Undercover Chocolate Quinoa Crisps - Dark Chocolate + Blueberries

And with this, I've finally finished my "trendy nut free snack" excursion (for the time being)! These are pretty different from the cherry ones in that you can't perceive the blueberries at all. They are texturally indistinguishable from the plain dark choco ones (a plus), but without the sea salt (a minus, it turns out). I guess there is a mild blueberry flavor, but if I weren't looking for it, I'd probably just think it's the fruity notes of the choco. So perhaps my ranking is: milk > salt > blueb > cherry. (Whereas my non-Undercover ranking is probably the exact opposite!!) 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 

Stouffer's Sides - Cheddar Bacon Potatoes

The idea of this doesn't appeal to me overmuch, but that's probably because most "bacon" of this type is just soy protein. According to the ingredos, this product is soy free, and it's just normie bacon in there. This is also a brick of 4.5 servings (to that I say: lol, but it is probably 2-3). The reviews are weirdly high. You cook it in the microwave, so you know it's haute cuisine. 

The taste is mainly breadcrumb, which is fine, I like breadcrumb. Some small bacos, some cheese crust, and yeah, theoretically, potato cubes. High goop factor. I don't know if it's worth raving about, but it's unobjectionable. I wouldn't serve it at a party but I'd eat it. 

Overall
Cost: 3/10 [8$]
Taste: 6/10 

New York Bakery Texas Toast - Original

Some of my best friends are ready in 4-10 minutes! I haven't had garlic bread in forever, for various reasons. But a wee slice of this was nice. Not as nice as a cheesy one, or, dare I say, a regular french bread loaf, but we can't be too picky, can we? I continue to appreciate the twistie-tied bag that allows for 1-slice servings. It is garlic bread, with all that entails.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10 

Oat Haus Cookie Dough Granola Butter

Whew, it's a good thing I had the darker Red Velvet flavor first, because this is a VERY SCARY tan color. But it's safe....it's safe...

I like cookie dough more than red velvet cake, so I also prefer this flavor. The texture is still very gritty, although this one was more liquidy and less stiff. It does have a cookie dough flavor, but with some added "oil and oats" notes, which makes sense because those things are in it and wheat flour and eggs(?) and butter(?) aren't. In college my besties and I used to buy a tube of Pillsbury cookie dough from TroGro (now a Starbucks, one of many tragedies occurring at my once beloved alma mater) and just eat it. Those were the days. But that tube dough was much tastier than this jar dough. Perhaps if I'd never had the tube dough, I'd rate it higher. Or perhaps if I were eating eat out of this jar with three age-matched peers who indulged my no-double-dipping request. Really makes you think.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [13$]
Taste: 6/10 

Eggo Buttermilk Pancakes

You may know I have about 5 food-related complaints of late, and one of them is that they simply stopped making frozen French Toast. Nowhere to be seen! Well, it turns out the same is true of frozen pancakes, except waffle-makers Eggo have stepped in there (before or after the end of Frozen Pancake, I don't know). Who used to make them? I think Pillsbury, maybe the company now known as Pearl Milling Company, maybe someone I'm forgetting? Anyway, now Eggo is all there is. But that's fine, you say, they're Kellogg's, that's all fine. Ah! But! Another top complaint is that everyone is adding PEA PROTEIN to everything, and so too are Eggo's frozen pancakes PROTEINIFIED with LEGUME!! Not these, but almost every other one is. It seems rife for cross-contam issues, especially since it's not even a Top 9 Allergen (Y E T). So I can't enjoy these in peace. Also, they taste very mid. And they squash together in a mush when you cook them. But as a vessel for butter/toppings I guess they do the job. Always my least favorite of the big 3 frozen breakfast breads, anyway.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10 

Undercover Chocolate Quinoa Crisps - Milk Chocolate

Finally, the answer to that age old question: what's more delicious, salt, cherries, or milk? Shockingly, the answer is still salt. I would have thought milk choco would win over dark 100% of the time, but I guess with quinoa in the picture, that is false. These are fine, but rather than tasting like milk chocolate, they mostly taste like watery quinoa. No, I will not elaborate further. It is still a pleasant snack, but for the nutrition on these guys I'd rather have a cookie. Or chocolate proper. I guess it is marginally approximating a Crunch Bar/Krackel (is that how you spell it?) but it's been like, 25 years since I've had one, so I can't be sure.

Update: upon reflection, I miss Crunch Bar/Krackel very much, so maybe that notches these above Salt, actually. [In a "hug your loved ones while you can" voice:] eat delicious candies while you can, blog fans!!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 
Memories of Crunch Bar and/or Krackel: 9/10

Dunkin' Mint Chip K-Cups

My favorite ice cream flavor and my favorite big box coffee brand, together at last! What could go wrong? Well, as always, it's the artificial flavor of it all. I think I could ID artificial flavor like a medical alert dog and I'm not even joking. That said, this is pretty good for what it is. The smell is great, and the flavor is good enough to almost begin to compensate for the horrible artificiality. More chocolate than mint, honestly. It smells just like a cacao roller :9

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10