Annie's Hidden Veggies - Cheesy Cheddar

It's so rare for "hidden veggies" to NOT be peas and beans and etc! Thank you, Annie. I'm in a hotel right now with no cooking implements, so any form of veggie is a plus, even if it's tiny amounts of squash powder flavoring a flat bunny cracker. Which this is. But even though it's flat and not that veg-y, the taste is good. Buttery and heavily seasoned. And the flat-ness is kind of a fun novelty. More fun than a traditional puffed goldfish (or cheddar bunny) shape. Or maybe I'm just in a good mood because I'm back on my "brain diet be damned" bs and sleeping 2 hours a day :)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Deluxe Rich & Creamy Shells Classic Cheddar Cup

There sure are a lot of iterations of easy macs! This is a good one though. It is indeed rich and creamy, and I like the shell shape. It doesn't give me a particular tummy ache. The biggest downside is the goop pack (lol) is super hard to open and you need scissors for it or a ton of luck. For a convenience meal, this is annoying!! It's also probably like, super bad for you or whatever. But it's comforting and quick. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's White Cheddar Macaroni

I've had so many disappointing Annie's noodles that I had low expectations for this, but I'm sick and this was on sale. And it exceeded my expectations! Cooked up fine, wet, taste was super mild, made my stomach gurgle (but not hurt (yet)), not allergic, really no complaints. Thanks, Annie's! Like Easy Mac but less tasty/smaller, but less achy too.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Spidey & Friends Mac & Cheese

I mean, who doesn't love mac and cheese? And the spidey theme is cute. The cheese here is paler than Kraft Dinner, and somehow that makes it taste less cheesy, which is either stupid OR it actually tastes less cheesy (I can't know for sure). It also wants you to put in a lot of milk and the butter is optional. I used butter but mine was still very wet, which I like but probably contributed to the less-cheesy-ness. I also added brocco. It was filling and decent but I do think I prefer a Kraft mac, sorry Annie.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Oven Baked White Cheddar & Shells Mac & Cheese

Listen, noodles and cheese is always good, OK? But this is annoying to make -- the oven!? -- and the ingredients do not mix well at all. Even though it seems to cook up fine, the mixing failure still annoys me. I added brocco to this and it was fine, glorpy and more glorp than cheese flavor, but fine. Filling if you eat 1/3-1/2 of the box, but IDK about 1/5 as a serving. I'm not mad about this, but I'm also not mad about it, yanno?

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Organic Bees, Bugs, and Butterflies Fruit Snacks

Aw, these are so thematic! The shapes are really cute, and you can truly smell and taste the honey in these! Honey is kind of weird in fruit snacks, though. But the firmness is just what I like, these aren't chewy but instead nice and firm/pliable. The taste is OK, even if the honey notes aren't my favorite. The three different flavors are different, but not different enough for me to rank them, really. They don't say it on the package but there are also bunny shapes in here, too! The four Bs!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Oven Baked Real Aged Cheddar Mac & Cheese

I thought this tasted pretty good (especially warm), but the 5 servings claim is a little false, since it turned out to be 2 servings for me (and 4 if I really pushed myself to be dainty). It's also really bad for you -- the nutrition info is for the package, not the prepared version! Mamma mia! And in the prep stage, although it was easy to make/cook, the ingredients didn't mix well in the dish (even though I followed the instructions to a T). Not that it seemed to matter in the end, at least. So, still pretty tasty, and I was looking forward to the leftovers, so that's got to be a good sign.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Original Cheddar Snack Mix

Confusingly, this is different from Annie's original snack mix. This one has cheddar powder on the bunnies and maybe the breadsticks. And there are also pretzels. It's a pretty generic savory crackersnack, but that's a good genre, and it seems to be nut free. So, a decent snack for when you're hungry for savory snacks (which is often, in my case).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Bunny Grahams - Birthday Cake

Annie's seems like they're on a bit of a marketing tear, since I'm seeing their stuff all over. I like most of it, though! These were better than expected: I usually don't like birthday cake flavored things, but luckily these really just tasted like vanilla flavored graham cookies. A good little snack.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Bunny Grahams - Neapolitan

Hmm. My first reaction upon opening the box was "oh no", because the strawberry scent is powerful. And the artificial smelling strawberry clashes with my idea of Annie's grahams. So at first I didn't like that flavor (though it's accurate, like strawberry ice cream) and I only liked the chocolate ones, which are a regular chocolate flavor. The vanilla is the majority of them, and those are OK but not my favorite. But ho! The strawberry ones grew on me, and they're the least common so I kind of liked those in the end. I still don't quite know how I feel about the mix, though. It's a lot -- maybe too much for this bunny.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Bunny Grahams - S'mores

There isn't a person alive who wouldn't like a cute little bunny shaped cookie, right? So I'm no exception. These are cute all right, and I exceeded the 31-cookie serving shamefully. Apparently you get chocolate, honey, and marshmallow flavored cookies. Well, the chocolate are obvious, and they are good. The honey and marshmallow look the same!!! I think the marshmallow is tastier, but they're hard to distinguish, honestly. As a clump these do taste good, but I don't particularly get "s'more". Just generic teddy graham vibe, But, it's still a good time.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [5$]
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Organic Confetti Pancake & Waffle Mix

These are cute, I can't deny that. I've only tried 'em as pancake so far, and I never really LOVED homemade pancakes, but they're OK. It makes about 8 pancakes (even though it says 12), and they came out fine, and the little sprinkles are cute and don't change the flavor much. Goes with syrup, a little bit boring plain. Very filling - I couldn't eat all 8 in one serving, maybe 2 servings would work. Quick to make and a fun change of pace; I'm curious to try the waffle form next.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies

I don't ID as an alcoholic, but I've been sober for 2 weeks and I'm starting to think my food reviews have verged too far into the "moping about my personal life" territory, so maybe there's some clarity popping up into my hind-brain. Or maybe I should crack open a nice wine tonight to pair with these cheese-adjacent crackers! Stay tuned!

OK so Annie's is a weird company because they seem really allergy friendly, but I think their rep is that they aren't great for it. Nevertheless, the box says "may contain soy", which makes me think it mayn't contain nuts. These are your basic bunny-shaped goldfish crackers, cheez-it crackers, cheddar penguin crackers, etc. The shape is cute, although a little less puffy than you might like in such a snack. The taste is an acquired one. I'd prefer a cheesier, powder-y-er snack, but these do have the oddly spicy burnt flavor that I've come to associate with cheez-its et al. It never was my favorite, but as I get older I can appreciate it a bit more. (I know cheez-its are a weird thing to age in to, unlike, say, sauerkraut, but it is what it is). One positive of these in particular is that a serving is 51 crackers, which is a lot of crackers. Takes forever to count out, but a little satisfying in an OCD way, too. Also, they're organic! I was brought up to not care about this, but a lot of people I respect really care about it, so I should probably try to form my own informed perspective on the issue at some point. Maybe next year!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Shells & White Cheddar Mac & Cheese

I love all noodles and cheese, but Annie's is honestly not any better than other noodles-and-cheeses, even though you'd think (or I'd think) it would be! This really was just not that good. I didn't use butter, but they didn't say you had to, so I don't blame me. It was gritty, and makes a good amount but also tasted really - artificial? Maybe that's just the white cheddar flavor, but it also made my ears itch and I plain didn't enjoy the experience. Kraft all the way, fam.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Friends Bunny Grahams

These are a classic Annie's snack, with reassuring allergy labelling (no nuts) and cute bunny shapes. They're basically Teddy Grahams but instead, bunnies. This is a mix of three sweet flavors: honey, chocolate, and choco chip. All are decent, although surprisingly in this mix I preferred the choco and then the honey, then choco chip, which doesn't match my typical cookie preferences. I think it's because those were the most identifiable flavors, since the flavors don't come through super strongly here. I'd say they're less sweet than Teddy G's, which is maybe good for health but not amazing for flavor. It might be that mixing the 3 types together sort of dilutes them - maybe they'd be more enjoyable on their own. Still a cute, fun, safe little snack, but not amazing for me.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Bunny Fruit Snacks - Summer Strawberry

Just like the berry flavor, these were also good and had a good texture. The flavor did indeed taste like strawberry, but I think I liked it a little bit less than the berry flavor, although it was fine.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Annie's Bunny Fruit Snacks - Berry Patch

I thought these were pretty good for gummies! They had that nice firm, pliable texture that I like, even though they were a little sticky and stuck together. Really eatable. The taste was fine, berry-esque, but the texture is the star here. Also they're cute bunnies.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Real Aged Cheddar Microwavable Mac & Cheese Cup

My boyf bought this because he's too classy for easy mac, but with my unrefined palate, I think I prefer Easy Mac to this. I do like Annie's as a company, but these noodles were just too....thin? And therefore tougher or chewier, even though I followed the directions. Otherwise the taste is similar to Kraft, and of course it's convenient and super fast to make. But honestly I still don't think it's worth it. Just get regular mac.





Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Annie's Cookie Bites - Chocolate Chip

These lil cookies are much tastier than the gluten-free everything-free cookies I often get from Enjoy Life, although they aren't as tasty as a fresh homemade cookie, of course. Even though they are like a small and slightly healthier Chips Ahoy with dark choco chips, they are still a good, sweet little snack. The flavor is unremarkable, the texture is crunchy but good, the packaging is reassuring about allergies. Not bad.






Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Annie's Snack Mix - Original

This was on super sale at my grocery store (1.44$!) so I got it. Then tonight I saw that mice(?) got into my food storage, eating over 100$ of food [RIP reviews for meat sticks, chips, cereal, coffee, water, cookies, and more]. But this box appeared unscathed. Eventually my hunger outweighed my ratphobia, so I gave it a try. This basically tastes like Chex Mix as far as the seasoning goes. The pretzels and two kinds of bunny all taste exactly the same. The buttery sticks are a little bit, well, buttery, in isolation, but not that different either. Apparently, what I've garnered from online reviews is that there was a previous version of this mix which didn't say "original" on it, that didn't have the garlic-rye-salty seasoning but was just plain. People seemed to like it much more, although that sounds a little boring to me. Anyway, since this was on sale, maybe they're returning to the original pre-original! Stay tuned. I probably won't get this unless it's on sale, although I do like annie's shapes and organicness and general nut free-ness.

Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 7/10
Mice found in box: 0