Birds Eye Steamfresh Seasoned Chicken Flavored Rice

Birds Eye ain't what it used to be... but neither am I! This has only milk as an allergen (although some random reviewer online who is allergic to "only cranberries and oysters" had a reaction, for whatever that's worth, lol), and as I'm always in search of new veg landscapes, I had to check it out. It is easy to cook, I'll give 'em that, although it smells a lot like canned chicken soup (no doubt due to the combo of chicken fat, corn protein, carrot, and onion). No soy though!! They promised!! The onions are really to its detriment, at least on first nibble/smell. The rice and seasoning and carrot/brocco is fine, but the onion flavor is overpowering. However, maybe it's the MSG talking, but this was pretty tasty. I wished there was more. I'm a fool... a fool for seasoned chicken flavored rice.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 

7-Layer Dip Pringles

What even IS 7-layer dip? I've never had it, so I assume one layer is Bean. And then like..meat? Tomato? Cheese? Sour Cream? Guac? Lettuce? This can shows chip (but I assume that's for dipping and not dip) and olive (ew), and as far as I can tell, no bean. So although the ingredos don't have Bean, there IS "natural flavors" which could ostensibly be bean, which would kill me. But surely if there were bean, they wouldn't hide it, they'd be proud to declare essence of Bean. Some neurotics are born, others are made (by food allergy). Anyway, I ate 'em, so I can decree: no bean. 

The flavor notes are very: tortilla chip (unexpected!), paprika, cumin, taco seasoning in general, mild cheddar cheese dust, mild sour cream, possible lettuce vibe (weird). Pretty accurate flavor match, in other words. You can almost not notice the powerful pringle undertone, which is always my goal with pringles. But it is still there, a little. This flavor isn't listed on the Pringles Website, so perhaps it is discontinued (or otherwise secret). There is a slight olive afternote. Ew (impressed). Also a slight mealiness which I associate with my assumptions about pinto bean paste, although that is also a feature of many potato-forward pringles, too. I guess that's a value add(??). 

Not my favorite flavor, mostly due to bean fears and related anxieties, but pretty impressive/unique/I like the green can. 

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10 

my mochi - Barbie cotton candy

Is this any different than the Non-Barbie cotton candy flavor? Probably not (except it is purple). But my store only carries Barbie flavors and Dubai Chocolate, apparently. Anyway, a new flavor's a new flavor. I wish I liked these as much as I want to, but I still think a mochi is a lower-tier ice cream treat. Still, the company is so good (and the packaging is very cute), so I will continue to support. They also do a great job with flavors that sound terrible. This tastes nothing like cotton candy, which is a huge compliment. It's like generic grape-lavender vanilla. Cloud flavored, maybe. Subtle fruit-adjacent sweetness. The dough bit is actually sweeter than the filling, which is maybe not surprising for a mochi but is surprising for an ice cream. Good little treat. And a nut free logo on the back of this one! Thanks Barbie!

Overall
Cost: 3/10 [8$, a bit insane]
Taste: 7/10 

Haribo Sour Sodas

New Haribo?! Very exciting. I'm a big fan of soda flavored candy (OK, I'm a big fan of bottle caps), so let's see. 

Well, the texture is freakin' weird. They are soft like the unicorn gummies, but not bite-through-able. Also, they don't taste anything like soda. But they are sour. They also melted and fused together a lot. 

Cherry-cola: I'm getting cherry, I'm getting Haribo gummy, I'm not getting cola. Ehhh. Wait, but another one tastes only of cola, no cherry. Are they unevenly created?! Intriguing. 6/10? 

Peach-blue raspberry: This just tastes like a peach gummy but sour. I like sour but I don't love peach gummy, even in frog or bottle form. Ehhh. 5/10 

Lemon-strawberry: This one tastes like french fries. What the hell is going on here. 5/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10 (except the one cola-flavored one )

Nellie's Free Range Butter - Unsalted

Cute butter. Tragically, it is always within 2 weeks of expiry when I get it in my veg box. This is not very realistic for solo me, because even if I bake with it, I'd need to consume like 2Tbsp butter/day. That seems unwise as a regular lifestyle choice. I did manage to bake+freeze a good old blueberry pie-cake to finish this one off though. No complaints about the taste or form or cute cow box; it is surely butter. Actually, maybe this is what give me a huge stomach ache?? Possible complaint. But probably not. Probably no complaints. I'll give it a 5 to be safe.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10 

Skinny Pop Avocado Lime Popcorn

Blergh! This stuff is cursed. I probably could have guessed from the flavor that I wouldn't love this, since lime+savory = tastes like Trix Cereal for me, 100% of the time. Here too. And it even has dextrose in, so it truly is SWEET LIME, and I hate hate hate to mix fruit + savory (possible exception = cranberry+turkey). But if you like, say, fiesta lime tortilla chips, come on down to experience intense fiesta lime flavor. The avocado oil doesn't really come through, so I'd be curious to try a not limey avo flavor to see what's up with that. But it doesn't seem to be contributing anything here. Other than the worse-than-plain taste, the texture is good, the ingredos are clean (and explicitly nut free, we love skinny pop for that), and the taste isn't actually bad (e.g. artificial or chemical), it's just sweet and that's not what I want on a popcorn. I wonder why I hate this and other people (including my dad, who is directly related to me) clearly seem to enjoy it. Weird. I'll still eat it though, I just will never buy again. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10 

Sour Patch Kids MVP Top Picks Mix

This isn't really a new product as much as it is a repackaging of existing product, except I've never had the cherry ones before so I got it to try those. One nice thing about the SPK life (as opposed to Haribo) is: they're way easier to bite, and the serving size is in pieces (9) instead of tablespoons (inscrutable). Lately I'm suffering from stomach issues, so maybe a bunch of sour candy is not the answer to that...but there's no milk or fat, so then again, maybe it is. Only time will tell! Anyway, here's what you get:

Cherries: these are really good. Cherry flavor with the usual sour dust. Something different! They're a little more onerous to chew because they are so big, so I'm glad it's not a full bag of them, but they're nice to break up the parade of kids. 7/10

Kids: normally I don't eat human-shaped foods, but I guess these are the (weird) exception. There is blue raspberry, orange, lime green, red that is probably cherry but tastes pretty different from the cherries cherry, yellow lemon (a highlight)... 7/10

Watermelons: Already discussed previously, these are pretty good and weirdly soft.  7/10

A pleasant assortment. The Star Mix of SPK. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10