Stacy's Pita Chips - Parmesan Garlic & Herb

These are pretty good. I had a bad experience with an expired and overpriced bag of the Garden Veggie flavor in New Orleans last winter, but I won't hold that against these nice, non-expired pita chips. They seem like the kind of thing I could potentially be allergic to, but I am not! I also remember liking the cinnamon sugar flavor which is fun. Anyway, these taste like croutons in a pita chip. Strong herb flavor (rosemary? garlic?) and mild Parmesan flavor. Good on their own although they are pretty sturdy and so would probably be good with dip, too, I'm just allergic to hummus and not sure what would go. Spinach dip, maybe? Anyway. A tasty, contentful snack that doesn't feel too healthy/light. Has a trendy feel to me because all the cool European students always got them in grad school, even though I think they're owned by Frito-Lay (the chip, not the students). :)

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 6/10

Cadbury Caramello

I used to eat these before they were Cadbury branded, and I liked them a lot. Then they aqcuired a peanut warning and I was sad. Now they're apparently just may-contain-almonds, which is OK by me. Exciting. Alas, it wasn't as good as I remembered or hoped, but that might be because it's hot in my house and so it was kind of melty, which made the texture weird and smooshy, which didn't work for me. I should have put it in the fridge for a bit first. Alas. Elsewise, this is a cute bar, in four little squares that each contain a bit of very runny caramel. It's overall quite sweet, and the chocolate isn't super creamy/smooth/milky which is a shame. Definitely a treat but maybe not the ultimate treat.

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 6/10

Mission Street Taco Flour Tortillas

I got these today, and they expire tomorrow. OK, Target. OK, Mission. Sheesh. Anyway, I had 2 tonight because obviously time is of the essence. I ask myself, what is Mission doing that whoever made the other flour tortillas I just ate (El Paso?) is not, to make them expire so quickly?! But the taste of these was actually noticeably better, fresher, thicker. Maybe there's some sort of trade-off. They are almost like a cross between a pita and a tortilla. I gave em a 33 second microwave and they were good. I just ate them plain/with cheese dip since my avocado was also expired. Coronatine is very bad, but these tortillas are pretty good. We'll see how they hold up post-fridge, and 1week post expiry!

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 7/10

Doritos Spicy Nacho

What was I thinking ordering these? Who can say. I don't like Doritos and these are really no different. They remind me of my parents eating Subway and Doritos, which are two things I don't like at all. I don't like corn chips, I don't like Frito Lay products, I don't like these. And yet in a desperate quarantine shop, I bought them. Alas. This flavor is a tiny bit better than the plain nacho cheese flavor, but it isn't very spicy or different in the end. Nowhere near the flamin' hot ones, which are better. The spice is mostly a lingering afternote, and the powder is a little tastier, the real problem is the chip itself. On a potato chip it might even be good. Mostly cheesy flavored. I dunno, man.

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 5/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure Uncured Bacon Pork Sticks

OK, Blogger just updated their interface and it's weirding me out. Anyway, another flavor of meat stick! Supposedly no cumin in this one, and nut-free, so that's good. This is all pig meat, which is a different flavor than your beef/turkey sticks -- this tastes almost exactly like a ham slice, except it's cold and there's no pineapple flavor (I usually make a ham with a pineapple). It's kinda uncanny. I like ham fine, and it's cool to have a shelf-stable version, but I'm so used to the spicy turkey meat stick that it's weird to have one that tastes so plain, even if I like ham fine. Seems like with all the seasoning or juice in the ingredients that it should have a more....seasoned? taste, and it just doesn't. Also doesn't really taste like bacon, although maybe the difference between ham slice and bacon is just texture? But it's got a ham slice texture. Anyway, I'm not sure where this falls for me. I don't hate it but I don't see myself craving it ever really. Plus I think it's more likely to be cancerous than turkey is, right? (Is that right???)

Overall

Cost: 5/10

Taste: 6/10

Starbucks Bottled Frappuccino - Vanilla

I don't much care for Starbucks (or, as the classy call it, Starbie's), but I enjoyed having a different kind of coffee drink from my usual hot coffee k-cup, plain. Like all the bottled coffee drinks, I thought this was way too sweet (it's like 300 cals, c'mon), but it does taste pretty good, like sweet milky juice. Not very much actual coffee flavor, to be honest. More like a coffee flavored ice cream that melted than a coffee. I want a coffee! But this is a nice dessert type thing. Oh, the weird aftertaste is present, but it took longer than normal to notice and wasn't as strong. Not sure if it was more subtle because of the vanilla flavor, the fact that this was in the fridge for months, the fact that I put it in a mug, or that my body is broken. Either way, same weird bad metal taste, thought frequently overshadowed by sweet milky vibes. Overall a good experience, def. better than the mocha flavor was.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

Cheez Whiz Original Cheese Dip

I'm really going all in on the Kraft "cheese-like" products, huh!? Believe it or not, I've never had Cheez Whiz in any form before today, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was the only queso-esque thing I could find online so I got it. Heated up 2 spoonsful in the microwave for 30sec and had with some tortilla chips. It definitely wasn't the nacho queso I'm used to, but it was OK. At first I thought it tasted like the cheese chunk in those Handy Snacks crackers and cheese things (not a great endorsement, but nostalgic), but then I realised it just tastes a lot like movie theater nacho cheese. Makes sense. The texture is more "thick" and "processed" than an ideal queso, but the taste is OK if you accept what it is (I usually love shitty processed movie theater nacho cheese if I'm expecting it). It's no Qdoba queso, but it's way better than Chipotle queso, so do with that what you will. I don't know if I'd rebuy this given, say, a Tostito's option (we'll have to try that soon), but I plan to finish the jar with my corn chips and maybe pretzels (or tortillas? or rice? or pasta??), who knows!

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (Around 3.50)
Taste: 6/10

Easy Mac (no cup)

What the heck is this? Easy mac in a bag that you need your own bowl for? Seems silly since I usually have easy mac on the go (in a hotel with no bowls, for instance), but now that I'm at home, an 18 pack of easy mac for 7$ is hard to pass up. This is actually somehow better than the cup version (IMO) in terms of taste/texture. It doesn't have the white powder in the noodles, which might be related, I'm not sure. You add 2/3 cup water to the noodles and microwave for 3.44 and then stir in the cheese powder (the hardest part since I use a small bowl). It really tastes very close to regular mac and cheese, more than the bowl easy mac does. Almost buttery even though I didn't add butter/milk. This is nice. I think it must be very bad for me since I feel feverish and stomachachey after eating it most of the time, but I will enjoy this 18 pack til it's gone and try to hold out on rebuying for a while. But it is super easy and enjoyable. And a good, appropriate portion.

Overall
Cost: 9/10 (less than 50 cents a pack)
Taste: 7/10

Stash Christmas Morning Tea

This is a mix of black and green tea, and the green tea is jasmine infused. Jasmine is a flower but I was still scared I'd be allergic to it (you know how life goes). Anyway, this tea was fine - mostly tasted like strong black tea IMO. It grew on me as I became less afraid of dyin'. Nice to have a warm drink, as always. Tea has kind of a gritty feeling on my teeth though, you know? Like spinach. But I hope it has health benefits or somethin'. It was all right. Plain 'n boring, like most of my Christmas mornings!




Overall
Cost: 7/10 (100 for 18$)
Taste: 6/10

Stash Christmas Eve Tea

Not familiar with this brand of tea, compared to Twinings and Bigelow, but both their website and their email indicated that they are top-8 allergy free. So that's reassuring enough, although you never know about licorice and anise (but usually they list these things because they sound classy). This was an herbal tea, which does nothing for me in general, but it had mainly mint and cinnmamon notes. Not a very strong taste, really, but a strong smell (boyf hated it). I didn't die, but I only drank a little bit, and I concluded it was just "OK".




Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Oreo Cookies

If you're looking for a classic cookie, this is it. Sadly they do make peanut flavors sometimes, so like Chips Ahoy, you need to exercise caution, but I've always trusted their labelling process so these plain ones seem OK. I'm a creme over cookie person, so the plain flavor actually isn't my favorite, but they're still sweet and classic and good. They also get all on your face so you can't hide the fact that you ate Oreos. Otherwise, no complaints.





Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Honeycomb Cereal

I was craving this cereal for a while because it was heavily featured in the Sopranos and I am easily influenced. It isn't quite as good as I remembered/hoped, but it's solid. I put it kind of in the Kix family of cereal that is sweet but not that sweet. It has a light sugary flavor along with the cereal (wheat?) flavor, and it's good in milk. A little bit of a weird aftertaste though, and diminishing returns the more you have. I think I'm ready for a new cereal.





Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Q says: 2/10 I dunno it's fine.

Wayback Burgers

Formerly Jake's Wayback Burgers, but I guess they dropped the "Jake's" when I wasn't paying attention! This is a super local Delaware chain and yet it apparently has expanded to PA and beyond. My mind is blown. Anyway, they have hot dogs and burgers that are made fresh (and like, fries and shakes and other stuff). The intriguing thing is that their allergy menu doesn't even list nuts or peanuts as an option, which makes me THINK that they don't use those ingredients, which is great, but I can't find that explicitly stated on their website anywhere, which is weird. I asked the one in DE once if they used nuts and they said no, but that was a long time ago. They also have the impossible burger though, so I didn't want to risk getting a burger, so I got a hot dog with ketchup and mustard and grilled onions. They didn't put on a super lot of toppings, and the hot dog itself was a little too "beef" flavored for my taste, but ultimately it was pretty good and only 300some calories apparently. They have a lot of toppings and other options, so if I were to consider contacting them to get more allergy info I might try the other fun stuff like chicken sandwich or chips. I also ate a little bit of fries and they weren't as good as like, a fast food fry, but with the BBQ sauce they were nice.

Classic Burger: I tried to reach out about allergy stuff via FB message, but they never answered. Alas. Anyway, this was a fine burger, 2 patties and all the fixins. I like this, but the meat itself wasn't that great to me. It didn't have that nice burger king/red robin flavor, you know? I was also scared it would get mixed up with a veggie burger, but it seemed pretty meat-y, so I took the risk. Also almost 700 calos, so very filling, but didn't knock me totally out. Might mix up the toppings in the future since Q seems to like this place. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Q says: "I like it out of 10"

Sour Patch Watermelon Candy

Huh. These are a nut free candy: good. But these aren't as good as regular sour patch kids. There are at least two reasons for this. One is the flavor is watermelon. OK, as advertised, they really do taste like watermelon candy. Unfortunately I like the green/yellow/orange/red/blue traditional flavors all better than watermelon. Second is the texture. These are almost like gum, taffy, something softer and squishier than the almost Swedish-fish-like biteability of the original. Maybe it's because of the shape? Maybe I had a bad/slightly old(It was) batch? Maybe it's a design feature? But it is not good. Felt like I had some slightly sour tangy watermelon bubblegum that dissolved in my mouth. OK, so not great overall. Really it just made me want some regular sour patch kids!!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Old El Paso - Flour Tortillas (Soft Taco size)

Tortillas! The only bread for quarantine life. These are cute, good for 1 serving of rice and potentially veg or tomato if I had those things right now (or queso?? or....meat??? or corn??). Alas, I don't really have much, but even with just rice this was nice. Tastes like a normal flour tortilla, reseals, and supposedly will stay good on the counter. No issues so far. I didn't even heat them up, but I might try pan-heating them or microwaving them when I get bored. 2 is a nice serving size, and even though they have a ton of ingredients (not great), none are nuts or soy! Hurray!



Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Peaceful Fruits Organic Fruit Strips - Pineapple + Açaí Drizzle

Pretty tasty! This was tough to chew, a bit like a fruit jerky, which I like better than the dense thick type of fruit bar. The drizzle design is cute also (even though it's only on the top and not the bottom). The taste is pretty generic -- I guess there's a bit of pineapple, but mostly pear vibes if anything. Maybe a little bit "tropical" in a broad sense. Super low cal but fun to eat, I'd eat it again for sure.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Wishbone Light Ranch Dressing

OK, my boyf hates ranch dressing (like even the smell of it!) so I almost never have it, and to be honest I don't like it much either -- much better salad dressings (french! thousand island! lemon and oil!) and I too hate it on sandwiches, "buffalo chicken", or pizza crust (ew). But as a dip for raw veggies, it can't really be beat. Works great for carrot, celery, brocco, cauliflower, and especially my current veg of the moment: a 2ft cucumber. I can't tell the difference between "light" and "heavy" ranch in terms of taste, so light it is, although it's not a calorie-light food either way. Still, a solid "BLORP" of dressing is probably about 1-2 servings, which isn't terrible and makes veg into more of a filling snack. So this is great for the quarantine times! It lasts for several months in the fridge and is of course nut-free.


Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Barilla Ditalini

I only got these because they were the only pasta shape available to buy, but I thought I would hate them. I usually don't like the taste of tiny pastas like orzo, PLUS I associate these small circle shapes with soups I'm allergic to, like veggie soup or spaghetti o's or something else itchy. But I was pleasantly surprised. I cooked em for about 10min (maybe 9), and they were al dente for sure but since they were so small it was totally fine to eat, and having more texture to them made it more like a satisfying meal, like a veg was in there but it was just noodle. Made about 2/3 cup with my expiring red sauce, and it was a tasty and very filling lunch. I would get these again even in a non-desperation scenario, which is something to behold!


Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Pure Leaf Unsweetened Black Tea

This is a big boy jug of iced tea! No sugar, no flavor, just tea (and citric acid). It's nice. I feel totally guilt-free in drinking this, plus it has a little caffeine which I obviously love, and it's a nice cool drink that doesn't come out of my weird sink. Feels a little wasteful to buy when I can surely brew (and refrigerate if needed) some black tea for myself for less money and more environmentally friendly, but since I'm already living off of online packages anyway (and vegan by circumstance), so what who cares. I'll take the convenience. The taste is exactly like cold black tea. It isn't tasty, but it grew on me a lot over this past year (even those pickles I absolutely hate have grown on me lol), so now I actively enjoy it. Yum, cold tea! And no weird add-ins like licorice or anise that I'm allergic to! Thanks, Pure Leaf!

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (About 3.50$)
Taste: 6/10

Cucina Pronta Classic Marinara Sauce

This pasta sauce seems way too posh for me, but since I can't go out to get my actual favorite acme-brand sauce, I'm excited to try out a new classy looking brand. This tasted pretty normal/standard, with small cubes of tomato/onion/tasteless veg in a mildy chunky not-too-sweet-but-a-little-sweet red sauce. It says restaurant quality, and I guess it tastes kind of like a chain resto pasta sauce, which is certainly acceptable to me. 5 servings at a normal calorie count, all seems well, except the jar specifies to "use within 2 days". What!? What kind of heartburn-less family of 5 does CucinaPronta think I am? I don't want to waste half the jar, so I'm wondering how strict that expiry really is -- usually I figure 5 days is fine. And if it's not fine, what's so different about this sauce to make it go bad so fast? I have questions that cannot be answered. But other than this issue, the sauce is fine.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 (About 6$, a little excessive!!)
Taste: 7/10

Martinelli's Sparkling Cider

This is a super cute 8oz single serve cider with a twist top! No alcohol, so I can drink it while sick without feeling especially guilty. I usually only have sparkling cider at the holidays, usually with family, so it's very weird to be drinking in a sick solo May quarantine. But it's kind of nice to have that familiar taste too. A small, random joy. This is a perfect serving size for one person, and it had plenty of bubbles left. Apparently this is the "Northwest blend", so maybe the apple taste is slightly different for other varietals (lol) but I didn't notice it really. Maybe a little more sour and less sweet than normal, which is only a good thing. Very fun, would be better if I were sharing it with a loved one or something, but still a nice little treat. Would be good for a party too!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

DaVinci Ravioletti

Tiny little ravioli! How cute is this. I've never had non-frozen ravioli of any type, so I was a little skeptical about shelf-stable cheese filled pasta, and also I found a lil tortellini in there, so I was anxious about allergy stuff too lol (because they make pestos, but like, surely not pesto filled pasta, right?!). Takes 15 min to cook, and they stayed together well, I added olive oil and seasoning. Made me sneeze but hopefully that is just the seasoning. The inside is indeed brown, which is odd, and it tastes mostly like really salty parmesan, which I guess is what you want. It's a little bit firm inside, like a breadcrumb ball, but I might have needed to cook them a tiny bit more. I bet that with tomato sauce this would be even better. Plain they're just OK.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

MadeGood Caramel Crispy Square

Smells like caramel for sure, but tasted to me pretty much like the other crispy squares in this line. That is: too much sugar, not enough butter! The rice crispy texture is fun, but it's suffering from lack of goo -- gooey marshmallow or whatever else. Not a great "dupe" for the real thing, but a sweet snack treat in any case. Tasty but not at all decadent. I do like that there's veg in it!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Pillsbury Flaky Cinnamon Rolls with Butter Cream Icing

Oh yeah, Cinnamon rolls in quarantine! These were good, as cinnamon rolls generally are. They were a cute size, smaller than the GRANDS ones, so you get 8 of them per tube. 3 is a satisfying meal/snack. These cooked in 10 minutes (leaving a tiny bit of undercooked inside), which was pretty good. Maybe 11 is the actual right time to cook them. They do have a little "plain biscuit" taste, so I wish there was more cinnamon or they were somehow more gooey without being undercooked, but the icing amount is solid and they were still tasty despite being a few days past the "best by" date, heh heh.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Tostitos Scoops

Chips for me dips! Grateful to have chips, but I must admit that I don't like the "scoops" conceit. It's dumb and not at all how my mouth is used to receiving foods. Flat chips only, please. But the taste is fine: salty and corn-y. A good quality tortilla chip, besides the shape. It held up to dip and didn't sog. What else can you hope for (besides a normal chip shape)?

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Tostitos Chunky Salsa - Mild

Indeed, here is a perfectly adequate food. I don't think this is very different from the "medium" heat version (or probably the hot version if we're being honest), or very different from other brands of jarred salsa like ChiChis or Pace. It's really generic and reminds me of my childhood because my parents did jarred salsa + tortilla chips a lot. To be honest, I don't really like it as a snack -- corn chips were never my favorite. But in the quarantine times, snacks are elevated to better than they used to be! So I was happy to have 2 Tbsp of this salsa to go along with 13 Scoops Tortilla Chips. It was actually a perfect portion and it seemed like a fun allergy-free snack. No complaints, but it's no resto-salsa or jar-queso.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Velveeta Shells & Cheese - Queso Blanco Microwaveable Cups

I got these to change up my easy mac palate, but these are virtually identical to the Kraft White Cheddar Easy Mac, even down to the instructions and little goopy cheese sauce packet. The only differences are that the noodles are little shells instead of elbows, and the branding. But of course, Velveeta is owned by Kraft!! So Velveeta singles and Kraft singles are the same? Which explains why this tastes like the homemade Kraft-single-melty mac and cheese from my youth. Anyway, it's still very quick, easy, and comforting (and bad for you), but it's nothing new, so that's too bad. I wonder if there's a radically different type of easy mac available! Maybe Annie's? If quarantine continues, I will surely find out! Stay tuned!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Kettle Brand Krinkle Cut Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper Chips

These are rare Crinkly chips from Kettle brand, which was fun and new. The shape just made me want Sour Cream and Onion chips instead though, which would have been tastier. These were OK on the tasty front, but a little bit boring and a little too much salt and also pepper. They also tasted a little bit like "hint of lime" chips, aka a little bit like Trix cereal. Just a tiny bit -- maybe it's citric acid? or "spices"? but it was odd. The cronch level was good, they are nice and thick and crispy. Not too oily but not flavorless either. A little bit ricey powdery vibe on the outside but not much. Mostly tastes like black pepper and that lime stuff. Not terrible, but not impressive!


Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10