Sunsweet Chopped Dates

I bought these to put in a fancy grilled cheese, and they were surprisingly good and sweet and chewy and classy. It's been a few months, but having stored these in the fridge, they now taste quite different. Very firm, not chewy, and mostly pliable white sugar blocks. Are they safe to eat? I hope so. I would bake with them (assuming I don't projectile vomit in the near future) but I don't think I'd snack on them once opened, because they basically don't taste like fruit anymore.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Swoffle - French Vanilla

Ah, unfortunately this was 2 months expired, even though the expiration date claimed to be in 2023 when I bought it. Extremely shady practices. But I assume it was safe, so I ate it. However, the texture was weird. Really soft/bendy and also crumbly. Not what I was looking for, but I don't know if it is because it was expired or because it's gluten free and that's what happens. I appreciate that it's nut free, of course, but damn, I wish they would just put some gluten in there! Otherwise, the taste was pleasant and sweet: caramel and vanilla, as advertised. More research needed on the Swoffle. But I support the mission.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

2016 Château Grand Jean Bordeaux

O, wine, let me whine for a moment. I'm currently SOBER while I wait on the results of a scary biopsy. Because I want to be able to say "I didn't cause this malignancy with my habits and behaviors" if it is malignant. I know that doesn't quite make sense, but it's what I'm doing, OK? Anyway, I'm not quite an alcoholic, but I do like drinking and I miss it. So this bottle was from a while ago is the point of this story. I also can't access the tasty looking beef stew recipe I'm meant to pair this with! What CAN I do, blog? Well, I can tell you that I thought this was a solid red wine. It was "strong", i.e. it had a bold flavor, and a good thickness to it. No complaints (about the wine).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Quaker Rice Chips - Tangy Barbecue

These were decent! Quaker rice cakes are pretty tasteless, but also filling and low cal. This was quite flavorful as far as the burnt-sweet-BBQ powder, which I liked, so although the underlying chip was probably bland, that doesn't matter too much. They aren't super duper healthy or filling, but compared to a Dorito or something, I feel better about these. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Hormel - Dinty Moore Beef Stew (microwave bowl)

I ate this 1 hour ago and I'm still feeling weird about it. Weird because even though it made no mention of peas, what if there's peas in it? And weird because honestly this smelled so weird. It smelled like World War II. (I can say this because my grandpa was there and I have smelled his war smelling items.) It was also weirdly oily. But only 200-some calories? What is happening in this 1-minute-cook-time room temperature-storing stew?! It has carrot (fine) potato (fine) and beef (a little dry, but fine) in some oily beef broth (couldn't eat this part, less fine). It was fine. Decently filling. Very convenient. But the aftertaste is a lil bit funky. I didn't die, it seems, so I might get this (or another Hormy) again, but I don't think I will, because it was pretty weird. I didn't grow up with this genre of ready meal! I am not ready!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Partake Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies

Listen, I like a pre-portioned snack pack as much as anyone, but this literally had 3 dime-size cookies in it. And the cookies didn't even taste good!! Is this something worth limiting the size of? Hardly. They weren't offensive or anything, just a bit like tiny cardboard circles. And, as always, they should give me more of those bad things. Hmph.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Old El Paso Restaurant Style Flour Tortillas (Grande)

Yikes, grande is right. These are simply too big for my needs. Also, every time I've eaten one lately, I've gotten very sick, although I assume that's from the filling I used (oily rice; egg salad). I wish I had, like, some chicken or something, but of course I don't and that's why I'm buying massive tortillas. They taste like the usual flour tortilla, I guess - a little 'off' taste for me, maybe I should heat them first. But I'm so lazy. Also, I still haven't gotten the knack of folding these, even with the instructions on the back! My "rolling" step is always not-enough-rolls. As you can see, I'm having a lot of problems over here. But if you love huge burritos, I'm sure these are great.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10