Review: MunchPak.com Snack Box

Today's review is an interesting one for me.  It's a review of not necessarily the individual products (there will be some quick looks though) in this review, but more of a review of a service.  In this case, that service is MunchPak.com.  A representative of theirs reached out to me a couple weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in trying their service and since I'm always on the lookout for freebies (ahem...if anyone out there has any that they'd like to send me, I'm game), I more than willingly said I'd give the service a look.  So, after a bit of time the United States Postal Service delivered me the box of goodies that you see above.  There were a variety of products in there, including chips, candy, gum, etc.  Basically, all sorts of different kind of munchies (get my clever word usage there?).  What was also interesting, and the MunchPak website advertises this with their slogan of "New & Popular Snacks From Around The World", a lot of these snacks were from various countries.  When I looked through the box, there were some snacks from Mexico, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, etc.  It was kind of funny to me, in a way.

MunchPaks can come via a monthly delivery subscription service and also come in various sizes, meaning the quantity of snacks in your box.  As you can somewhat see based on the picture above, I got the "Original" version which includes 10-20 snacks.  I'm not going to review everything, but let's take a look at some of the products in the box below the fold.

Review: Quaker Chewy Birthday Cake Granola Bars

It must be new product season for Quaker Chewy bars.  Recently, I've noticed and reviewed several of their new Girl Scouts affiliated flavors, but today I'm going to be taking a look at a new product that is not really affiliated with anything except the anniversary of someone's birth and the dessert related to that.  Yep, it's a box of eight Quaker Chewy Birthday Cake Granola Bars that I stupidly paid the full price of $2.75 for at Marsh.  I say stupidly because they went on sale for $1.99 two days after I bought this box.  AARGH!  Anyway, each bar in the box clocks in at 0.84 ounces and has 100 calories.  Basically, it's a standard Quaker Chewy bar.

Review: Atkins Endulge Peanut Butter Cups

I generally don't buy a lot of Atkins products because they are more expensive than I typically like.  That said, I have reviewed many of their product here on the blog before and in general, have had pretty positive experiences.  Recently, I was at my mom's house and I was going through her cabinets scavenging for food like I always do (I'm a good son) and I came across a box of Atkins Endulge Peanut Butter Cups.  Being that this was her house and I knew I wouldn't have to pay for them (free is my favorite price!), I quickly grabbed a pack of these and that leads me to today's review.  Each pack is 1.2 ounces and has two peanut butter cups.  Combined, the total caloric weight is 160 calories with two grams of protein.  The Atkins Diet does not like sugar or carbs, so these only have a combined two grams of carbs and have zero sugar, so that's nice.

Reviews: Bocandy.com Variety Box

It seems that half of my reviews lately have come via free products that have been sent to me and today's review is no different.  One of the owners of bocandy.com reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested in trying out a sample box of some of their products.  Being the out of control sugar addict that I am, I naturally said yes.  That led them to so graciously send me a box of free samples and you see some of those above (sorry, I ate some of them before I could knock out a picture.  My bad.).

Review: Hawaiian Host Macadamia Medley

I sometimes get contacted by completely random companies asking me to try out their products and I would put today's review into that category.  It's not often that I've been contacted by candy companies with the request that I review their product, but that is the case today in this review of the Hawaiian Host Macadamia Medley that was sent to me to test out.  Each 6.0 ounce box of this medley has fourteen chocolate candies and nutritionally (an oxymoron, perhaps?), three pieces of this candy is roughly the equivalent of 210 calories.

Review: M&M's Ice Cream Cookies

I mostly stay away from reviewing "oldies but goodies" in the store because I just think that people will find the reviews to be boring and I at least try (or trick myself into believing) to post recent, relevant content on the blog.  That said, sometimes I just can't pass up buying an oldie but goodie and a lot of times that is helped along by having a sale paired with a coupon and that's the case of today's review of these M&M's Ice Cream Cookies that I picked up on sale for a box of six at Kroger for $2.99.  Each cookie sandwich is 4.0 fluid ounces and 204 calories.

Review: Klondike Heath Ice Cream Bars

The old commercial tagline for Klondike Bars was "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"  Klondike bars are fine, but I wouldn't even buy them unless they were on sale.  So, in response to the commercial, my answer is that I wouldn't do much.  That said, they were on sale recently as I mentioned in a prior review, so I picked up two different flavors and this Klondike Heath Ice Cream Bar is that second flavor.  I picked these up at Meijer on sale for $2.50 for a box of six and each bar in the box is 230 calories and roughly four ounces per bar.  Obviously modeled after HEATH bars, it's milk chocolate English toffee in ice cream bar form (the tagline is "Kind of like a HEATH bar, only ice creamier"; cute).  I can't remember if I've mentioned this in prior toffee flavored product reviews, but toffee is something that I never really developed a craving for until later in life.  HEATH bars were fine as I was growing up, but they weren't anything that I actively pursued.  It wasn't until later in life when my uncle showed up at Christmas with a brick of toffee from a sweets shop that I developed an intense craving for it.  That stuff was so incredible that it sold me on toffee for life.

Review: Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream Bars

I'm sure most of you have figured it out already, but I've decided that this is Skinny Cow review week.  I've reviewed three products already this week and now it's time for the fourth product that I picked up in the crazy Skinny Cow sale at my local Marsh for $3.99.  This time, I'm taking a look at another one of their ice cream candy bar lines with this review of the Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream Bars.  Each box contains five 2.1 fluid ounce bars and each bar is 160 calories and scores a four on the Weight Watchers PointsPlus scale.

Review: Skinny Cow Cookies 'n Dough Ice Cream Candy Bars

I would describe my relationship with Skinny Cow products as tortured.  Ordinarily, I find their treats to be tasty, but a lot of the times, I can't quite reconcile the price I'm paying for what I'm getting.  That said, I was recently at my local Marsh Supermarket and saw the perfect time to pick up Skinny Cow products...they were on sale (along with an additional coupon)!  With that sale and coupon, I picked up this box of their new  Skinny Cow Cookies 'n Dough Ice Cream Candy Bars at the sale price of $3.99 for a box of five.  Each bar is 2.1 fluid ounces and has 160 calories with a four point rating on the Weight Watchers PointsPlus scale, so it's not a belly buster and that's obviously what you'd expect from a "skinny" product.

Review: Skinny Cow Divine Filled Chocolates Caramel Candy

On a Skinny Cow product buying spree after some recent positive reviews, I knew I had to keep trying flavors from their Divine Filled Chocolates product line, especially since they had one key advantage going for them:  they were on sale.  So, my obsession with sales led me to pick up this box of Skinny Cow Divine Filled Chocolates Caramel Candy at Meijer on sale for $3.50.  Each box contains six packs of candy and each pack has three candy pieces and comes in at one ounce per package.  Also, each package has 130 calories and rates as a four on the Weight Watchers Points Plus scale.

Review: Skinny Cow Divine Filled Chocolates Peanut Butter Creme Candy

I always struggle with Skinny Cow products.  Most of the time, I find their products to be tasty, but just not quite worth the price.  Being the glutton for punishment and/or masochist that I am though, I still continue to buy their overpriced products to try out and as I was walking through Meijer the other day, I saw that they've introduced a new candy product line and that leads me to this first review from that line with the Skinny Cow Divine Filled Chocolates Peanut Butter Creme Candy.  I picked up a box of this for $3.50 and each box contains six 1.0 ounce packages and each package is 130 calories (four points on the WeightWatchers Points Plus scale).  Within each package are three pieces of candy, so all of you math wizards out there can calculate the size and caloric levels on your own.

Review: Breyers Blasts! Heath English Toffee Frozen Dairy Dessert

In my previous Breyers Blasts! review of their Chips Ahoy! flavor, I remarked how they certainly didn't short you on the amount of add-ins that you receive, which is certainly the whole point of the Breyers Blasts! line of products.  When I picked up that last container, I picked up a second container to check out and that leads me to this review of the Breyers Blasts! Heath English Toffee Frozen Dairy Dessert.  Just like last time, this was picked up at Marsh for $3.00 for the 1.5 quart container.  Each container contains about twelve servings and since this is frozen dairy dessert and not actual ice cream, it's a fairly economical 140 calories per serving.

Review: Skinny Cow Milk Chocolate Heavenly Crisp Candy Bar

As I've written in my previous Skinny Cow product reviews, I certainly appreciate Skinny Cow's efforts to make lower calorie versions of decadent desserts.  Often times, I find them quite tasty.  What I don't appreciate in some of these instances is the amount of product that you get back in return for the price, especially with their candy products.  That said, I've reviewed Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp candy bars before when I tackled the Peanut Butter flavor, so now I'm going to tackle the other flavor in their candy bar offering, Milk Chocolate.  I picked up a box of six of these on sale at Meijer for $3.99 and each candy bar in the box has 110 calories and weighs in at 0.77 ounces.

Time Waster: Candy Math Equations

Much like my post a while back about Cereal Math Equations, this could just as easily be applied to several candy products out there that have "kin" under the same brand name as well.  Some manufacturers make a wide variety of products under the same name like Snickers, M&M's, etc.  So, without further delay, here is another list of equations, this time focusing on candy.  Obviously I'm missing some flavors, on M&M's seasonal flavors especially, but one guy can only eat so much!

Candy Math Equation #1:  Mars M&M's
Peanut M&M's > Almond M&M's > Original M&M's > Pretzel M&M's > Peanut Butter M&M's > Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's > Dark Chocolate M&M's > Coconut M&M's

Candy Math Equation #2:  Mars Snickers Bars
Peanut Butter Squared Snickers > Original Snickers > Almond Snickers

Candy Math Equation #3:  Mars Twix Bars
Twix PB > Original Twix Bar

Candy Math Equation #4:  Reese's Peanut Butter Products (kind of a stretch, but bear with me)
Reese's Pieces > Reese's Sticks Wafer Bar > Reese's Fast Break Bar > Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Candy Math Equation #5:  Hershey's Kisses
Hershey's Milk Chocolates with Almonds > Hershey's Milk Chocolates filled with Caramel > Hershey's White Chocolates > Hershey's Milk Chocolates > Hershey's Milk Chocolates filled with Cherry Cordial Crème > Hershey's SPECIAL DARK Mildly Sweet Chocolates

Just like cereal, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to candy.  One thing you'll notice too is that all of these involve some sort of chocolate as I mostly only eat candy that has chocolate, nuts or both, so I kind of limit myself.  I'd love to see some other suggestions on chocolate/nut products and/or sweeter candies like Nerds, Twizzler, etc. if anyone wants to chime in.  I'd especially love to hear the thoughts of some of the candy bloggers out there as they are the subject matter "experts."

Review: Skinny Cow Dark Chocolate Dreamy Clusters Candy

As I've said before on this blog, I have to give Skinny Cow credit in the fact that they are the "healthy" dessert company by taking typical desserts and using light and/or low-fat ingredients in order to reduce the calorie counts.  Their goal is to make you feel less guilty for eating candy/ice cream/dessert/etc. and I'm all for that, so I've done several reviews on their products before.  I've never reviewed one of their Dreamy Clusters candy products though, so that leads me to these Dark Chocolate Dreamy Clusters that I picked in a box at Meijer on "sale" for $3.99.  Each box contains six pouches of Dreamy Clusters candy and each pouch is 120 calories and one ounce of candy.

Review: Dean's Country Churn Low Fat Denali Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Dean's is a national dairy brand that markets countless different products regionally and nationally through the country and one of the products that Dean's markets in my area is Dean's Country Churn Ice Cream.  Even though I was getting ice cream, which is definitely not healthy, I made the decision to get the Light Ice Cream at Meijer on sale for $3.00 for the 1.5 quart size.  The light ice cream is half the fat and 25% less calories (130 calories per half cup serving), so it is somewhat "healthy" compared to the full power version out there.  The there were several varieties, but I chose the Denali Moose Tracks (invented by a guy from Indianapolis!) flavor which consists of vanilla ice cream, chocolate peanut butter cups and a fudge swirl.  This is Denali's flavor recipe (licensed to be produced by Dean's) and since it bills itself as "Smooth & Silky", I was ready to put it to the test.

Review: Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Flavor Heavenly Crisp Candy Bar

A few months back, Skinny Cow announced to much fanfare that they were going to step outside their successful line of frozen treats and start offering a candy line of Heavenly Crisp bars and Dreamy Clusters.  Curiosity sometimes kills the cat and in this case, it caused me to make a purchase in their candy bar line with this Peanut Butter Heavenly Crisp bar.  Try that one on for size...have a longer name!  Seriously, do they not see that candies are often marked as single iconic one or two word names?  Snickers, PayDay, Nestle Crunch, Reese's Pieces, M&M's, etc.  I think those candies have done okay for themselves.  Obviously Skinny Cow doesn't believe in the same market research.  Name aside, these things are 110 calories, so they are not calorie busters on that front.  I picked up a six pack box of these babies at Meijer on sale for $3.49.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls Ice Cream

I promised comfort reviews on this blog from time to time, so what better way is there to kick off those occasional reviews than a post about one of the most comforting, yet fattening foods there are?  Yep, it's time for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and since I've been reading about all the so-called controversy over the Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls Ice Cream limited batch offering, I was anxious to head to the store to try this one out.  Unfortunately, it took me about two weeks before I could find a store that had this in stock.  While at Walmart this past Sunday, I was finally able to find a pint of Schweddy Balls for $3.29.  Now, the name of this ice cream is quite sophomoric since it is based on a Saturday Night Live skit, so me sliding in the occasional sophomoric joke into this review will probably be unavoidable.  I'll TRY to act like an adult, but there may be an attempt at a joke that bounces in from time to time.  Just a word of warning.

For your reference, Schweddy Balls is "Vanilla Ice Cream with a Hint of Rum & Loaded with Fudge covered Rum & Malt balls."  Also, it should also be written before this review that I HATE rum in general, so I may be a little biased toward negativity.  Still, that's why I taste test these things...sometimes they surprise me and overcome my initial prejudices against a particular taste.  Also, at 270 calories per serving (four per pint), it's not exactly a health freebie, but hey, it's "premium" ice cream, so you have to expect that.