Sometimes Foodie: Halloween-Themed Fruit Roll-Ups for Dinner

Franken Berry and Boo Berry Fruit Roll-Ups - CVS

I'm alive! My day job opened it's doors a few weeks ago, and although things aren't quite the same as they once were, I'm adjusting to my "new normal," rather well.

During my quarantine at home I made tons of fancy meals, 7 loaves of bread, at least a dozen batches of cookies, 3 pot roasts, and a lackluster copycat recipe of Auntie Anne's cinnamon sugar pretzels. Plus, I wrote, like, two food reviews. Whoops.

I thought having all that time at home would have allowed me to be more productive on this blog, but when everyone was trying to work from home, and do their college courses/exams from home, and the dogs were antagonized by the insane amount of delivery men outside...I had a really hard time sitting down and thinking clearly. I baked, wrangled the dogs, or did laundry and stuff around the house instead. Like cleaning out our snack cabinets, and low and behold, the very last of the Halloween-themed Fruit Roll-ups were there, waiting to be uncovered.

Let's eat them for dinner.

When I first spotted these, back in 2013, I assumed they would be cereal flavored, so I bought them right then and there for the full price. I opened the box and found that the Halloween cereal monster aspect was just a gimmick. The packaging and tongue tattoos were cereal-monster themed, but the flavors were not, and I was really disappointed.

Franken Berry is actually, "Strawberry Scream," flavored, which is the standard (but delicious) Strawberry flavor that Fruit Roll-Ups are available in year-round.

Boo Berry is the oddly named, "Razzle Boo Blitz," which is both a creative and groan-inducing take on Blue Raspberry, who in-spite of it's coloring and it's name, tastes more like a tropical punch than anything resembling blueberries or raspberries. It's still delicious, but it's another flavor you can easily get year-round.

Semi-heartbroken, I wrote these off as a seasonal marketing gimmick and didn't look back...until after Halloween when they all went on clearance for practically a dollar a box.

Fruit Roll-Ups were a coveted lunchbox item in the 90's, and as a kid I rarely got to eat them. (It's essentially a big piece of messy fruity candy with little to no nutritional value, so I get why my mom wasn't tossing one into every lunch box, no shade there Mom.) But I'm all grown up now, with my own money and a healthy Halloween obsession, so there is absolutely nothing to stop me from clearing the shelves for a fraction of the price and eating Halloween themed Fruit Roll-Ups all year long as a 32-year-old-lady.

Every year since 2013 I sit and wait for the clearance prices to strike, and then I stock up on anything I can get my hands on. Halloween cereal with skeleton marshmallows? Yes! Halloween themed glass Pyrex dishes? Don't mind if I do! And, of course, all the Halloween themed Fruit Roll-Ups I can get my hands on. While the big boxes of the 36 mini strawberry rolls are my main objective, I never turn my back on these two cereal monster impostors.

Last year I cleared out a local Target, a RiteAid, and a CVS and bought tons of these guys for 50-75% off their original pricing. Now, their time in my pantry has (sadly) come to an end.

Although my first impression of these products was disappointment that they didn't taste like their respective breakfast cereals, in retrospect, that probably would have tasted awful anyway. I am happy to see these return each year, and even happier to see their little clearance price tags on November 1st.