San Giorgio Large Elbows

More pasta for me! I'm a lucky girl. These are good noodles and very versatile. They also cook really quickly, in about 6 minutes they're ready to go. When you cook them, they get even bigger than before, even though they are already large elbows! A pretty fun shape of pasta, no complaints. I think I use about 1 cup for a serving and it's a good amount.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

YumEarth Organic Hard Candies - Favorite Fruits

I was surprised to get these, since I'm so used to the lollypops and had never seen the hard candy version before. Apparently they have other flavors, like mint?! But I got two fruit flavored ones, the flavors of which were unmarked so I had to guess at it. These are small and even though the stick on lollipops annoys me, I think I prefer lollypop to hard candies if the flavors are the same. Easier to choke on these guys so I need to pay attention to my consumption, and I eat sweets to relax darn it!

watermelon: I wasn't sure if this was strawberry or watermelon (it's plain pink colored), but I think it's watermelon. It tastes OK, pretty identical to the lollipop version in my opinion. Not super exciting. 5/10

peach: This was half yellow, half orange. It tasted almost like orange flavor rather than peach! A sweet and citrusy flavor. I liked this pretty well. 6/10

pomegranate: This was a dark red-purply color. It tastes a lot like the lollipops! Not my favorite flavor but it's ok. 5/10

strawberry: This was half pink, half red. It tastes a lot like the lollipops also! Nice sweetness, but not complex in any way. Not as good as those strawberry wrapper classic hard candies, sadly. 5/10

cherry: I think this was cherry? It was plain dark pink color, so it might have been pomegranate. It tastes vaguely like cherry though. It is OK, but not amazing. I think thinking that it is cherry makes it taste better than thinking it is pomegranate...maybe. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Keebler Sugar Wafers - Vanilla

Seems I'm on a bit of an expired food run, as these were 2 weeks past the "best by" date. And it showed: they were stale and tasted a little funky. But the inside cream bit is very sweet and tasty, it's just the outside tastes like a funky paper envelope. These are bad for you and I have no justification for eating them, but they are nut free and I trust Keebler's labelling based on past cookie experiences (they do make lots of nut cookies too though, so double check your stuff). Sometimes it's just nice to eat a heavily processed cookie that looks like it shouldn't be a food. If these were fresh they'd probably be a 7 or 8!!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Artisan Tropic Cassava Strips - Sea Salt

Caveat: these expired 2 weeks ago, so I may not be getting them at their best. Apparently, I've had this company's plantain chips before too, and they were unimpressive! I'm glad to hear they are nut-free, but I still get paranoid about companies like this one with only 6 google results total (lol). Nevertheless, I've had cassava before and not died, so all's well. Cassava to me is basically potato, I can hardly distinguish it. These chips are very thin and firm; they remind me a lot of Lays chips in their mouthfeel (lol). Just a plain savory tuber, maybe more "umami" than a potato, with a little catlitter aftertaste. Quite oily and a little touch of salt. They're OK, but I'm not hungry enough to enjoy these right now I guess.


Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Deluxe - White Cheddar (Easy Mac)

Again, I guess this technically isn't called Easy Mac (anymore?), but it certainly isn't regular Kraft Dinner/Mac n Cheesers! Which is good for now, since I don't have access to milk or butter. Just water and powder for me! So, this is white cheddar ("Deluxe") flavor, but the calories and instructions are identical to the non-deluxe cheddar. The powder, however, has been replaced by a thick gloopy "sauce". It comes out of the pouch like sour cream. Very unnerving, but when you mix it in hot (I was too unnerved to try it on its own, though I am curious), it results in a thin sauce that reminds me of my mom's homemade mac and cheese (made with Kraft singles and milk :D). The noodles here are also "ribbed" and a bit firmer, maybe to catch the sauce in their grooves? Overall I like the effect, and it does feel more deluxe actually. But the taste isn't quite up to snuff - it's a bit tasteless, even with all the salt and stuff. Could use more creaminess or stickiness, somehow. Still not bad for what it is.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Vlasic Purely Pickles - Bread & Butter Chips

Oh, god. I bought a 6-pk of these because I thought they would be a little spicy and not sweet. But instead they are just sickeningly sweet. I get no flavor besides sugar and vinegar. It's truly terrible. I can't believe I have 6 jars of these. I am trying to eat them anyway, but I shouldn't. What does "purely pickles" even fucking mean!??! I thought there was no sugar!! Argh!! Amazon really led me astray on this one with the item description. No allergens, and yet, it's just so bad. I also don't like pickles, of course, but these are SIGNIFICANTLY worse than a pickle from a burger or pizza or relish or any other pickle except sweet mini gherkins which are similarly horrifying because they are sweet. Ew.



Overall
Cost: 4/10 (I spent like 30$ on these pickles; granted I have approx 500 of them but still, they didn't come in single jars or I would have done that)
Taste: 3/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure Original Beef & Pork Stick

Hard to find meat without leaving the house, but this big pack of meat sticks came through for me. The texture isn't tough or chewy at all, with just a little bite. It's a tiny bit spicy but otherwise honestly not super flavorful. Tastes more like pork than beef, but it is subtle. Most importantly, they are Top-8 free, so no nut risk and no soy filler either. That's huge for my piece of mind right now, and so even though these aren't amazing, they are portable safe meat, which is amazing enough for me. Although the aftertaste of spicy is kind of nice!




Overall
Cost: 5/10 (A little over 1$/stick, which seems decent but is pricier than other snacks of course)
Taste: 7/10

mango bubly

Haaay, mango bubly. This is the last flavor of bubly I had left to try from my bubly sampler pack, and it was firmly average. No medicinal taste like the red bois, but not as sweet and delightful as the apple and orange. It tasted a bit like a citrusy beer or mixed drink, almost, with that lack of sweet flavor and carbonation. Not bad, but a little too tonic-y to delight in. I didn't get a super strong mango vibe, although it is more tangy than the lemon and lime (which I think I liked slightly better because they were more neutral). Cute and unique color and flavor choice though.




Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

DaVinci Rotini

Look at me, still trying new foods without leaving my house! I got this in my bimonthly Hungry Harvest box, my only source of food now that I'm infected with virus. I was a little hesitant to eat this new food, but the label even had a may-contain egg, so I trusted it. And it tasted just like, wait for it....pasta. Perfect! Cooked up in 8 min or so, nice firm texture, tastes normal. I like that the bag has a little resealable sticky bit. Overall I have no complaints and would get this again, even if it is a little pricier than your 1$ Barillas.




Overall
Cost: 5/10 (About 3.50$)
Taste: 7/10

strawberry bubly

Much like the cherry flavor, this tastes way too much like medicine. I am not allergic to it, which is good, and the can says "hiii", which is cute, but it really doesn't taste good to me. So artificial (which it is)! Now I'm questioning if the other bublys were even good, but I think they were. Just no red bublys for me.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 4/10

Enjoy Life Breakfast Ovals - Apple Cinnamon

This was a nice moist oaty loaf! Feels substantial, which is nice. The oats still weird me out, but by now I know in my soul they are safe. Unlike my recollection of the other flavors, this tasted "healthy", like some weird bread my mom would bake on a whim or something. It wasn't bad, but I guess the flavor of apple-cinnamon-oatmeal didn't feel like a treat as much as the banana or berry ones. I expect the maple one would feel more breakfast-oatmeally too, and less indulgent. It's not bad and it's nice to eat something "bready", especially in these quarantine times, but it wasn't decadent either. Overall a normal-ish food for allergy sufferers so I am appreciative.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (about 18$ for 20 bars on Amazon)
Taste: 6/10

Wild Made Fruit Rolls - Tropical Fruit

This was all right. It was more fun than your typical organic fruit-only dense strip, because it was the thinness and shape of a fruit roll up, and that's a fun time. Either the guava or the mango in it made my mouth feel a tiny bit itchy, but that went away pretty fast and might have been anxiety related. Anyway, the shape was fun, it was a good texture and not too sticky, but it's no fruit roll up -- the taste of "fruit leather" in a fun shape. Maybe a different flavor like berry would be better? Not sure.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

apple bubly

Apple bubly? What has the bubly world come to!? This is definitely a green apple flavor, like a green jolly rancher. It's decent, although maybe a little disconcerting to taste a candy-ish flavor in a sugar-free bubly format. I like it way more than the cherry one, though, so I'm into it. I also like the color of the can, it's a lovely green. There's also a moustache on the back, which made me wonder if all of the cans have moustaches on them and I never noticed! I will let you know in my next bubly review, so stay tuned!





Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Paw Patrol (Easy Mac)

So nowhere on the container does this actually say "Easy Mac" -- did they depreciate the name? Where did the name come from?! -- but this is definitely easy and potentially mac. No milk needed, which is why Easy Mac is the only Mac for me in this non-house-leaving life. And it's not bad, even if it's maybe not good for me. A cute size for this new life, just 3 min in the microwave, and decent warm/creamy taste even given how the sausage is made. Noodles are more formless and chewy, and there's some unnatural taste in all Easy Macs, but it's not unpleasant. And the puppy on the packaging seems fun. Is Paw Patrol cancelled? Is that why these were in stock? Who can say. But I give it 2 Paws Up.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

cherry bubly

I gotta be honest, this bubly is bad. Badbly. The cherry flavor tastes just like cherry flavored medicine. Of course, it's better than medicine because there's no medicine, only the weird flavor and mild carbonation, but the association is too strong and it can never be pleasant for me. It's also harder to find this bubly online, so maybe other people agree and they're gonna stop making it! Here's hoping.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 4/10

lime bubly

This is a solid bubly flavor -- has a nice hint of limeness, and not super strong. No weird taste of metal or chemicals. One thing I like about bublys is that they aren't as fizzy as other drinks (I don't like fizzy much), and the flavorings are all almost like candy flavors even without the sweetness. Very ~Pure~.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Pillsbury Grands! Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Now that I'm eating these not fresh (don't want to eat more than one a day since I'm still healing), they aren't quite as amazing. But in general this is a baller treat: fresh bakery from a can! And nut-free! Very cool, obviously amazing. They taste like a cinnamon bun (never had real cinnabons but I imagine it's like this) and are fun to peel. The time says 25-29 min, which is too long -- I did 25 and they were still kinda burnt. Maybe like 22? Still tasty though.





Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

orange bubly

Oh yeah. I am all in on Orange Bubly. This might be my favorite flavor of bubly yet, it tastes just like an orange soda or orange dessert but obviously with no sugar! This one didn't even have a weird metallic or chemical taste either, just nice pure orangeness. I like bublys quite a lot, even though their politics are weird (see: the komen breast cancer one) and this one says "yo" on the tab instead of "hey u", which I was not anticipating. I also heard someone was allergic to the strawberry flavored one, which makes me nervous that I will be too. But if it's not top-8, it can only be peas/beans/anise that would do me in, and bubly wouldn't have those things, right?! Perhaps I'm borrowing trouble because my body is starting to heal from its agonies, I hope, maybe. Inhala, exhala. This is a good bubly.


Overall
Cost: 6/10 (cheaper than water!)
Taste: 7/10

San Giorgio Spaghetti

I am blasting through my stores of food, quarantine be damned! I'm not sure if I can really distinguish San Giorgio from Barilla or even Ronzoni, but all are better than the store brand which is sometimes white and powdery or green and weird. (Reminds me of LA Smart and Final life, no thankyou). Anyway, this is one of those fancy high quality pastas, but if it's on sale I will get it, just like Barilla/Ronzoni. Spaghetti isn't usually my favorite shape, but sometimes you get in a mood for it and want to change things up! I used my last tomato sauce here today and it was true decadence. Felt like I was eating takeout. Spaghetti was wonderful. Nice work. spaghetti!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Barilla Ziti

Nobody doesn't love a good noodle! As discussed previously, I used to be anti-Barilla, but now they are fine by me. Which is good, because they're the only noodle I can find to buy online. Also, they're pretty solid pastas. This shape is especially fun, because it's all smooth and different. You can put em on the tines of your fork for extra fun! These go with sauce or oil or whatever, plus of course some veggies from the freezer (or fridge if you're fancy). Always a good time. I make about 1 cup of dry pasta for 10 min or so, and that's filling but not overmuch. Maybe 4-5 servings per box, so not as cost-effective as rice, but pretty good!


Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

signature select - california style vegetables

Frozen veggies, hooray! I'm out of fresh veg for now, and will soon be out of frozen veg, so I'm treating these like frozen gold. And they're fine, not quite as high-quality seeming as the other frozen carrot/broc/cauli mix I've bought, but certainly fine. I added a cup to some noodles, added a little pepper and olive oil, and it did the job. The veg didn't add much flavor or texture though (maybe I overcooked em), but I hope they added some vitamins.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (who can even remember)
Taste: 5/10

Snyder's of Hanover 100 Calorie Pack Pretzel Sticks

Ahoy there, friends. I'm not eating many new foods lately, since I can't leave the house and also don't want to risk eating anything that I have even the slightest chance of being allergic to. So that limits me quite a bit. However, I do have the third pretzel type in my trilogy of hoarded pretzels: the stick. I rank these below the mini pretzels and above the weird squares. They aren't thick and I'd rather have a thick pretzel stick, but it's probably for the best since if I chip a tooth, I'm stuck! Anyway, they aren't super crunchy or satisfying, but they are "OK". Probably very doable to dip in something, like some mustard. You do get a decent amount per bag, just like with the other types. I appreciate them. They are food that doesn't kill me. I am still alive.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Mrs. T's Pierogies - Minis Classic Cheddar

Sorry for the title gore, I didn't know what to do with that. It feels like its been years since I reviewed a pierogy. I bought these so long ago, before the virus times, way way before. Finally I am eating them. Why didn't I buy more crap in my final grocery trip? Answer: I didn't have chest pain yet and confidently assumed I'd leave the house again. A fool I was. But even though these are my last and only pierogy, they still aren't THAT good. A very prototypical rogi. Nice, comforting texture with a boring potato inside. The best part about the minis is that you get 11 of them for 220 cals, which feels like a lot! The worst part is you get 2.5 servings per box instead of 3.2ish. But these are nice and so quick to cook. The day I finally get another flavor will be such a happy day, 'cause it'll mean I went to the store!!

BTW, I felt like I was having a heart attack when I got up to make these. My body is just not healin', blog. Sigh. :(

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10