Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips

First of all, the website says these don't come in 1oz bags, but mine was 1oz, so now I'm confused and worried I ate some super old chips. Regardless, salt and vinegar is really not my favorite flavor, but these were still good. They are certainly very crunchy (firm, kettlechip-y) and smell like vinegar. They have a decent blend of both salt and vinegar, and plenty of bite. If you're a salt and vinegar fan, go for these! In general, the company says all their chips are a peanut and nut-free line, which is great because a lot of kettle chips (Dirty, Utz) are made with peanut oil. That gets these guys a few extra points in my book.



Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Sharwood's Korma Simmer Sauce

I'm not very experienced with Indian food, because I have the (possibly wrong) opinion that it often contains nuts or legumes. So I have nothing "authentic" to compare this to, not even takeout. That being said, I've made chicken korma with this sauce a few times, and I think I like it. It's definitely a different flavor profile than I'm used to, though! The sauce is creamy and spicy, but not hot-spicy (the bottle says mild and that's certainly true), more like cinnamon and cardamom and other gingerbread-cookie-ish spices. Which is weird to me in a savory food, but once you get over that mental hurdle, it's legit. This makes a very large amount, by the way; I usually use 2 chicken breasts, half a package of mushrooms, and a cup of rice, and I still have a lot of sauce leftover. I do like this and I hope to someday branch out into some other dishes, maybe even actually spicy ones!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna

Mmm. OK, so, like Elaine in Seinfeld, I don't think of Vegetable Lasagna as being very exciting. But this is way better than any other frozen lasagna I've had, vegetable or no. I do like regular lasagna, but it's not as delicious. This sucker is a dense rectangle of maybe 3 lasagna noodles, cheesy creamy sauce, a few carrots (but they don't even taste like carrots, they taste like the good sauce), possibly bits of brocco or squash or spinach but really all you can taste is noodle and sauce. And a little crispy breadcrumb topping. It's pretty great. It's probably not great for you, but hey, there must be some veg in there! It's about 400 calories and takes an unfortunately long time to cook (maybe 12 minutes) even in the microwave. On the plus side it always comes out well, good texture, a lil crispy but not burnt, and very moist. I try not to buy frozen meals too often (ha ha) but if this is on sale I'll always pick it up, it's a classic!

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Nature's Bakery Fig Bars

Check out this trendy new packaging! Anyway, these fig bars are solid. I'm not sure when they came out, but I first noticed them in the ~healthy~ section of my grocery store about 5 years ago, and since they were nut free and about a dollar (the single-serve option is a mega plus) I picked up a variety of flavors. Bear in mind that all the flavors are still fig flavors, but with other things there too. So these are like dolled up thick Fig Newtons. If you like that aesthetic, you'll probably like these. They're 200 calories for the two bars in each package, and so they make a filling little snack on-the-go. I see they also make brownie bar things too, which I will have to check out! They have a separate gluten-free line which is not very tasty, so I'm glad they kept it separate. And everything they make (at least that I've seen so far) is nut free!

My favorites are probably apple cinnamon, lemon, and solo fig, but they're all decent. Blueberry is good too!

Raspberry: These are also good! You can definitely taste the raspberry, which is nice. Like the raspberry jam PepFarm cookies, but in a fig bar. 7/10

Apricot Peach: These too are good! They don't strike me as especially good in the moment, kind of a mild flavor, not much fig flavor either, but I sure do crave them anyway. I dropped half of one and it basically ruined the rest of my day. Orange wrapper is pretty, too. 7/10

Pumpkin Spice: Ooh, this is a special seasonal edition that I got on Target.com. It really does have the pumpkin spice flavor to it, which is definitely a special and unique fig bar flavor. It smells like a dense spiced pumpkin cake, extra dark. Good, but I probably would burn out of these if I had them often, so I'm happy it's a rarity (and that I got to sample it!). More of a dessert than a brekkie. 8/10

 

Strawberry: Finally tried this flavor! It's good. Made a nice change of pace after months of blueberry (zzz) and apple cinnamon (good but still zzz). Do they even make lemon anymore? Anyway, the strawberry flavor is quite mild; it's very fig forward. But I like fig. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Moe's Southwest Grill

At first I hated it because of the dumb names they give all their food options (named after mostly bro-y TV and movie lines), but I will say that they have more options than your Chipotle or even your Qdoba, and they give you free chips + a salsa bar raid with every order. Now, are the chips + salsa good? No, they're terrible, soft, and tasteless, but they are free, which I appreciate. Also they give you just a little guac, which might sound bad but I think calorie-wise it's a plus.

The contents are your standard non-cilantro'd rice, meats (a little flavorless, especially the chicken, but they have decent steak and they offer ground beef), beans, fajita veg (plus mushroom, a nice touch!) and tasty queso that costs extra and also is terrible for you. Plus corn/salsa/lettuce etc. The flavor isn't as good as chipotle, especially the rice, corn, salsa, and meat, but when it's all mixed together it's still decent and very filling. So I don't hate it any more. I wish they all offered breakfast, though. A breakfast option would shoot any Tex-Mex chain up to a 10/10 instantly :9

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Yum Earth Organic Lollipops

So, these lollipops really get around in the gluten-free/organic/whole foods sector, but they're also nut free, and therefore I am interested in them. From YumEarth (originally called Yummy Earth -- good change, I think), these come in a bunch of different flavors, but each pop is about 70 calories and a nice size.

They are also made with real fruit extract, but like....it's still a lollipop. Health food this is not.

The flavors (at least as of now) are: Strawberry, Grape, Mango, Peach, Berry, Pomegranate, Watermelon, and Cherry. I like the Cherry, Grape, and Peach best, they all have bright, strong flavors. The berry is fine, but I'm not really sure which berry it's supposed to taste like. Maybe the always mysterious blue raspberry? The pomegranate, strawberry, and watermelon are OK, but not amazing. Mango is the prettiest colors (yellow and gold!) but it's not as good as the others. The nice thing about these is that they're pretty easy to buy both online and in stores, and they aren't super expensive even though they're gluten-free/organic/etc. A nice treat for the common folk, if you will. I'm happy to have a few of these a month; they're a nice sweet treat that doesn't make you feel like I-just-ate-a-box-of-oreos garbage.

Sour Apple Tart: So this is a flavor I had never seen before, but I got one and it had the (very very old?) YummyEarth labelling. However, it's a freakin' lolly, so I ate it regardless of the fact that it was probably 5+ years old. And it was good! Probably the best of the flavors -- not too sweet, just a nice strong sour apple, kind of like a Jolly Rancher. Alas, I'll probably never have it again. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Minis - Snickerdoodle

I see that these aren't actually called "cookies" on the package, which is apt since they aren't cookies as much as little crumbly spheres! But I digress. Enjoy life makes a lot of nut free snacks, which I appreciate, but I think they are also a top-8 allergen free company, which I appreciate on a solidarity level but on a taste level, not so much. Still, considering what they're working with, these are a pretty solid snack. They are soft and cute little orbs with an unfamiliar 'spicy' note to them, which I am assuming is the konjac in there, since I haven't had it in anything else (but I am not allergic, now I know!).

They have a nice flavor overall; not too sweet but with a nice cinnamon aftertaste. Not too crumbly, even though they aren't anywhere near as soft as a "real" cookie. For 100 calories this is a pleasant snack that virtually anyone can enjoy, so I approve.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10