December is the last month of the year, marking its presence with a packed schedule of holidays, parties, and events. Wouldn’t it be fun to take a breath and enjoy the season? The Co-op can help you take care of more than a few things on your to-do list so that you can focus on friends, family, and fun.
Visit us at your Cedar Rapids, Coralville, or Iowa City stores to pick up various gifts (including Co-op gift cards, Co-op cookie tins, and fair trade gifts galore!), or food (your pre-made holiday meal, perhaps?) that will make you popular this holiday. You’ll find loads of local love and fairly-traded items to share in every aisle.
From our family to yours…have a delightful December!
Local, Organic, Stress-Free? Done!
Holiday meals now available online.
If you're hankering for the tastiest and easiest holiday season ever, we've got you covered! We do the cooking from scratch with local and organic ingredients. Take a break! You deserve it!
Our holiday offerings – holiday meals for 10 with local ham, scrumptious sides, plus pies, party platters, and a special on holiday wine 6-packs – are right here>> Just be sure to order by Dec. 18!
Let us help! Rock the stocking with our favorite holiday stocking stuffers here>>
Your Co-op has gifts that go above and beyond. Here are some presents with benefits you can find in our IC and CV stores this month:
Ecologically responsible cloth napkins hand-made locally by Nona France. These are perfect for your eco-conscious friend. BONUS: Every penny of your napkin purchase supports the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic!
United Action for Youth is selling fun t-shirts and 100% of all proceeds from your youth-inspired shirt purchase will be donated to the program!
Table to Table's reusable tote bags are only $5 and all proceeds will benefit this wonderful organization's food mission. Plus, you'll receive a New Pi coupon inside!
If you're interested in a quick and easy DIY, check out these fun Jar-Jar gifts! They're presents! In a jar! >>
Give One, Get One
If you're thinking what we're thinking, your cousins, babysitters, and teachers deserve to eat well this holiday season! :)
Use the coupon code FALALA50 at checkout! Offer ends Dec. 31 >>
Chocolate Cherry & Stollen Breads
December 22 - 24 only!
You'll want to get in line for these specialty holiday breads! They are only available Dec. 22thru24.
Want to make sure you get a loaf? Pre-order your bread at the store you'd like to pick up from by 5PM, Dec. 18 to ensure that we save one for you!
Local Favorite: Marmalade Sky
Marmalade Sky is a local artisanal bakery in Fairfield, IA, specializing in gluten-free baked treats including brownies, pecan pie bars, macaroon bars, and a range of individual mini cakes, such as Seville Orange Almond, German Chocolate, Blueberry Lemon, and Coconut Chocolate.
Malak Nour, the founder and baker, talked with us about how she first began baking when she was growing up in Paris, “steeped in the French traditions of bread baking, pastry making, and season-based cooking.” She began “a whole new baking adventure” ten years ago, when she learned her son has a gluten sensitivity. Malak says his diagnosis, and their disappointment with the gluten-free mixes in stores, gave her focus: “I had a mission: to find a way to bake everyone’s favorite treats without sacrificing anything to taste or texture.” Read the whole interview here >>
Maple syrup isn’t just for pancakes! Whether it's drizzled on latkes or your favorite dessert, or used in place of sugar in your coffee or tea, maple syrup adds a cozy sweetness to the winter months and locally produced Great River Maple Syrup is the BEST!
Here are a few ways you can incorporate this special treat into your meals this season >>.
Project Holiday: Help Others Enjoy a Holiday Meal!
This December, Project Holiday (a special service of The Crisis Center Food Bank in Johnson County) will provide foods to 1,500 local families in need so that they are able to prepare their own traditional holiday meals! To donate in your name or on behalf of a loved one, just visit one of our Project Holiday Trees at your Coralville or Iowa City Co-op and pick a red tag off the tree.
You can also donate directly through The Crisis Center’s website here. Donations will be accepted all month long with distribution taking place Dec. 17 through the 21. Families in need will receive a holiday meat, sides, vegetables, and groceries to prep their holiday meal.
Thank you for supporting this valued effort and for all of the local businesses and families you support each day at the Co-op! Happy Holidays!
December's Change for Change: Iowa City & Cedar Rapids School District Meal Programs
Would you consider donating to a child in need of a healthy meal? New Pi is making it easy.
Research has shown that students who eat school meals perform their best academically. You can help ensure that students in the Iowa City & Cedar Rapids School District can do just that! All funds raised through our Change for Change Program will go toward providing breakfasts and lunches for students in need or paying off meal debt.
Research also shows:
Students who eat school breakfast have greater gains in standardized test scores and show improvements in math, reading, and vocabulary scores
Healthy eating correlates with less trips to the school nurse and less absenteeism
Providing nutritious school breakfast on testing days lead to improved test scores
Please round up for the kids!
Holiday Meat Sale Starts December 10!
Stay on Santa's "Nice" list by serving the best in local, humanely raised meats, and sustainable seafood this holiday season.
Local Thousand Hills beef tenderloin and prime rib from Cannon Falls, MN
100% sustainably caught lobster tail, shucked oysters, and wine herring
Happy 4th Birthday, Cedar Rapids New Pi!
Can you believe it? Our Cedar Rapids store has been open for 4 years! Over 3,600 new owners have joined our Co-op in CR since opening and that number continues to grow. Thank you for supporting a local and cooperatively owned business and for supporting local farmers and producers! Your investment in us makes our community stronger. Let's keep it up for local! Thank you!
WE WON: Little Village's Best of the CRANDIC!
What is the CRANDIC, you ask? It’s Cedar Rapids and Iowa City (CR AND IC). Little Village readers have declared winners for the inaugural Best of the CRANDIC awards across 100 categories spanning food and drink, recreation, services, arts and entertainment, and community. The results are in and we won in two categories, Best Grocery Store & Best Fresh Produce in the area. Thank YOU!
Thank you for continuing to support your locally-owned Co-op!
This Friday – and every Friday – we're sampling wines out for YOU between the hours of 4-6PM at your very own Co-op! Come by for free tastings:
December 7:American Wines (Pearl Harbor Day) December 14:Wines That Make Great Gifts! December 21:Holiday 6-Packs! December 28:Sparklers! Toasting in the New Year
Named after an internal staff newsletter started in the mid-'80s by New Pi anchor Patti Zwick, today The Slice serves up all the delicious New Pi happenings packaged in a monthly newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox.
