Ben & Jerry's vs. The Girl Scouts - Chewy Gooey Cookie

Chewy Gooey Cookie Ben & Jerry's - Target

Samoa ice cream? 

This has milk chocolate and coconut ice creams, shortbread pieces, fudge flakes, and a caramel swirl. All the ingredients of top-tier Girl Scout cookie, Samoa (aka Caramel deLites.) Since this is as subtle as a baseball bat to the face, I'm far from the first person to make the connection. Which makes me wonder, why isn't this a collaboration? 

Ben & Jerry's previously released, "Thick Mint," a clear parody of Girl Scout's, "Thin Mint," so maybe there's some bad blood between the two junkfood giants? Someone more versed in brand politics can fill me in down in the comments. I'm sure I'm missing something. 

Whatever the reason, I love Samoas, and I love ice cream, so I have high hopes for this pint! 

I've got a Pint of Dirt - Ben & Jerry's Topped Dirt Cake

 Topped Dirt Cake

I wasn't super interested in this flavor until I saw that it had a "vanilla pudding ice cream" base. Not too-too long ago, I used to love Jello vanilla pudding pops. They were the best flavor in the box, but they have since been discontinued. While lots of non-name brands have released chocolate pudding pop or fudgsicle dupes, vanilla? Not so much. So I was really excited for this ice cream hoping it would satisfy my tastebuds' Jello-based core memory. 

Coffee, Coffee, Who's Got The Coffee?

Brewed to Matter - Target

Ben and Jerry's has expanded their dairy-free line, created "topped" flavors, "core" flavors, store-exclusive flavors, Netflix tie-ins...and while I did enjoy their (very under appreciated) Punch Line flavor, nothing announced gave me that "I gotta run out to the store to find that"-feeling. 

Punch Line was such a success for me, not for the novelties and branding, but because of the actual flavors. Almond and cherry are a classic combination, which seems boring compared to sugar-cookie-dough cores and fudge meteors, but at the end of the day I want an ice cream that tastes worth the calories, and leaves me wanting more after I've finished the pint. That said, this Target-specific flavor is not trendy or complicated, but it sounds pretty solid. Coffee and chocolate, another classic pairing, but is it well executed? 

Punch Line is a Welcome Break from the Hype Machine. -UPDATE

Ben & Jerry's X Netflix Punch Line - Shop Rite

Food and flavors are subjective. I know that, you know that, but we all love to hop online and compare tastebuds with strangers. (Hi!) Why do we do it?

Whether it's to find out if a product is worth your money (which is my main goal), or for validation in your opinions, or just to see how your taste-buds compare to others. We feel compelled to try new and potentially gross food, then turn to our friends and say, "You gotta' try this!" It's just human nature. But, in doing so, we fall victim to the hype of new-ness and extra-ness. 

I've been blogging for a long time, I think 7 years (I keep forgetting how long exactly) and from what I can tell, I'm an oddball.

Aldi's Take on Ben & Jerry's Phish Food (Only $2.00!)

Turtley Awesome Ice Cream Pint - Aldi $1.99 ($1.79 on sale!) 

Living with a food blogger isn't as glamorous as it may seem. First of all, my home is a dieters worst nightmare. I have candy and snacks in pretty much every room of the house. (Except the bathrooms because that's gross. They have food scented bath products and soaps instead #foodieforlife.) I have a freezer full of junk food and ice cream, and a pantry packed with limited edition cookies and chips. Which leads me to the other problem, which has plagued everyone I've ever lived with, "Is this safe to eat?"

I get the frustration, you see something yummy and you want to eat it. That's what any sane person would do, but we food bloggers are insane different. We need to photograph, write up, and post on social media. It's just what we do...when we have time to do it. 

So, the story is: I've had these Aldi pints in the fridge for a while, I didn't have much time to blog, and my family had been anxious to eat them..so this got eaten, a little bit. Normally I'm adamant about the food items I photograph being brand new and untouched, but we're just going to have to roll with it...

Again, we have so ugly packaging. It's not all that different from the others, and I've already said everything I have to say about it's looks, so let's get right into how this tastes.

Aldi Dupes Ben & Jerry's The Tonight Dough! (For Less than $2.00 a Pint!)

For Real Dough Ice Cream - Aldi $1.79! (Dupe of The Tonight Dough)

A while back, Aldi introduced a new premium ice cream line that looked suspiciously like Ben & Jerry's. In fact, each Aldi flavor corresponded to a popular Ben & Jerry's flavor, making them nearly identical...except the Aldi-version is LESS THAN $2.00 USD per pint! 

That's right, you can buy two of these pints for the price of a Ben & Jerry's one, and the best part? Not only is it cheap, but it tastes nearly identical!

I've reviewed five different Aldi flavors so far: (Click the links below for it's review) 

Brookie Dough*

Make Fudge Not War*

My Peanut Butter Half

Swirlin' Strawberry

Thank You Cherry Much *

(Spoiler alert!) They're all awesome! Seriously! The only one I didn't care for was My Peanut Butter Half, but that's because peanut butter ice cream just isn't my cup of tea.

The original trio of flavors (Marked with an *) have become permanent Aldi items, available year-round,  but every now and again they expand the line with seasonal releases which just so happen to be MORE Ben and Jerry's dupes! Last time we got two new flavors, Swirlin' Strawberry and My Peanut Butter Half, and this time we get three more! 

Currently on the shelves are: For Real Dough, Turtley Awesome, and Banana Bonanza. Which dupe Ben and Jerry's The Tonight Dough, Phish Food and Chunky Monkey respectively. Since all the other flavors were fantastic, I couldn't wait to try these three, so here we go!