Product Review: Wise Fries

Made by: Old Oakville Snack Company.

The package says: "Crunch different. Crunch better! Wise Fries are the revolutionary krinkle cut fry-shaped snakc with a superior crunch. What makes them even better is that they are baked (NOT FRIED), have no artificial flavours or colours and are trans-fat free. And with less fat than standard fried potato chips, great crunching has never been better!"

How do they look? Suspiciously similar to raw McCain SuperFries.

How do they taste? Kinda like styrofoam coated in a not very flavourful "white cheddar" flavouring.

Crunch factor: middle of the road at best.

Worth the $3.49 for 85g? Uh, no.

Product Review: Kashi Bars

A while ago, my blog friend Megan wrote a post extolling the wonders of Kashi bars, so I just had so suss myself some out. My local overpriced grocery store kept two varieties in stock, but they are $4.99/box. When I was in the States last week, I found a huge variety of Kashi bars for only $2.98/box. With the exchange rate, that came to $3. 58/box. I got myself two whole boxes.

There were so many choices of Kashi bars I was a little light-headed... But I settled on the Cherry Dark Chocolate chewy granola bar and the Dark Chocolate Coconut. The latter is touted on the box as "new" and it must be because I cannot find it on the Kashi web site.

Neither bar contains high fructose corn syrup, which is excellent, and they are whole grain all the way. The cherry ones could have had more cherries in them, but otherwise were quite yummy. The chocolate coconut ones were very chocolatey and rather dangerous! I wish both bars were larger in size; there isn't a lot to them when you take them out of the box.

All in all, quite a nice little snack to have on hand when the old sweet tooth rears it's ugly head. I'd definitely buy these again.

Thanks for the recommend, Megan!

SPAM Rant

I was really disturbed one morning last week while watching CBC Newsworld. During one of the business segments, there was a story about how, since food prices are rising and incomes are not, SPAM is becoming more and more common on the shopping lists of those trying to stretch their food budgets as much as possible.

Yahoo has a fuller account here.

My first response was, Eeeeeeewwwwww! SPAM is like totally gross! I think I had SPAM once or twice as a little kid, probably on a camping trip. If it was anything like canned corned beef, which we had quite a big of growing up, it was totally repulsive.

Then the sadness settled in.

I live on a small income, and I get by. And I don't eat a ton of processed, chemical-filled, unidentifiable foods, either. I manage to eat healthy whole foods, with the occasional junky binge here and there. My cupboards are not full of KD and ramen and I don't subsist on tuna casserole of Chef Boyardee. I certainly avoid SPAM and most canned meats like the plague (once in a while I do crack open a tin of tuna or a tin of salmon).

Sure, SPAM is cheap, but let's take a look at the nutritional information, which I gleaned from Wikipedia (such info is irritating to come by on the SPAM web site, which is one of the most annoying, absurd sites I have ever had the misfortune of directing my browser to):

1 serving = 2oz/56g: 7g protein, 2g carbohydrates, 15g fat (including 6g saturated fat), 170 calories, and nearly 1/3 of the daily recommended intake of salt

The labeled ingredients are: chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite to help keep its color.

Historically, it was widely used during WWII when rationing was on. Since then, it's become quite the legend. There is a collection of SPAM cookbooks.

But so what? Apart from price, there are absolutely no redeeming qualities about this product at all!

Surely the $2.50 - $3 a can of SPAM costs nowadays could be better spent. A dozen eggs would be a far better source of protein and nutrients, is far more versatile, and would go much farther on a small budget. There are other much healthier food choices out there than purchasing a can of SPAM for dinner. Really. Really.

Product Review: Larabar

Meg of Megan's Munchies has frequently blogged about her love of Larabar, and I became intrigued. I began to be on the lookout for them and on Wednesday I finally found some at Save-On Foods in Nelson! Only an hour away from here!

They didn't have the greatest selection - perhaps only four or five different kinds - and they didn't have any of the really delicious-sounding new flavours, but I did pick up a couple ($2 each; bear in mind that I'm on a budget!): the apple pie and the cherry pie. Since coming home Wednesday night, I have consumed both of them.

In short, I liked them. I'm not terribly fond of dates, but although both are full of dates, I could handle them.
The bars are rather sweet, however. While I should be the last person to complain about this, I am just glad the bars are small because the flavours are really intense.

I love that these bars are made with whole, natural ingredients and are apparently vegan. They are high in fibre and other nutrients, and they make a nutritious little snack.

I'm really hoping I can find some of their other flavours, like the ones containing chcocolate and such, and there even appears to be a tiramisu version, too! You cannot go wrong with tiramisu!

Thanks Meg!