Sunday, October 19, 2014

Snyders Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces: A Review

After completing another Sunday dinner and getting the kids ready for bed, it occurred to me that storage pantry was bare for preparing kids lunches for the week. I made a run to Meijer to pick up a few essentials for the school week. Amidst my travels up and down the food aisles, I spotted several sale items in the main aisle displays. One of these displays were various Snyder flavored pretzel combinations. The one that really stuck out was the Hanover Snyders Buffalo Wing flavored pretzel bites. I have a passion for buffalo wings and thought that someone was genius enough to pair up that recognizable zesty flavor with pretzels seemed like a plausible idea. The regular price was $3.69, but the sale knocked the price down to $2.50 for 12 ounce bag. At this price,this venture seemed worth pursuing.

Returning home and putting away recently purchased items, I sat in front of the television and kept thinking about that new bag of pretzels that I had originally intended to save for later in the week. Nope, Iran up stairs to grab a cold beverage and brought with me the new buffalo wing flavored snacks.

Physical Characterics of Snyders Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces

The bag is not very large, nor are the pretzel pieces. These pieces are really just “bits” and not even  “bites”. I would expect these to resemble the shape and size of the “combos” pretzel snacks but these look like someone took a bag of pretzel rods and ran them through the wood chipper several times over. Some pieces were bite size nubs, while most where tiny fragments that were not easy to pick up.

The bits were heavily coated in the flavor dust and coated the fingers quite easily with each bite. My laptop keys still have dust remnants from eating these while browsing on the couch.

Despite being someone put off by the lower quantity per bag as well as the tiny shrapnel size pieces of pretzel, the taste was a saving grace for this Snyders treat. The taste lived up to my expectation and more. First and second bites, I was thinking these are pretty solid; but then I found myself craving more and more of these. My wife joined in on my snack session and the bag was depleted soon thereafter.

Verdict on Snyders Buffalo Wing Flavored Pretzel Pieces


As the sale of this coveted snack is most likely over, I am unsure I could go back and pay $3.69 for a bag. For certain occasions, I will make an exception because these taste so damn good. I really regret not hoarding these when the sale existed. I also wish Hanover Snyders would have made the pieces slightly bigger as they were difficult to pick up. Manufacturers that sell under generic or store brand label might want to take notice that there is room for competition to produce a buffalo wing flavored pretzel at a cheaper price. Those that take on this challenge just better be sure their designed pretzel bit measures up to the excellent flavor produced by Snyders.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Review of Aldi Peanut Delight Creamy Peanut Butter

I have never maintained much brand allegiance to a specific peanut butter label.  They all are pretty similar as they all have the common denominator ingredients of peanuts, oil, and preservatives. Peanut butter is used regularly in our household whether it is prepared for sandwiches, baked in desserts, or simply offered as a dip for celery sticks or crackers. There are purists out there that like the organic or even homemade peanut butter. As this is most likely better for me, I find the lack of smoothness as well as separation of oils to be a bit much. I am okay with factory processed peanut butter. I am on the fence with peanut with and without nuts still in the jar. There are times when I prefer one over the other. For review purposes, this post only discusses my findings with the smooth variety.

Taste
As with all processed nut butters, I don’t expect there to be a great variance in flavor as the ingredients lists is minimal no matter which brand one is sampling. The peanut delight peanut butter is no different than Skippy or Jiff. I find the taste satisfying and it marries well with jam.

Appearance
The peanut butter is sold (like most brands) in the plastic jar. The nut butter carries the usual pb brown color. Label is red and there is a protective foil safety wrap on top when first opening jar. The bright red lid makes this jar an easy find in my densely packed pantry when making sandwiches early in the morning.

Price

This forty ounce (2 pound 8 ounce) jar of this Aldi peanut butter is priced at $5.00. A comparable jar of peanut butter from Jiff or Skippy will run $6.15.  I rate it a solid buy.