Happy Mothering and DeDa Studios. Each of the 50+ participating blogs has a prize package worth at least $20 that will help you live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. After you enter my green giveaway, be sure to visit all of the other amazing blogs listed below the Rafflecopter form. Let's learn more about the sponsor for my giveaway!

If You Care is a company that truly treasures the earth and produces some fabulous environmentally friendly products for your kitchen and home! Slowly by surely I'm changing brands and products in my house to safer, healthier options. Luckily for the earth, many of these better alternatives to conventional products are environmentally-friendly too. The two tend to go hand in hand!

The components used for each product are toxin-free, chlorine-free, produce minimum waste, and are made of sustainable, renewable, or recyclable resources. If You Care products are Totally Chlorine-Free (TCF), and I love how they intend for even the unbleached packaging they use to be recycled or reused again. If You Care is extremely thorough in their product descriptions about what each product is made of, and how it protects the environment too. They didn't just make these products to start a business and try to make money. Their was a lot of research that went into creating these products to ensure they are chemical-free and safe for the environment, all the way down to the vegetable-based inks used in for package printing. Check their website for TONS more information about their products, but here's a small tidbit for a quick overview:

"If You Care is committed to protecting the environment by producing high-quality alternatives to conventional kitchen and household products. The materials we use are specially chosen to reduce their impact on our environment. We use unbleached paper, recycled materials and wood and paper coming from sustainably managed forests. We replace petroleum based ingredients with natural and renewable resources. We use paper from pulp and paper mills practicing the highest levels of clean water management. Every care is taken to ensure that each step– from factory to store shelf – conforms to strict standards for the conservation and protection of our greatest asset – the environment."

If You Care sent me a review package consisting of their Parchment Baking Paper, Paper Snack & Sandwich Bags, Large Baking Cups, Sponge Cloths, and a fun t-shirt with the If You Care logo.  

Parchment Baking Paper - 70 sq ft/$5.99 - This parchment paper is a natural brown color which means no chlorine is used, and is coated in Silicone, which is abundant in nature. Ever wonder why your parchment paper is white? It's bleached with chlorine which is dumped into our lakes and streams. Or what makes conventional parchment paper non-stick? That's the quilon which contains heavy metals like chromium that can be toxic when incinerated. Um, I don't think I want to eat anything I baked on that stuff either!! This parchment paper is awesome, and works just as well as conventional parchment paper. I did bake a batch of cookies and they just slid right off of the parchment paper. I've also been reusing it when I freeze organic strawberries for smoothies. They peel off without a problem and I can still use it again!

Paper Snack & Sandwich Bags - 48 Bags/$4.79 - These have the same look as the parchment paper, only without the silky smooth silicone on them. The borwn, naturally greaseproof paper is made from unbleached pulp of Scandanaian spruce trees. They will keep whatever you put inside fresh for up to 6 hours which is perfect if you send your hubby or kiddo with a lunch everyday. I admit, I'm guilty of using plastic lunch bags quite often, despite my attempts to switch to cloth bags and other reusable bag options in the past. I've switched to glass for pretty much all of my leftover and other containers, but plastic baggies are the one plastic thing still lingering in my face that needs to be switched. Don't even get me started on the estrogenic effects of plastic which makes it even more necessary for me to avoid plastic (especially with my hormone issues....more to come on that in future posts!). I also like that these are disposable (without the guilt of plastic) because let's face it, I don't have time to hand wash reusable ones every single time!

Large Baking Cups - 60 Baking Cups/$1.99 - Again, they're not white because they aren't bleached with chlorine! Besides, since when do white baking cups stay white after being baked? It really doesn't matter unless you're going for a decorative cupcake. I haven't had a chance to make anything with these yet, but I plan on making some breakfast muffins to put in the freezer very soon. I have no doubt these will work as expected. They also come in mini and jumbo sizes for all your muffin and cupcake needs!

Sponge Cloths - 5 per pack/$5.00 - Sponge Cloths are made of 70% cellulose and 30% unbleached non-GMO Cotton. These are an excellent cloth for cleaning the kitchen, wiping down baseboards, or dusting tabletops when moist. They are stiff when dry, but instantly become soft when wet. I compared these with my Skoy Cloths (which I love) and they seem to be manufactured almost identically based on size, texture and quality. Each biodegradable cloth is equivalent to 15 paper towel rolls based on how long it should last. You can definitely extend the life of each cloth with proper use and care, and apparently they can be machine washed up to 300 times! This is money well spent for sure! They absorb a lot more than paper towels too. If you're a paper towel user, I challenge you to switch to these Sponge Cloths and see the difference. You're cleaning will be more effective, and you'll be sparing a few trees along the way.

Overall I'm thrilled with what I've received from If You Care, and I'm definitely very excited about their line of earth-friendly products for the kitchen and home! They have a bunch of other products including aluminum foil, kitchen bags, coffee filters, waxed paper and a lot more that I'm excited to switch to!

Buy It: Find a retailer near you, or check out Vitacost.com (AND get a $10 off code for Vitacost when you sign up through this link! That's some cheap baking supplies!)

Win It!

One winner will receive an If You Care Gift Pack! 
Includes various items from the If You Care product line including (but not limited to) parchment baking paper, recycled foil, sandwich bags and an If You Care t-shirt!

Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter! Then check out the linky below the form and hop through all the participating blogs and enter their giveaways too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product(s) to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.