Kettle Brand Chips - Country Style Barbeque

I bought these on Amazon Prime Pantry to fill up a box, and I expected good things because I like BBQ chips and also Kettle brand is nut free but like, substantial and fun. Sadly, they were not that tasty. I, like a classic me, ate the entire bag in one sitting, which I regret for many reasons, but mainly because they weren't that good. Not sweet enough, too smoky and too crunchy. I got bad heartburn afterwards also (not a surprise). The bag wasn't like, family size, but it wasn't individual size either. Anyway, I would get a different type next time and hopefully practice more moderation as well. I love chips.



Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Laffy Taffy

What's a type of bagel and what you deserve? Everything. That's a wholesome joke from a laffy taffy. How can you not love them? Plus they are nut free, like most Wonka things. I've always liked Laffy Taffy, even since I got them as a ticket prize from my local minigolf place/arcade as a tiny babby. Unfortunately, this recent batch of them was melted so they really stuck to the wrappers, which was annoying. I could have tried putting them in the fridge, I guess, but I didn't do that. They were still chewy and juicy, and with good flavors. The strawberry is unique, the grape is good for grape, the banana is so unique and the one that makes me the most deeply nostalgic, and the apple was always my favorite one (and the rarest one). All are tasty.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Land O'Lakes Cocoa Classics - French Vanilla

Like the mint flavor, this was also good! It was sweet but not overly so, nice and creamy, tasted like marshmallow cocoa or I guess french vanilla! but not in a bad artificial vanilla way like some coffee flavorings. Nice and warm and easy to make. Delightful stuff.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Crispy Fruit - all pear

First of all, can I just say that I've never seen such a round pear as the picture on this bag? Apparently it's an Asian Pear, which is new to me. Anyway, that's all that's new to me, because I think I'm possibly getting weary of Crispy Fruit. This wasn't bad, per se, and the texture is good (crispy!), but the taste is just so "eh". It's like dried fruit and that's all, no other notes or sensations. Zzz.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 4/10

SunRype fruit source - Strawberry

A ha! Just plain strawberry! I think that this is my top flavor yet; I like the strawberry and it was so hot outside that it was a bit softer to eat than it normally is, which was nice. It was a good and filling (120 cals!!) snack, but it did have a lot of sugar and not many nutrients, and now that I know about Built Bars these are kind of "yikes" to me in comparison, nutrition wise.



Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Just Crack an Egg - Rustic Scramble

This was decent, I guess it's part of the new 4-flavor expansion of the "Just Crack an Egg" line! I did a crazy thing and added two eggs instead of one to this, because I was hungry, and it worked out fine (i.e. I didn't vom or die). This had a fairly mild light cheese and sausage flavor, perhaps because of the two egg thing, but I enjoyed it.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Yoplait Whips - Dunkin' French Vanilla Latte

Of the three Dunkin' yogurts I got to try, this was most certainly the best. Maybe that's because it's whipped, which is a fun texture. I thought this actually tasted (and smelled) like a pleasant coffee dessert. Yum.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Built Bars

It's not like protein bars are something I'm crying over not being able to have (they don't seem that delicious, and I'm not a gym gal), but when I heard about these totally nut and soy free protein bars I was super pumped. They also have fiber and not that much sugar, even though they taste sweet. So for those times when I'm starving and pressed for time, this is really useful! The downside is, I keep hearing that they are thinking about trying a peanut butter flavor, which means I'd probably stop purchasing (even though they insist it'd be a different facility, I'm still too anxious). I also ordered during the summer and they came totally melted which was less than ideal. For now, though, I am still a pretty big fan. Here are some of the many flavors I've tried so far.

Vanilla Chocolate Creme: This was way chewier than I expected! Possibly because it did melt and reharden, but I'm not sure. Otherwise it had a good vanilla/milky slightly sweet flavor, not too weird, the chocolate coating is good, just messy and very chewy. I had this from the fridge but maybe I should try the freezer. 7/10

Raspberry: This was basically exactly the same - like a raspberry chocolate but very chewy. Still good. 6/10

Orange: I enjoyed it, I ate this during a time of great parental stress and so it was extra filling. Tasted orangey and chocolatey, nothing weird. 7/10

Mint Chocolate Creme: Normally I like Mint Chocolate but the idea of this one didn't appeal to me for the longest time. Finally I ate it and it was good, like a less sweet/intense peppermint patty but chewy. But the aftertaste/smell is kind of like rotting garbage, IDK if it's just my mouth right now or if it was the bar. So I'm still hesitant on this one, but it tasted just fine in the moment. 6/10

Banana: Solid and banana-y, I liked it. 7/10

Strawberry: Yikes, what happened here? Mine was open a tiny bit at the end so maybe that's somehow a factor (perhaps I shouldn't have eaten it, lol @ me), but I really didn't like the taste of this one. It was very chemical/artificial, and a bad aftertaste too. 5/10

Salted Caramel: This wasn't a bad taste or super weird, but that fact that it's not actually a caramel made this one feel a little odd to me, I think I prefer the fruit flavors to this. 6/10

Coconut: Lovely, this tastes like coconut. One of the winners. There was even a little coconut grit in there (so rare for these bars!). 7/10

Double Chocolate Mousse: This was definitely better than I'd expected, it really tastes like a chocolate candy bar, with a good candy flavor and not a chocolate cake flavor. Nice. Made me a little queasy afterwards, perhaps because I'm eating one of these like every day, but it's in my top tier as well I believe. 7/10

Black Cherry: This begins my second shipment, which was not melted!! So the bar is cohesive, which was fun and made it better for me psychologically. I think it tasted pretty decent too, like a cherry cordial. 6/10

Lemon: This was nice and lemony and refreshing, the taste was good, but a bit of a weird/itchy aftertaste. 6/10

Banana: This was one of my favorite flavors, a nice strong banana, but unfortunately since the addition of nut flavors none of this matters any more. 7/10
 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [36$ for 18 bars ish]
Taste: 7/10

Land O'Lakes Cocoa Classics - Mint

A fun idea, single serve hot chocolate flavor packs! I thought this was really good, and blissfully nut free. It was creamy, a little minty, with a good balance of flavors between chocolate, milk, and mint. It tasted a lot like a nice peppermint mocha latte minus the coffee. Very fun.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Zego Just Fruit Bar - Pear

I've had a lot of fruit leather/fruit bars by now, and while I don't hate any of them, a lot of them are basically the same. This one is also a fairly standard fruit bar, in my opinion. It tastes decent, and I like that it has fiber in it, but the flavor/texture are nothing special.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

2017 Six Hats Cabernet Sauvignon

Six hats? That's too many hats! This was decent; drinkable and I like the hat and the screwtop of courses. This definitely had a sharp wine flavor -- dry, I guess? -- I did drink it all, but I got a minor headache, which is alright. There was a bit of cherry flavor but not as much as some reds I've had. I was supposed to have this with "frites" so I had curly fries from Arby's and they were great. :P

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10
Hats: 6/6

Starburst Minis - Sours

These were small and fun. The shape of the pieces was pretty different from what I'd expected; they're like bits of gum or chiclets instead of mini starburst-like squares. They smell good. I don't know if I'd had regular sour starburst, so I'm not totally sure which flavors are my favorites since they're so small. The blue one tastes like "blue flavor", it's good. Green is watermelon, which is very fun and unique for candy. There's two pinks, one of them is like strawberry, and pretty similar to regular starburst strawberry (light pink), which is solid. The other one is cherry, I think, and it's a little medicinal so I don't love it. Anyway, most of the flavors are good, with maybe one dud.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

homefree - lemon burst mini cookies

This is definitely my favorite kind of the homefree cookies! They don't taste "weird" at all, just like nice somewhat sweet and very lemony lemon-butter cookies. They are crunchy and cute looking. I'm a big fan of these, and I think I would be even if I didn't care about the allergy-free-ness, which is quite a feat for these types of foods!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

2018 Nexo Rioja

I wish I had a better recollection of the 2016 edition of this bad boy, so I could compare them, but I bet this was pretty similar. Maybe a tad more enjoyable, even. It was a good red wine, tastes like cherries, and I didn't get any cork in there this time. Probably would taste good with proscuitto, if I had some.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [18$]
Taste: 6/10

2017 Latue Blanco

This wine had a fancy looking bottle, which was fun. It tasted good. I liked the screw top. I couldn't find much info about it online, it seems Spanish but it had a French and Japanese label, which is a bit odd. It tasted nice and dry and sweet, and didn't burn or taste acidic or anything gross. Just a very pleasant and light white wine. I was supposed to make cinnamon french toast, but I couldn't find any nut-free challah or safe bread at all. I found some challah online (at Greene's bakery), but that's a project for another day. And this wine went fine with cinnamon rolls (my backup French Toast).




Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Made Good Strawberry Crispy Square

Sadly this was not that great. I think the plain flavor is better. The texture is fun, but the taste is a bit off from expectations -- not like marshmallow but more of a weird strawberry granola cereal taste.



Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

InnovAsian General Tso’s Chicken Rice Bowl

Dude, I love this. It's perfect. Tiny, but tastes just like the big General Tso's, with bonus rice and broccoli and red pepper. Can't go wrong!

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [3.50 a bit high for the quantity]
Taste: 9/10

InnovAsian Beef & Broccoli Rice Bowl

OK, I love the big family-size (aka me size) Innovasian meals, but they don't come with rice and are also like 1400 calories. So this meal for one is cheaper, healthier, and faster, plus it's the same amount of delicious. It was really good, just like all their stuff - but small. Like 3 pieces of meat. But the meat and sauce are good. Veg are just "OK". I love this and wish my local grocery carried it, instead I gotta hit up the Wal-Mart by my parents' house 2 hours away!



Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Sweet Maple Cafe

Another nut-free destination for me! The owner has nut and fish allergies, which are my allergies, so that's pretty awesome. This was a fun place, there was a big line but luckily we got there early in the day so it wasn't too bad. I got blueberry pancakes and they were tasty, but lots of food (I got two and shoulda just got one). I also got one egg on the side which was amazing, lol. The coffee was good but they kept refilling it constantly so it was too hot to drink much! But overall, a really great place, like sinclairs but safe. Wowow.




Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Frío Gelato

This was probably the pinnacle of my Chicago trip, which if you are a nut allergy trago you might understand. Nut free gelato!!! In a regular store, in a cone, at the pier!!! What!!! And it tastes great, just like regular ice cream/gelato must taste. I wish with all my heart I could go to a place like this whenever I wanted, but I guess it's good for my weight or whatever. (I don't even believe that, I just eat frozen meals sadly instead).

So: gelato! They have vanilla and chocolate cones, both are good and don't really taste that different. I got trifondo which was like, caramel and chocolate and vanilla, and it was tasty and sweet and lovely. Then I got raspberry and marscapone, which is probably my favorite flavor. I also tried the cafe con leche, which was "fine" but not my favorite. Sadly then I had to leave the time zone so I could only try three flavors, woe. All were so fun and creamy and melty and great. I love you, frio gelato.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (IDK, maybe 7 dollars each? Who cares)
Taste: 9/10

Honey Maid Graham Crackers

Graham crackers are a pretty classic/basic snack, and they seem to be nut free! I associate them with S'mores but they're not bad on their own. A little but of cinnamon sugar flavor, and honey, but not overwhelming. A good, sweet, and tasty snack.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10