Comments (2)

By Emily, August 7, 2010 9:15 pm

On Wednesday I was hanging out at Target, looking for clothes for the Healthy Living Summit and presents for my friends’ new baby and generally wasting time because it’s summer, when I stumbled upon these (presumably new) Fruit Roll-Ups Simply Fruit fruit rolls.

At first, I was excited, because Brian and I are big fans of Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Bars (also known as fruit leather).  Since TJ’s is over an hour away, we have to ration them and once we’re out, we’re out for a while.   It’s a sad existence we live, being so far from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods (having so many awesome local farms helps though).  Anyway, it would be awesome to have a fruit bar substitute.

But then I thought, there’s no way these can be decent.  It’s a marketing scheme preying on the “natural food” movement.  However, the ingredient list didn’t disappoint:

And the taste was pretty darn good, too!  Don’t get me wrong, these are not Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Bars.  They’re fruit roll-ups, but I’m sure for a lot of people that’s a good thing.  They have the same texture and stickiness as the fruit roll-ups I used to take to elementary school for snack.  Actually, they’re not as good as the fruit roll-ups of my youth because there aren’t any shapes to peel off the sheet.  Am I the only one who actually did that?  Apparently Brian just ignored the cut outs and ate the roll-up whole.  I say that’s no fun.  The fruit bars from Trader Joe’s are thicker and less sticky, but these are rather tasty.

Would I buy them again?  Probably.  I’m always looking for quick snacks I can grab on my way out the door.  I’d still choose Trader Joe’s, but if I had to have something from the “fruit snack department” of the supermarket, this isn’t a bad pick.

In a related matter, has anyone actually made their own fruit leather?  I’ve seen a couple blogs with recipes and I want to try it, but a lot of the recipes have you set the oven at 150° and our oven doesn’t go that low, so I’m not sure if it would work.

Disclaimer: Relishments has no connection with General Mills or Fruit Roll-Ups.  I paid for the product myself out of personal interest in trying it.

Comments (1)

By Emily, June 25, 2010 11:28 am

I’m just a girl who can’t say no.  At least, to free food.  So when FoodBuzz contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I’d like to try one of Buitoni’s new premium frozen meals for 2…for free, I said yes.  Sure, frozen dinners aren’t something we consume often around here, but I figured one night of processed food wouldn’t kill us.

Brian and I decided to try the Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli with Garlic Butter Sauce, because if you’re going to buy a frozen meal, you may as well get something more interesting than cheese or chicken.  The preparation was incredibly simple (one of the purposes of a frozen meal).  The box contains a package of sauce and a good number of ravioli.  You fill a pot with water, add the pouch of sauce and bring the water to a boil.  Then you add the pasta to the boiling water with the plastic bag of sauce floating in it and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove the sauce packet, drain the pasta, toss the pasta with the sauce and serve.

First, the bad:

• According to the box, the package contains a complete meal.  Maybe it’s just me, but I like to have more than just pasta and sauce as my meals.  Like, a vegetable, perhaps.  We added a side of spinach.
• There was more sauce than I would’ve liked and it was really thick.
• The ravioli wasn’t very flavorful and some of the seafood pieces were a little chewy.
• I wasn’t real happy with the nutrition facts.  That’s a lot of fat, cholesterol and sodium.  Luckily, Brian and I have been subsisting on a lot of salads lately.  You can decide how you feel about them for yourself though (click to enlarge).

Second, the good:

• The garlic butter sauce was yummy and added a lot of flavor to the dish.  And better too much than not enough, right?
• There was definitely the right amount of ravioli for 2 people.  Often, I’ve found that a frozen meal only serves half the number of people its supposed to.  This one actually satisfied.
• Ease of cooking; only one pot required!

The verdict:  Overall, the meal was good.  It tasted good, it was easy to prepare and we were full at the end.  Would I buy a Buitoni frozen meal again?  Probably not.  It’s more sodium, fat and ingredients than I prefer, plus the meals retail for between $7.99 and $9.99, at least where I live.  That’s more than I’d like to spend on one “meal” which needs a vegetable.

Disclosure: Free Buitoni frozen meal coupon was  provided by Buitoni through the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program.

Comments (4)

By Emily, March 24, 2010 5:49 pm

I thought I was just going through a yogurt phase when I started eating yogurt over the summer.  6 months later and I’m still eating yogurt every day.  I never eat the same thing for that long, but I really like it and I feel good about eating it.

Part of this interest may be due to my discovery of Greek yogurt.  If I had the choice, I’d eat Oikos every day, but since Chobani goes on sale more frequently, I often have Chobani for lunch.  A few weeks ago, while clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, I discovered a coupon for a new Greek yogurt from Yoplait.  This weekend I finally tracked some down at my local Price Chopper supermarket.

Maybe Yoplait had heard that I was no longer eating their original yogurt, since I discovered a couple months ago that it contained High Fructose Corn Syrup, and wanted my business back?   Their Greek yogurt does not contain HFCS.

I picked up a container of plain and a container of honey vanilla, since plain, honey or vanilla are the flavors we most often consume.  Yoplait Greek Yogurt also comes in strawberry and blueberry.

Anyway, down to the results:

Price Comparison (at my local supermarket):

Chobani $1.39 (6 oz.)

Oikos $1.99 (5.3 oz)

Yoplait $1.19 (6 oz)

Taste:

I was pleasantly surprised by Yoplait’s new Greek yogurt.  The plain was quite a bit thicker than the honey-vanilla, which was only a bit thicker than regular yogurt.  The flavor was really good though (I preferred the honey-vanilla, Brian preferred the plain).

Would I buy Yoplait’s Greek Yogurt again?  Yes.  The taste is comparable to the other brands I usually eat and the price (though Chobani and Oikos often go on sale) is better.  If next week all of the Greek Yogurt is regular price, I’ll probably get Yoplait and be just as satisfied.

Want more?

Last August (before Yoplait hit the scene) Serious Eats did a Greek Yogurt taste test.

Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column just featured instructions for making your own greek yogurt.  (Clearly not the only one to do so, but the most recent in my Reader)

What’s your favorite kind (brand, style, flavor) of yogurt?

Disclaimer: I reviewed these products out of my own curiosity and love for yogurt.  I paid for the yogurt myself and received no compensation from Yoplait or any other entity.