GoodGuide Scanner

Mom has some serious issues. I couldn't possibly list all of them in this one post but the one that was bothering me today is her latest obsession with the GoodGuide iPhone App scanner. What is the world coming to?

Mom uses the GoodGuide app a lot when she is out shopping or just at home researching products. The app has health, environmental, and social ratings for over 62,000 food, toys, personal care & household products. This information is great to have on hand before purchasing products you use all the time. It's important to select and use products that are not harmful, either to you or to the environment. I thought this app was a great idea until today. Today I made the mistake of telling Mom that the app now has a barcode scanner. Big, big mistake. Instead of having a relaxing day watching football, I have been dodging the scanner.

After Mom updated her GoodGuide app, she decided to start scanning items from the pantry.

This light brown sugar box has a flat barcode so Mom thought it would be easy to scan. It was easy to scan, but the app did not find it. Translation - it is not in their database. This does not mean that this product isn't green, but that just hasn't made it's way into the Guide yet.

I told Mom to scan my treats next. She grabbed this delicious bag of Merrick lamb treats. My pal Joey bought these for me and they are delicious! If you haven't tried these, I suggest you put them on your Christmas list. These would make a great stocking stuffer - hint, hint.

Oh, by the way, the app did not find the lamb treats. What kind of app is this Mom? These treats must be good for me and for the environment, right? Right.

Remember these treats that I got when I was on vacation in June? Surprised that I still have them? Or surprised that the app did not find it? These treats are very delicious too but I hardly ever get any because, well, I don't know why. Hey woman, keep that box of treats out. I'm hungry and they're going to go bad before I can eat them.

Believe it or not, those two treats are the only ones I have in the pantry. That's right. I am practically treatless so Mom had to find other products to scan. She was so sure that the app would find these 'green' napkins because they are made from 80% post-consumer content. Nope. The app did not find it. What is the app thinking? These napkins are about as green as you can get if you are going to use disposable napkins. We've had these for months and it's hard to see but we've hardly used any because we use cloth napkins. These are just for parties.

As Mom was searching the pantry for products to scan, I was busy helping Dad make chili. When Mom pulled this stuff out I told her that there was no way I was going to let her put it in the chili. Stay away from our chili! She told me to relax and scanned the agave nectar. She bought this bottle at Whole Foods so the app had to find it, right? Wrong. What is going on?

Everything Amy's makes is pretty 'green' and healthy so surely the app would find this soup. Ding, ding, ding - we have a winner! The app found it and gave it an overall rating of 6.8. That's not bad. The higher the score the better the product. It scored 7.6 in the health category, 6.5 in the environment category, and 6.2 in the society category. The only downside to the soup is that it is high in sodium which is common in most canned soups. The price of convenience is negated by the price to your blood pressure. You can't have it all, Mom.

Mom was so happy that something that app found something in our house. I thought once she successfully tested the app she would go back to doing whatever it was she doing before she started scanning. The chili was almost done and I was getting ready to eat when all of a sudden I heard her call my name.

Can you tell that I was sleeping? I left the kitchen to take a quick nap before dinner and was rudely interrupted by this psycho lady holding a scanner.

You want to do what? To me? I'm not a product. The app won't find me, trust me. Go scan products in the medicine cabinet.

Have you lost your mind woman? Who do you think you're messing with? Not only did you wake me up from my nap but I'm hungry and you know how I get when I'm hungry. Go away! Scan Dad or better yet, scan yourself.

Don't make me get up and grab that iPhone out of your hand. I will put it my mouth and slobber all over it. It will be the best smelling iPhone in town when I'm through with it.

Thankfully, giving Mom the evil eye and threatening her iPhone was enough to make her leave me alone. She put the iPhone done and told me that she was done scanning. For now. I think I'm going to sleep with Dad today just in case Mom wakes up in the middle of the night with an urge to scan a pug.

Even if you don't have an iPhone, the GoodGuide offers a text-messaging application. And if you don't have text-messaging capabilities on your phone, you can visit the GoodGuide website to check on products. No matter which technology you use, the GoodGuide is a handy tool for checking out the 'greenness' of your products. New products are being added every day, so don't get discouraged it don't find the product you are looking for.