S08.E13: Grease Bags, Pinblock, Mama's MilkBox, Nicepipes Apparel

[cooksdelight]

Hey yoga lady, ever watch sports? Serena Williams wears those arm warmers, so do football players. I've seen college basketball guys with leg warmers and what you've got is nothing new. I haven't Googled yet, but I bet they are out there, and a whole lot cheaper.

I was really glad Barbara struck a deal with the grease bag lady because I plan to be a customer. I have a small deep fryer that I use often, my hushpuppies are golden. I hate tossing the grease out into the woods or someplace because you can't pour that much grease into the trash. I'd love to have a place to put my grease so it's biodegradable and won't hurt the environment. 

I tuned Milk Box lady out, she was obnoxious as hell. During and after her pitch.

Loved the toy guy, and loved his product. I hope he's a multi-millionaire when Kevin gets through with him.

[KaveDweller]

4 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Just checked the Mama's Milk Box website. Apparently they charge up to $90 for shirts and up to about $110 for dresses. What the HELL. Who is paying that for temporary clothing? And who is paying that for shit they *don't even get to pick out*??

There are some women who breast feed their kids for a few years. They introduce regular food, but also keep breast feeding to supplement nutrition or something. (It sounds weird to me, but I don't have kids so I guess I shouldn't judge).

Maybe that is the customer for Mama's Milk Box?

[Wings]

Oh good god. I brest fed my boys for a year. Not a big deal. This woman is way too much. Pull up your fucking top and have a scarf or something to cover.  Jesus. 

[needschocolate]

Years ago, I had a friend who just couldn't bear the thought of stopping breastfeeding her youngest.  So she breastfed him for quite a while (maybe 3 years old?).  I remember talking to her once and her son walked over, climbed up on her lap, pulled up her shirt and started feeding away.  

It is people like my friend and the Milk Box Mom that give breastfeeding moms a bad reputation

On 1/14/2017 at 10:24 AM, starri said:

Is it just grease we're supposed to do this to, or used oil as well?  Because I don't eat pork, so there's no bacon grease in my life, but if I'm not supposed to pour my olive oil down the drain, Imma buy me some of those bags.

She said it could be used on car oil.  I suspect it can be used on olive oil too.  

I want to know if you can keep using the same bag until it is full.  Having to pay for a new bag ($4 each?) for your 3 strips of bacon each morning would be ridiculous.  

She said the bag is full of something that absorbs the grease and I was thinking that they should just sell the stuff that does the absorbing and forget about the bag.  

Edited January 16, 2017 by needschocolate

[Kiss my mutt]

I guess I give breastfeeding a bad name since I did extended breastfeeding but anyhoo, i didn't buy special nursing clothes, but it did mean I didn't wear dresses very often for awhile.  That woman was such a turn-off that I'd never buy from her plus paying for the privilege of having her pick some clothes from a limited Inventory?  

Stitch Fix does minimal training with their fashion "curators" and many times they just have to send you what's on hand  not really paying attention to your design likes.  

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

There are some women who breast feed their kids for a few years. They introduce regular food, but also keep breast feeding to supplement nutrition or something. (It sounds weird to me, but I don't have kids so I guess I shouldn't judge).

Maybe that is the customer for Mama's Milk Box?

I'm having images of GoT's Caitlyn Stark's crazy sister who was still nursing her ten + year old son! 

[illini1959]

This is what happens when I wait several days after airing to post, I can't remember details but .....

Did anyone catch Barbara telling the last lady (the grease bag lady?) how great it was that she talked over the sharks and how that showed her tenacity (or whatever, like I said...details escaping me) and "when have you ever seen that?"

Um. Just a few minutes ago on the same show....breast feeding lady. Only her overtalking was VERY annoying and in no way a positive thing!

Just a thing I noticed; same behavior different results.

[needschocolate]

11 hours ago, Kiss my mutt said:

I guess I give breastfeeding a bad name since I did extended breastfeeding but anyhoo, i didn't buy special nursing clothes, but it did mean I didn't wear dresses very often for awhile.  

I didn't mean to imply that every mom who breastfeeds over a year is giving breastfeeding moms a bad name, everyone should breastfeed as long as it works for their family.  However,  there is a stereotype of breastfeeding moms to be like the one on the show - kind of wacky, and when you let your kid hike up your shirt in public and start sucking away (without asking or even saying anything first), like my friend did, it only adds to the "wacky" stereotype.  

[ClareWalks]

I didn't breastfeed long, but most women I know who went past a year no longer really did it "on demand." It was more of a "before bed or naps" thing. Which makes this special clothing less necessary, since it's not like "oh, my two-year-old is all of a sudden starving, only option is the boob, good thing I wore my special $80 shirt with slits in it." Really, after 6 months or so when they are eating more solid foods, it's harder for babies to shock you with when/where they'll need to eat.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Barbara Corcoran Saves Everyone's Bacon On Shark Tank

For a while it looks like everyone's going to go home without even the hint of a deal. 'Not on my watch,' Barbara Corcoran growls, checkbook in hand.

[cooksdelight]

13 hours ago, needschocolate said:

I want to know if you can keep using the same bag until it is full.  Having to pay for a new bag ($4 each?) for your 3 strips of bacon each morning would be ridiculous

I think you can use it until it's full. I am hoping it has one of those "fill" lines.

I have a small glass container that I put bacon grease in. I use it for cooking other things, frying eggs when I don't have bacon, put a little in my green beans when cooking them for a delicious flavor.

[slowpoked]

On 1/13/2017 at 9:43 PM, LotusFlower said:

Putting aside how seemingly useless those yoga accessories are, I was surprised at the Sharks' reaction to yoga lady saying she basically made up a valuation of the business because she had no idea how to do it.  They usually get angry or scoff at someone so unprepared or so green, but here they practically thanked her for her honesty.   Maybe because she was pretty?  It was a weird pitch.

I have a feeling that the Sharks were impressed with her honesty. These sharks are shrewd businessmen, and they've heard a million pitches on and off the show. When she skirted around the first few questions about the valuation, the sharks probably knew the answer by then: she didn't know how to value. They were just waiting to see if she would admit to it. I guess they were impressed that she did admit to it instead of continuing to BS her way around it, like some of the entrepreneurs they see on the show.

Edited January 16, 2017 by slowpoked

[ClareWalks]

Arm warmers are actually extremely useful, but not for the yoga lady's "cold after class" reason. When I was planning to do a marathon in approximately 40 degree weather, I knew I'd want to wear a tank top and arm warmers rather than a throwaway long-sleeve shirt, but I didn't have any arm warmers. Went to the sporting goods store and saw that arm warmers like those cost $40 a pair. Fuck THAT shit. I bought a pair of youth soccer socks and cut slits in the toes where my fingers could go. It worked perfectly, covered my palms, looked awesome, I could choose whatever color I wanted (they had a whole wall full of socks in a rainbow of colors), and they cost about $6.

[cooksdelight]

Awesome idea, @ClareWalks!! Too bad you weren't one of the Sharks. :)

[sasha206]

8 hours ago, illini1959 said:

This is what happens when I wait several days after airing to post, I can't remember details but .....

Did anyone catch Barbara telling the last lady (the grease bag lady?) how great it was that she talked over the sharks and how that showed her tenacity (or whatever, like I said...details escaping me) and "when have you ever seen that?"

Um. Just a few minutes ago on the same show....breast feeding lady. Only her overtalking was VERY annoying and in no way a positive thing!

Just a thing I noticed; same behavior different results.

Yoga lady wasn't impressive to me at all. She seemed entitled and surly, plus she didn't have a unique product.  But holy hell, Milk Box lady was embarrassing.  I have a feeling Milk Box lady got by on her looks when she was younger and just thinks all she has to do is smile and claim to not be fancy and everyone will fall in love with her.  Her business seemed ridiculous.  She would've been better off just trying to get them to invest in her clothing line, not some ridiculous subscription service that sounded overly complex.  And the clothes that she showed looked ugly tome.  That outfit she had on was frumpy as hell.

[Jamoche]

6 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I think you can use it until it's full. I am hoping it has one of those "fill" lines.

I have a small glass container that I put bacon grease in. I use it for cooking other things, frying eggs when I don't have bacon, put a little in my green beans when cooking them for a delicious flavor.

Yeah, I found the website https://www.greasebags.com - it says it holds 32 oz, "When your bottle of vegetable oil is gone you know your bag has done its job".

[chocolatine]

18 minutes ago, Jamoche said:

Yeah, I found the website https://www.greasebags.com - it says it holds 32 oz, "When your bottle of vegetable oil is gone you know your bag has done its job".

Stickler for details here: doesn't a significant portion of the oil get absorbed into the food? So when the bottle of vegetable oil is gone, there should still be some room left in the bag, no?

[cooksdelight]

I just ordered some, I told you I'd be one of their first customers. :). I'll let y'all know how they work.

[Jamoche]

45 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Stickler for details here: doesn't a significant portion of the oil get absorbed into the food? So when the bottle of vegetable oil is gone, there should still be some room left in the bag, no?

That sounded like a rough estimate sort of thing to me - bacon and beef stew skimmings will make up the rest of it :)

[hkit]

13 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I just ordered some, I told you I'd be one of their first customers. :). I'll let y'all know how they work.

Keep us posted. I'd be an infrequent user, but I really liked the concept.

I also think that her bottle of oil being gone to trigger a reorder is very clever.

[Ottis]

I suppose I am the last person to know what "FUBU" stands for. I had assumed the worst, and like the actual answer much better.

I'm pretty sure Daymond rode up in an elevator with me in Dallas back in October, when I was in town for a work meeting at a nice hotel. I kept wondering if that was him (he's pretty short), and I saw the earring and then I saw it on this ep. The guy in the elevator was wearing sun glasses and didn't say anything, so I wasn't sure enough to ask.

[guilfoyleatpp]

Mama's Milk Box lady was so terrible.  There is a definite time limit on the clothes, although if you're having multiple kids in fairly rapid succession, I guess you'd get more use out of them. I also noticed that a lot of the pieces she showed had no sleeves...which is great if you're in the south or have your kid in the spring, I guess. Also if you don't mind not covering your upper arms or have a lot of cardigans.

She also struck me as a lactivist.

When I was nursing and pumping I was on the lookout for clothes that could accommodate it, and I have lots of friends who do extended breast feeding (longer than a year), but the thing is that LOTS of clothes accommodate breastfeeding.  And you literally can pop out a boob almost anywhere.  In most states it's protected by law. So a box of fugly clothes coming to me every month (WITHOUT SLEEVES) wouldn't be super helpful.

And she talked over the sharks and wouldn't even let them finish their comments. And she knew she blew it about 3 minutes before she was dismissed. She's not cute or charming. She's sort of in the spastic realm (said by one spastic to another). I think she got nervous and wanted to continue her pitch.

I think she'd be way better off having a website dedicated to breastfeeding friendly clothes - I definitely had friends who had to attend events and were looking for specific pieces from time to time.

And sign me up for the grease bag lady! YES! I have a husband who loves coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, like bacon grease. We put our extra grease in coffee cans or jars, but they're unsightly. And who has a bug up their ass about throwing out hot grease? Do I accidentally want to splatter myself with fresh bacon grease?  Here's a tip - cook the bacon, sit down and eat it and then discard your grease.  Tah dah!  Where's my million dollars.

[mamadrama]

On 1/14/2017 at 11:56 AM, annewithaneee said:

There's no chance I'm rewatching her segment to make sure I got it right, but MilkBox lady said that the customer had three days to return the items she doesn't want??? I know there's some other clothing subscription/rental companies that ask the customer to send stuff back, and maybe that quick of a turnaround time is normal, but that seems way too fast for me. 

Honestly, that's just way too much work for me. I would rather go to a store, try on some clothes, buy them all at once, and be done with it. I've been through three pregnancies and bought a few new maternity pieces with each one. (I'm a shopaholic.) There are LOTS of great maternity stories out there and "regular" stores with good maternity sections, like Target. You can easily pick up everything you need (a nice dress, few bottoms, couple of tops, better-fitting bra) for both maternity AND breastfeeding needs in just a trip or two. It's not like it was 30 years ago where the styles were much to be desired, the prices exorbitant, and the pieces hard to find. 

As someone with a newborn, the last thing I want to be doing is trying crap on, boxing it up, and heading out to the post office with a timeclock beating over my head. 

I liked yoga lady's stuff until I heard the price. I would definitely wear them, but I will make my own. I also like the cute leg warmers and boot toppers that became in style again last year. I just went to the Goodwill, bought me some cheap sweaters, and cut off the arms. Cut a strip around the chest and had myself a matching scarf to wear with them. 

[PumpkinPK]

On Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 10:45 AM, MakeMeLaugh said:

I'm so old I wore actual maternity clothes, but pretty sure my daughter and her friends just pass around their baby-oriented stuff, which would happen with the breast feeding clothes (not to mention that no one really notices or cares about someone just pulling up her shirt and feeding a baby these days, so there's that too). Mama's milk brain is delusional.

If NicePipes became a thing, you'd soon be able to buy Lululemon brand and then byebye Nice Pipes.

I liked Vlad a lot--hope he invents more toys.

I missed most of the disposable grease bag but when I don't have a container handy for it, I (gross, I know) just pour it right into the garbage, on top of the other stuff, after it cools down in the pan a little. Maybe the inventor and Barbara can make a commercial/restaurant version, or maybe the bag might have other applications (oil spills?). The presenter will do good in real estate with Barbara.

An empty spagbetti sauce jar (or pickle jar) filled 1/4 of the way with cat litter works great.

[JBC344]

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 2:39 PM, guilfoyleatpp said:

Mama's Milk Box lady was so terrible.  There is a definite time limit on the clothes, although if you're having multiple kids in fairly rapid succession, I guess you'd get more use out of them. I also noticed that a lot of the pieces she showed had no sleeves...which is great if you're in the south or have your kid in the spring, I guess. Also if you don't mind not covering your upper arms or have a lot of cardigans.

She also struck me as a lactivist.

When I was nursing and pumping I was on the lookout for clothes that could accommodate it, and I have lots of friends who do extended breast feeding (longer than a year), but the thing is that LOTS of clothes accommodate breastfeeding.  And you literally can pop out a boob almost anywhere.  In most states it's protected by law. So a box of fugly clothes coming to me every month (WITHOUT SLEEVES) wouldn't be super helpful.

And she talked over the sharks and wouldn't even let them finish their comments. And she knew she blew it about 3 minutes before she was dismissed. She's not cute or charming. She's sort of in the spastic realm (said by one spastic to another). I think she got nervous and wanted to continue her pitch.

I think she'd be way better off having a website dedicated to breastfeeding friendly clothes - I definitely had friends who had to attend events and were looking for specific pieces from time to time.

And sign me up for the grease bag lady! YES! I have a husband who loves coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, like bacon grease. We put our extra grease in coffee cans or jars, but they're unsightly. And who has a bug up their ass about throwing out hot grease? Do I accidentally want to splatter myself with fresh bacon grease?  Here's a tip - cook the bacon, sit down and eat it and then discard your grease.  Tah dah!  Where's my million dollars.

I was so confused about the Sharks inability to fathom that they couldn't dispose of their "hot" grease right away.  I don't fry a ton anymore but I have never taken food out of oil and immediately disposed of it.  I was always taught you let your oil cool down, whatever you eventually do with it, it needs to be cool first.  It was such a strange thing to complain about, coupled with the fact of how many of the Sharks are frying with large amounts of oil.  It also didn't make sense from a safety standpoint.  You should never have a product that encourages people to handle hot oil. So for the Sharks to use that against her really didn't make any sense to me.

[ae2]

"What do you bring to the business?"

"I'm a great executive. The world needs CEOs."

a few minutes later

"I have no idea how to value this business so I made up the valuation."

[LeGrandElephant]

I actually went out of my way to buy some leg warmers to wear over my yoga pants. They're made of sweater material but they work fine, and they're easier to quickly pull on and off than they would be if they were that tight yoga pants material. I also wear them with my yoga pants to the gym where you wear shoes (as opposed to yoga class where you are barefoot), and the stretchy sweater kind can be pulled on and off over your shoes without having to take them off. 

The blocks thing reminded me a bit of Better Blocks which I had as a kid and which were kind of like legos but then you could make things that could bend. I tried to google them and I guess they're not around anymore. 

Edited February 18, 2017 by LeGrandElephant

[MrSmith]

On 1/17/2017 at 4:39 PM, guilfoyleatpp said:

And sign me up for the grease bag lady! YES! I have a husband who loves coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, like bacon grease. We put our extra grease in coffee cans or jars, but they're unsightly. And who has a bug up their ass about throwing out hot grease? Do I accidentally want to splatter myself with fresh bacon grease?  Here's a tip - cook the bacon, sit down and eat it and then discard your grease.  Tah dah!  Where's my million dollars.

Nah. Cook your bacon in the oven on a broiler pan. It'll taste far better. Then, collect the grease and store it in the fridge, and use it for things like roasting brussels sprouts (and I forget the other things my wife uses it for because she's the chef, not me!). As for the suggestion by the sharks to use the grease bag for changing your motor oil, maybe that would work, but you still can't just toss it out in the trash. It's considered a toxic/hazardous waste and has to be disposed of properly. And I can't think of any places that recycle oil that'll be happy about receiving it in these stupid bags.