Trick of Treat - Minecraft Edition: Suspicious Stew Pringles

Yesterday's not-really-Halloween-but-kind-of-Trick-or-Treat-adjacent theme continues! Today I have these Suspicious Stew flavored Pringles. 

Minecraft is something beyond my elder-millennial scope, so I asked my younger cousin to explain it's, "Suspicious Stew," item to me. She said it is kind of like poison, it makes your screen get all wiggly. Makes sense to me as an in-game item, but when there are other more positive foods in the game they could have gone with, I do think it's a strange choice for a limited run flavor. (A "sus" choice?)

Sadly, I bought these for whatever normal price they were going for at Walmart, but if you do want to try these for yourself, they seem to be popping up at Dollar Trees already for a lower price, which does not bode well for my snacking experience. 

Confectionary Fright-Flight? - Seasonal Sampler of Cotton Candy

Fun Sweets Seasonal Sampler - Walmart

A flight of seasonal cotton candy! What a great concept! 

Years of blogging has taught me that less is more. (As long as the price is right.) Buying entire packages of wacky flavored chips or cookies can be so wasteful. If limited edition flavors are released in smaller serving sizes, that's the way to go. That said, tiny tubs of novelty flavored cotton candy sounds absolutely perfect to me! 

Even though I've already tried and reviewed two of these flavors, the S'more and Candy Corn, I couldn't resist the idea of cranberry cotton candy. I pretty much bought this entire set just for that flavor alone. A wise decision?  We'll see...

Baby's First Liquid Death - Berry it Alive

Liquid Death canned water sounds like it's ripped from an episode of Metalocalypse, but it's legit! And it's actually been around for a while. 

You'd think I would have gotten into this stuff a lot sooner, what with it being covered in skulls and having the tag line, "murder your thirst." Completely my aesthetic, and yet, I never got around to it. 

Then, last night, I was at Walmart grabbing seasonal cat treats (because I'm that kind of pet-mom), when I spotted an 8-pack of "Berry It Alive," on the discounted food end-cap. I figured, what better time to drink Liquid Death than in the midst of Spooky Season? Plus, it's discounted! (Not sure why, but it was only $7.00, a bad omen?) 

So, let's find out if this is...to die for? 

Purple -Bag Doritos have a new Cheetos-cousin

Tangy Chili Fusion Cheetos - Walmart

Flamin' Hot Cheetos have a cult following, and recently got their own origin film. (I think it's available on both Hulu and Disney+.)  Although I enjoy spicy snacking, I've never been a fan. I am uncharacteristically picky when it comes to cheese-flavored snack food. If I'm reaching for Cheetos, it's the classic crunchy bags or Mexican Street Corn, but that may change after this. 

What's cooler than being cool? - m&m's Caramel Cold Brew

Caramel Cold Brew m&m's - Walmart

What makes a non-coffee product "cold brew,"-flavored vs. normal "coffee"-flavored?  

Is it a more concentrated coffee flavor? Was actual cold brew involved at all? I doubt it.

The "New Coke" of Reese's

Creamy & Crunchy Reese's Cups - Walmart

I want to share one of my favorite College Humor/DropOut videos of all time, Oreo CEO.

Please binge the rest of the CEO videos, Brennan Lee Mulligan is an absolute gift. 

Painfully accurate, right? Especially for junkfood people like me who remember the limited-edition-Oreo-hunting-days, but you know who else might be equally guilty? Reese's. 

They, "done did the good peanut butter cup," and instead of "resting on their laurels," they are back at it again with a smooth and a crunchy version of their classic peanut butter cup. Are these improvements? Or completely unnecessary? 

Spicy Toddler Food

Frank's RedHot Goldfish

Nostalgia plays a pretty big part in my adult snacking. I'll go out of my way to buy things like Pizza Lunchables, Yoo-Hoo, and Totino's Party Pizzas. All objectively bad products, (Gordon Ramsey would never!), but to me, they were my childhood staples and therefore, perfect. I just happened to miss the Goldfish-boat. 

As a childless, 35-year-old lady, with no fuzzy memories tied to the tiny orange fish, I tend to look at them as toddler food. Until Old Bay entered the chat. The Old Bay seasoned Goldfish were the best version I'd ever had, but this gives them a run for their money. 

Let's jump right into it. Nose, first!

Oh. Oh, no. Why do they smell like this? 

Seriously, I'm pretty forgiving in terms or aroma, but had I not -just- bought these, and checked that best by date is May 2024, I'd think they'd gone rancid. 

Perhaps they were going for a sharp, provolone cheese, kind of thing here, but it smells like feet and rancid fryer oil. I hate it. And as a New Jersian, who has been adjacent to Philadelphia, the home of the cheesesteak, for 30+years...it's whiz-wit or bust, baby. 

The aroma is actually putting me off, so I am going to try a chip and hope for the best. 

"It's as if a standard sour cream and onion chip took a trip down the condiment aisle"

Lay's Wavy Cuban Sandwich (Limited Time Flavor) - Walmart

In college, I worked at Panera Bread, and it was awesome. Mainly because of our epic work-family, (imagine a soup and sandwich version of Empire Records), but the food was pretty great too. I still eat there today, (which is something I can't say for another food-related job I had as a teen). Panera will always hold a special place in my heart, and my stomach. I like to recreate stuff in my kitchen all the time. Especially the older discontinued stuff, like their Cuban chicken panini. 

Americanized as it was, it was my first experience with the sandwich, and I loved it. The Panera take had focaccia bread, sweet and spicy pickle chips (closest I have found are the horse radish pickle chips from Aldi),  ham, chicken, tomato-based-whole-grain-mustard, chipotle mayo and swiss cheese, all toasted in the panini press. It is a pretty far cry from a legit Cuban sandwich, but I didn't know that back then. 

A legit Cuban has: ham, roasted pork (not chicken), salami, swiss cheese, mustard and pickles. Which looks like what this chip flavor is based on. The real deal. So, which take will taste more legit? My bastardized Panera sandwich of choice, or these chips? 

A Surprising Novelty - Mike & Ike's Peeps on a Stick

Mike and Ike Peeps on a Stick - Walmart 

Easter is right around the corner, so I might as well stick with the (accidental) Peeps-heavy posting. We've had Peeps in a can, Peeps in cotton candy, and now we have Peeps on a stick. Mike and Ike edition. 

So we have four different colors fruity flavored chicks on a stick. Is this worth buying? Or something we should skip? 

Honeycomb, Hold the Honey - Van Leeuwen French Ice Cream

I thought I had already reviewed this, but I guess I never got around to typing it up. Since I've bought it twice, safe to say. I like it. 

But the funny thing is, there is no honey in this. 

Cool Ranch 2: Electric Boogaloo (Tangy Ranch Doritos)

Tangy Ranch Doritos are back!

I missed out on these the first time around, but I was able to grab this bag at Walmart and I'm super stoked. Sure, I probably could have bought them online for whatever marked up price they were going for, but due to all the backlogging that tends to happen around here I limit myself to in-person purchases when I can. So they came, and went, and I was Tangy-Ranch-less. 

Not this time!

I DESTROYED These - Hot Honey Pringles

The title for the post completely reveals my thoughts on these. Normally there's this coy game of, "I don't know, will I like these?" But, I destroyed this tennis ball can of chips in 2 days. When you are surrounded with as much junk food as I am (completely by choice), that's saying something.  

Hot Honey was on-trend a few years ago, but it's prevalence and popularity has started to wane. I still love it though. It reminds me of eating chicken nuggets with honey as a kid. Like a warm nostalgic blanket that somehow grew up along with me. 

However, this was not love at first chip.

Ice SCREAM Pumpkin Delights

Little Debbie has branched out into ice cream. Turning classics, like Cosmic Brownies and Oatmeal Creme Pies into scoop-able desserts.  

After the Fruity Pebbles ice cream left me feeling is was more of a gimmick than it was edible, I figured these would likely be the same and skipped them. Until I saw that the seasonal sweet, Pumpkin Delights, were getting the ice cream treatment. 

Pumpkin Delights look...rather unfortunate. I reviewed them back in 2015 and I stand by my comparison that they looks just like the Koopas from the live action Mario Bros movie. 

Twinning. 

They may look bizarre, but they are absolutely delicious. If the ice cream is even half as good, I'll consider this a win. 

Death, by Coffee

Death Wish Coffee, a brand that stays spooky year-round, has always been on my radar. The only thing stopping me from checking them out? I rarely drink coffee.

I can count on my fingers (and toes) the cups of coffee I drink in a year, so buying bags of it online just doesn't make sense. (Even if they have cool skulls on them.) That's not a problem anymore! Apparently, you can buy Death Wish at Walmart? Most of you are probably like, "duh, it's been there for ages." But I never buy coffee, so I had no idea!

 

I was actually checking endcaps for Little Debbie's Pumpkin Delights when this black bag with pumpkin-skulls caught my eye. Is this a year-round flavor? Or a seasonal one? I can't really tell. Anyway, into my cart it went.

Something to remember, I write these posts at night and schedule them to post the next day. So it's almost 8:30PM EST. Normally I wouldn't drink coffee this late, or at all, but yesterday's couch-nap and near-midnight Mountain Dew really messed me up. Wired, I was up until 4AM unable to sleep, so I folded laundry and caught up on The Handmaid's Tale instead. (Apparently I woke up and chose anxiety.)

But I paid for it. Today I felt like death warmed over. The kind of over-tired where your eyes are puffy and you can't stop tears from streaming down your face. Which made applying my "I'm totally not a zombie"-undereye make-up very difficult. It's not even real crying, it's your eyes trying to trick you into shutting them for a while longer. I made it through work, and back home, but now I need a little pick me up to get me through my nightly chores, and blogging, so I'm brewing up a cup! Maybe I really do have a death wish.

Snackbusters: Stuff I really liked, but never got around to writing up

Snackbusters: Stuff I really liked, but never got around to writing up 

Long story short, I went to the beach for the day and got food poisoning, or I just ate something that just didn't agree with me. Either way, I don't have it in me to eat anything (and even if I did I might not be able to keep it down.) I didn't want to mess up my posting streak, so here we are!

My normal posting process is, I buy stuff, I set aside time to photograph it, I edit the photos, and write down my thoughts, and then turn I turn that into a full post. Usually I eat the item as I write the full post to keep everything fresh, both food-wise and thought-wise. 

These two items never got to the full post stage...because I ate them all. Oops. Both items are definitely things I would repurchase, so I wanted to give them a shout-out regardless, and use the photos I took, so, here we are! 

Something is FISHY about these Marshmallows - Swedish Fish Marshmallows

Swedish Fish Marshmallows - Walmart

When you buy a bag of Swedish Fish, you know exactly what you're getting. Little fish-shaped candies with the recognizable, red, lingonberry flavoring. Steadfast, true, and satisfying. Swedish Fish themed products on the other hand? Not so much. 

Anytime I stray from the classic, I regret it. Swedish Fish chocolate Oreos? No, thank you. Crush soda themed Swedish Fish? Somehow, flavorless. Swedish Fish chewing gum? Actually, that one was pretty great. There are some exceptions to the rule, the aforementioned gum, and the Rita's water ice flavor. But the reason those items succeeded where others failed is because they stuck with the red lingonberry flavoring, and just offered it in a new form. 

That said, how will these marshmallows fair?  

Space Bird Burgers, in Chip-form - Wavy Halo Moa Burger Pringles

Wavy Moa Burger -Walmart 

Just finished working an 11 hour shift, but I didn't want that to wreck my (mostly) consistent review posting streak. That said, I'm going to try and keep this one pretty short and please excuse any typos. I am very, very tired. Perhaps some extra calories will perk me up. 

This "limited" item has been out for quite some time now, and since I know next to nothing about Halo, and have been burned by a lot of limited edition Pringles flavors in the past, I was going to skip it. But I had to run out to Walmart for kitty litter and just so happened to see this on an end cap and thought, why not? 

Let's kick things off with a quick google search, "What is a Moa burger?" 

Puccho, is that you? - Puchao

Puchao

Lookie what I found at Walmart! Puchao, or really, Puccho, just repackaged and rebranded for international audiences. Over the years Hi-Chew has gotten far easier to get in the states, with various flavors available at places like Walmart, 7-Eleven, and Five Below. I guess Puccho realized they have a similar enough product, so why not make it look similar and target the same audience? 

But, will it taste the same? Or did they reformulate? 

Garlic Bread, Without The Bread? - Parmesan Garlic Kettle Chips

NEW Kettle Brand Parmesan Garlic Chips - Walmart

If you're eating something Italian, and it's delicious, it's usually thanks to garlic and parmesan. This dynamic flavor duo is responsible for some of the most delicious things in the world, pasta, pizza, and best of all, garlic bread.  

So, when Cheesy Garlic Bread won Lay's Do Us a Flavor contest when it was first introduced, I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me, however, is how quickly that new "permanent" flavor of chips would disappear. A year or two and they were no where to be found. Then, a few years later, a dupe would start rotating as a special buy item at Aldi, and then at Lidl, and now here? Well these aren't officially marketing themselves as "garlic bread," so that might not be a fair assessment, but...isn't it close enough?   

Will these taste like kettle-style garlic bread?