Extra Toasty? Cheese Crackers

Extra Toasty Baked Cheese Crackers - Aldi

Other than the stuff you see here on the blog, I rarely buy brand-name products. My normal grocery shopping routine is Aldi, BJ's, and now Lidl, and I'm usually sticking to house brands. 

For the most part, there really is no difference, but I'm not totally blinded by my penny-pinching-ways, there are a few brand name items that I do swear by, like Crunchy Cheetos, Cool Ranch Doritos, and my beloved Honey BBQ Frito Twists (which have no equivalent), but the Aldi cheese crackers are pretty on-par with Cheez-It. Especially Aldi's reduced fat cheesy crackers, which are my cheesy snacking cracker of choice.   

While I'm not be a card carrying member of the extra-toasty-are-the-best-Cheez-It club, I do appreciate finding the occasional extra toasted cracker in my box. So I was excited to see these offered at Aldi, the only problem? They're only available in one size, Family Size. So let's hope these were worth it!

Make Fudge Not War Ice Cream - Aldi ($1.99)

Make Fudge Not War Ice Cream - Aldi ($1.99) 

Another long day at work deserves another pint of Aldi ice cream.

Last time I looked into Aldi's Brookie Dough, which seems like a dupe of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked, and this one looks suspiciously like Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie...but it's half the price!

Clancy's Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips - Aldi

Clancy's Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips - Aldi 

Cheesy Garlic Bread chips? Awesome, but you're a little late to the party, Aldi. Lay's debuted this flavor in their first Do Us A Flavor contest back in 2013, which it won, and it's been a permanent flavor ever since. (Which killed the chance for my beloved Sriracha chips ever returning.) I wasn't a huge fan of the Lay's version, but I thought I would still check this out. Is it a simple rebranding under a no-frills label? Or is this an entirely different product? Let's find out!

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond  - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

If you've listened to our most recent Candyology101 podcast, you'll recognize this bar from my rants and ramblings about store-branded candy. Way back in July, I bought and reviewed THIS pear and almond bar from whole foods, which was a store-branded item, and I thought it was really delicious. Even though I liked it a lot, I rarely shop at Whole Foods because things can get pretty expensive, and it's a bit out of my way, so I hadn't had another bar since.

Flash forward to winter's ever awesome cold and flu season. I was at Walgreens picking up my cold medication and I noticed the same flavor combination was being offered in their Good & Delish candy bar line. Could these be the same bars? The Walgreen's version was really affordable, and I figured I deserved a little treat since I was sick, so I picked it up. Oddly enough we decided that our theme for the most recent podcast would be store brands, so this worked out awesomely. I know I already talked about it in the podcast, but I figured this item was worthy of it's own post.

Candyology101 Episode 9: Storebrand Candies

We've all seen, and made fun of, store-brand candies. There's even a Halloween-themed episode of Gravity Falls that revolves around off-brand "loser" candies. (Or should I say Summerween?) Sure, they're fun to pick on, but some of these off brand items are actually pretty darn good!

In today's episode, Cybele and I talk about the good, the bad, and confess our guilty off-branded candy pleasures.

(Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Anyone watch Gravity Falls?

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Torino Mint Chocolate Cookies - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Torino Mint Chocolate Cookies - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

It's been so long since I've reviewed anything from my beloved Aldi! My last Aldi post were these Pumpkin Seed Tortillas back on December fourth. (Speaking of tortilla chips, those Garlic Hummus ones I reviewed this summer are back.) I recently went on a little grocery run, and while I was there, I grabbed a few of their fancy seasonal sweets. I was kind of surprised, Aldi had it's own seasonal items displayed on the end-cap of an aisle. Normally they aren't into displays, things are usually lined up on shelves, but I guess the Bottom Dollar buy-out worked out well enough for them to start making their stores look a little snazzier. (Don't go getting too fancy on me, I love you just the way you are, Aldi.)

Okay, enough babbling, let's eat some cookies!