Every couple of months, we turn to a trio of readers who review new food products appearing on grocery store shelves. This time our kitchen panelists praise oatmeal, nuts and dessert but despise confetti pancakes, popcorn and kefir.
Our panelists are Emily Wallace, 28, a graduate student in Chapel Hill; Kathy Cassidy, 48, a food-loving Raleigh mom with chicken-nugget-loving children; and John Dendy, 74, a retired engineer in Durham who loves to cook. About every two months, they write short reviews of their favorite and least favorite items from the samples sent to them.
First up, what they recommend that you purchase:
Better Oats Raw Pure & Simple Oatmeal, $1.99 per five-pouch box, available at Food Lion and Harris Teeter.
Wallace wrote: I felt a little strange about microwaving a brand of oatmeal by Better Oats called Raw Pure & Simple. Once the organic, five-grain cereal was complete, however, I had no complaints. With whole grain rolled oats, barley, wheat, flaxseed, quinoa, and rye, the oat-mix is heartier, healthier, and more interesting than most instant hot breakfast cereals tend to be. And the individual packaging is instantly reusable. It doubles as a measuring-cup. Better Oats are a variety of instant oatmeal I'd actually eat again (though perhaps more regularly during a cooler time of the year).
Edwards Dessert Singles, $3.09, available at Walmart, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods.
In what he describes as "45 high-calorie words," Dendy describes his favorite item: Key Lime Pie! Hot Fudge Brownie with Ice Cream! Crème Pie with Reese's! 340 calories in every serving, half from fat! What decadence! I loved every bite. These are good enough to be on the menu of a good restaurant at eight bucks a pop.
Planters Flavor Grove Nuts, 99 cents to $3.49, available at Walmart and Lowes Foods.
Cassidy wrote: "Planters Flavor Grove cashews and almonds were our favorite test product. No surprise - we are nuts about nuts. We tested three flavors: Almonds with sea salt, almonds with chili and lime and chipotle cashews. All three were winners - not too overly spiced, so the nut flavor comes through. Our favorite was the chili lime almonds. I scanned the ingredients list and was pleasantly surprised to find nothing artificial, with chili peppers, lime peel and lime oil providing the flavor. The same is true of the other flavors. We will definitely buy these again."
And for their least favorites, this is what they had to say:
Aunt Jemima frozen Confetti Pancakes, $2.69 for 12-pack, available at Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Lowes Foods.
Wallace wrote: "I garnered a serious look of concern from a cashier at Harris Teeter when I purchased Aunt Jemima's frozen Confetti Pancakes. "Are these good?" she asked, to which I shrugged. But I can say with confidence now that they are not. Thirty seconds in a microwave do not a desirable pancake make, and the sprinkles, which sadly do not taste or crunch, fail to cover up that fact, even if they're kind of fun and pretty."
Pop Weaver Popcorn, $2 for an 8-pack and $5 for 24-pack, available at Walmart.
Dendy wrote: This product reminded me of Little Billy's Cookie Test (he had two cookies and placed one on a newspaper while eating the other. When he picked up the second cookie he cried out, "Mommy, it didn't leave a spot! This ain't a real cookie!") Pop Weaver popcorn is much too dry to leave a greasy spot on newsprint. No doubt it's better for you than old-fashioned salty, greasy movie popcorn, but it just ain't real popcorn.
In a footnote, Dendy added: "Truthfully, my least favorite was the ProBugs Kefir, but it would have been unfair to evaluate it - it's just not my kind of thing."
But Cassidy felt no such inhibitions when naming it her least favorite: ProBugs Organic Kefir for Kids, $4.99 for four-pack available at Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Fresh Market.
She wrote: "I want to give my kids healthy, organic foods. That's why it pains me to say this product was our least favorite. The kefir (a yogurt smoothie) was OK - very tart, and a little thicker than we like. They lost us with the packaging. In a misguided attempt to appeal to kids, the manufacturer went for the gross-out factor. The flavors are "Slime Lime," "Orange Creamy Crawler," and so on; there are cartoon insects everywhere; the package says 10 billion bacteria in every bottle. Kids' verdict - "Real bugs in my food? Yuck!"
