This was really sweet! (Like, sugary.) It reminded me of a dessert wine, even though it wasn't one. Pleasant. I do like the Georgian on the label, and the fact that this wasn't particularly tropical like most whites. It was more...grapey. As it should be!
Overall
Cost: 5/10 [18$]
Taste: 6/10
These are a fun a new shape -- like puffed scoopy bits. I guess they are the shape of a pepper? A chunky lil pepper. It's cute. They are indeed pretty spicy, for a chip type snack. Certainly not as hot as some actual peppers I've had, but that's a good thing, since I don't actually want to be in pain after eating. The taste is like a spicy BBQ flavor, with a little bit of tomato/smoke notes. It's OK, but I would prefer a plain cheesy (or spicy cheesy) vibe instead.
Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10
I do like the clear ingredients, fillingness, and fiber content of these bars in general, but this flavor isn't my favorite. It was very sticky/soft and I think pineapple and apple don't super mesh in flavor. Just like a lumpy tropical apple bar, I guess.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10
This is fine and good. The label is cute. I definitely do taste the jalepeno, plus a little salt/citrus vibe. It reminds me of the coating on jalepeno chips, mixed with ketchup. I think regular ketchup might be better, but maybe it depends what you put it on. Anyway, it's fine.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
Ah, I'm so scared I have a mustard allergy now since a dijon made me feel weird and lightheaded. Yellow mustard seems OK, but this spicy brown is in the grey area. I'm scared to eat it, but at the same time, I've had this a million times and not died. It tastes decent, weirdly smooth though.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
These were literally the only non-raw beef strips at my whole grocery store! Fajita flavor wasn't what I wanted, but the flavor wasn't too overpowering, so that was OK. And there's no soy/legume protein in these, so that's a good sign. But otherwise, these didn't really impress me -- they were easy to heat up on the stove and all, but they were also chewy, which was not great. One piece was all gristle. The taste was OK so I'd get these again if I were in a similar situation (in a rush for cooked steak strips), but if another option shows up I'd probably try that instead first.
Overall
Cost: 5/10 [5.99]
Taste: 6/10
Well, it sure isn't delivery. I only bought this because it was on sale, as is typical for frozen foods. This looked like a normal pizza in the pre-cooked phrase, but it's like 2000 calories! It tastes decent, the cheese is good/plentiful, but nothing earth shattering. When fresh I thought it was very similar to the school lunch slice pizza we had on Wednesdays in middle school, which was a special treat and the sauce was a uniquely weird flavor. I got the vibe less when it was reheated though, and to be honest it was less tasty reheated too. Alas.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
This is a fine wine, and I don't mean it's fancy! Pretty classic cab, with more tobacco notes than cherry, that's for sure. Acidic, too, but warming and comforting nonetheless. Pretty consistent across the day 1-3 spectrum.
I also enjoyed the steak salad pairing, which was more of an oil/vinegar/tomato salad in my iteration, but still good. The things my grocery store didn't have (ripe avos, tarragon, champagne vinegar, decent steak) didn't prevent it from being a posh and refreshing 4 meals for your girl!
I know, it's August, but k-cups know no calendar. These have a nice cocoa smell, like Hershey's Chocolate World. Tasty too, basically a standard hot chocolate which is quick and easy, so I like it. You can't taste the sucralose, but I do dislike that it's in the ingredients list, so I wouldn't buy these again just out of protest for that - otherwise no complaints.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
For a Pop-Tart, these were surprisingly good -- it actually tastes like banana bread! Really, that Bread flavor comes across: moist, dense, lightly-banana flavored bread. I wish there were more banana, but it's honestly impressive. The pop-tartiness is hardly present. Nice!
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
Hm. I'm really of two minds about these. On the negative side, the top of this bag is so perforated that it's fully open to the air -- you can smell inside and see inside and that makes me VERY worried about contamination etc. Super odd. But on the positive side, these were the cheapest fries at the store and tasted much better than the plain, tasteless McCain fries -- basically they taste like Arby's curly fries, but perhaps a little spicier and a little less soft/oily. Which is good. They're easy to cook and count out a single serving. Fun shape. I'm into it but the bag thing is really weird. I wonder if they're all like that.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
How many minis are there? I'm starting to overcome my "is this reese's puffs" fear with time, especially since I realised that big Kix are the same shape as Reese's Puffs (big) and I eat those plenty. Anyway, enough psychosis from me, on to the review. So unlike Lucky Charms proper, these corn balls are corn and not oat. They're a bit like mini kix, really, which I would love, except there's a bit of a bad, stale metallic aftertaste here. The marshmallows also don't jive as well. I'd much rather eat Kix or regular Lucky Charms. Maybe I just need to get used to it, but I dunno about this. I will say that the miniature marshmallow shapes are cute, at least.
Ah, Nutri-Grain, the breakfast bar that is neither nutri nor grain (OK -- just kidding, it's got grain, but surely not nutri). I hate beets but I was hoping the beet flavor would be subtle here, and boy, was it! I didn't taste a bit of beet. The filling is just a thin layer of very sweet blueberry goo. The crust is prominent. It tastes like a sweet, less healthy fig newton, which is fine but not exciting. I do like the idea of hidden veg though. There's some sketchy "vegetable juice/glycerin" ingredos which I hope are not peas, but so far so good. These are fine but I would never seek them out.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10
The reviews of these are extremely bad, so I was kind of scared to try this. But, soy-free meat and it was on sale! There's very little cheese in this, but it makes 3 400-calorie servings, so it's a good amount of food. In fact, so much that it barely fit in my 8x11 pan (and they said to use 8x8!!). Takes over an hour to cook, though. The taste was not very good, in fact. There's just too many little sausage orbs and white onion cubes, and the sausages have a bit of a floral taste. No soy, but the vibes are very off nevertheless. Kind of like a McDonalds hamburger or a goulash. The sauce is not very present, and the noodles are wet and floppy. There's no cheese to speak of, nor red pepper. It's filling enough but it is definitely not my ideal lasagna (take out the sausage/onion and it'd be a million times better though).
Update: the second serving of this was so hard to get through, even with cheese added and sausage picked around. I actually threw out the third serving. Really unpleasant vibe!
Overall
Cost: 5/10 (on sale for ~5$)
Taste: 4/10
This is a weird product. It looks kind of like cereal mush when you make it. And it comes with "crunchy topping" which you might think would just be little Cap'n Crunch pieces, but it isn't, it's small orbs that are a little bit like captain crunch but not crunchy. I was so scared there would be PB in this, especially with the red box, but I am still alive as of now. It's a small portion and a weird texture, and maybe I was just super hungry, but I kinda liked it. Maybe I like a little risk!
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
I'm a Sishaye stan for the IPA label, buut I think they're a product of Splash Wines (a weird BMG of wines), so I have mixed feelings. This is a solid wine, though. It was tart and fruity, and definitely better cold (true what they say about whites!). After just one day sitting, the increase in acidity was palpable, but it sort of plateaued there, so it was all right.
Overall
Cost: 5/10 [16$]
Taste: 6/10
I really don't like ranch, especially as a dipping sauce, so my biggest hope was that this would taste nothing like ranch. It does have a promising orangey color, and it smells a lil spicy. It also has tamarind in it, which is a terrifying looking legume, but apparently that's also in Sweet Baby Ray's so hopefully it is fine. The taste fortunately does not evoke ranch, although it is very creamy/eggy/milky/"warm". A bit like a spicy mayo. It's OK, looks pretty, and goes well with fries. It would go even better on some fried chicken for sure. I don't think I'd seek this out -- it's still cheese or ketchup (not both!!) for me, but it's decent and I'll use the rest of the bottle probably.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
I'm not sure what I thought would happen, but it turns out riced brocco is literally just brocco cut into little pieces. That is, there's no difference between diced brocco and riced brocco. So the infamous poem I wrote in college (rice me/ice me/dice me) is a little bit redundant. That said, this little bag was super easy to heat up, it makes a ton (like a full, full plate), and is only 60 cals! Plus, I like brocco! So this could very easily replace rice for me, even though it is literally not rice, but just little broccos. Sadly it was on sale for 1 dollar, so I am guessing it is about to not exist anymore (or at least not at my store). The main reason I get rice rice is because it's cheap, so if this costs 2$ or more, it's not really doing the job of rice, even though it's much healthier and easier to make. Sigh, woe, alas. I added peppers (cooked in oil/seasonings) to this and it was fine. Interesting product.
Overall
Cost: 7/10 (on sale for 1$)
Taste: 6/10
These are a classic, even though it looks like they contain some nasty fake sugars (now?). They're grandfathered in, and I haven't had any issues as long as I don't eat them like candy! These are a tasty mint. I like that they are individually wrapped and that they have a strong mint flavor, but you can chew them if you're about to interact with the people who you were eating a mint for in the first place. I bought a roll from a vending machine that was 2 years expired, ate one, and then bought a fresh bag to have around since I obviously need mints in my life. The store didn't have, like, single serve candy/gum/mints anywhere since they moved to self-checkout, which is weird and bad and confusing. Classic Acme. Anyway, these are fine as a replacement, I just have a whole lot of them! And they do have a strong smell, so it's best to keep them somewhere that a mint smell won't become a problem (I am still waiting to find that place in my house/car/office).
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
The bag doesn't actually call these fries, which is super weird. Surely there's no legal definition of Fry? Or if there is, surely these guys meet it?! Weird stuff at McCain's headquarters, which may or may not be a store brand, I'm not sure. I got these because they were the cheapest fry, and I don't really like fries so I figured it wouldn't make a difference. I do think there is a difference though. First, the shape and size is good: they're skinny fries and some short some long. The calorie count is also more reasonable than other fries (about 450 for half the bag). But the flavor is really lacking, even for plain fries. I think it needs more salt?? Or some sort of seasoning or more oil or something. The skin is thick, but flavorless. Alas. I prefer the checkers fries and will go elsewhere next time unless the price differential is really shocking.
Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10
Like many mayo-based sauces, this is quite fatty. It also only lasts 1 month after buying, unless I had very bad luck with expiry dates. So I don't love the vibe here (although the bottle is cute). I also don't love mayo because I hardly ever have sandwiches at home so IDK what to do with stuff like this. I'm trying to get into fries, but even so. This tasted like a creamy garlic spread, but not in a way that I'd want to eat it on its own, and I actually have no idea what it'd be good for. On fries, I didn't love it, and definitely prefer ketchup. Maybe with sweet potato fries it would be tastier. Still, this is a 'no thanks' from me (but no nuts ey).
Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 5/10
Ooohhh Mama Celeste, something changed within you...something is not the same. Apparently this happened back in 2018 (which is probably why I haven't bought one of these since then) but I totally forgot that they got rid of the heating circle and changed the cooking instructions. The result is a totally not crispy crust, but not soft either, just styrofoamy. It's very much like eating one big, flat, bagel bite. Which is OK, but not what I prefer given how Celeste used to be (tasty!!). The cheese also has "fake cheese" as the first ingredient (which is like, potato flakes, water, oil?) and you can kinda tell the cheese isn't fully real cheese. The zest seems to be mostly oregano on top, maybe some pepper or onion/garlic, but nothing super strong. This was on sale, which is good because otherwise I'd have been disappointed. As it is, I just yearn for the old days.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
I bought this on sale, and I can see why it was that way. I did use the microwave, which is probably the least tasty prep, but also there's a weird plasticcy taste which I think would be there regardless. It's also spicy, so that's disconcerting. Smells kinda bad too. Upon eating, there were bites I liked -- the texture is good, firm and wet, and some bites even reminded me of chinese food broccos for that. But the seasoning isn't quite my bad. Spicy but also...sweet? And tomato/BBQ vibes? It's weird. I wish this was just spice and not the other stuff.
Overall
Cost: 5/10 (if not on sale)
Taste: 5/10
My god, not only are there so many cereals, but there are so many maple/honey flavored cereals! I hate maple flavor, so I much prefer the non-maple raisin bran. This just tastes strongly of artificial maple flavoring to me. After some time soaking in milk, it gets better, but only because the flavor is muted a bit. The core cereal is still good, and raising remain the best part. It's OK to eat because Raisin Bran is a top tier cereal, but the maple is definitely to its detriment. (Don't ask why I bought this....I do it for you, in case you have a nut allergy, now you know it's safe! :P)
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
I think this is from 2021, but the bottle doesn't make it very clear, and because I got sent this by mistake (instead of a way cuter ladybug-themed red, woe) I have no way to confirm. Despite all that mystery, this is a solid wine. Sweet, thin, tropical fruit vibes but not extremely so. Light pineapple/papaya notes. Holds up for 3 days.
Overall
Cost: 5/10 [15$, supposedly]
Taste: 6/10
This is solid yogurt! Plain flavor, thick, and comes with 3 servings which is a good number for me. Good with cherries. Probably good with berries. I'm a bit scared it'll go bad now it's open, but the internet assures me I have 1-2 weeks! We shall see.
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
These are in the Cheeto mold, and they were OK, but definitely not worth 8$ a bag!! The texture is a little bit foamy for my preference, and the taste is a light "white cheddar" flavor (similar to the normal Pirate's Booty puffs, which I think I prefer to these). It seems like a "healthy" version of cheese curls, but I'm not sure if it even is healthier. I also don't know how many is a serving. Many complaints, but it's a fine snack, just nothing special.
Overall
Cost: 3/10
Taste: 6/10
Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10
