I have been a long fan of the Kellogg’s brand pop tarts for
quite some time. I am guilty of indulging in my fair share of pop tarts during
my train commutes to work. For a quick breakfast, it really doesn’t get much
simpler than toasting a pop tart for a minute while I prepare my “to go”
coffee. My last trip to Meijer, I spied
the store brand alternative to Kellogg’s Pop Tarts; which is the Meijer Frosted
Blueberry Pastry Treats. I decided to give them a chance at the $1.79 price
which was thirty cents lower than the Kellogg brand.
Description
The packaging is similar to Kellogg’s as the items are sold
in a small rectangular box containing five packages for which each package has
two pastries or “tarts”. The packaging is a foil wrapper. The toaster pastries consist
of a white colored cookie or pie crust covered with a blueberry paste entombed
below the white frosting layer speckled with tiny multi colored sprinkles. The
physical characteristics are very similar to the Kellogg‘s Blueberry pop tart version,
though the sprinkles appear a little different or more sparsely dispersed and
much smaller.
Preparation of toaster pastries
As mentioned above, there is not much to preparing these. I
know some people eat these at room temperature; I am not one of those people. I
like the paste, jam, filling, or whatever you want to call it to be heated
warm. I set the toaster settings to a low to medium setting to allow the pastry
to obtain a light brown, and then wrap it in aluminum foil to stay warm for my
commute.
Taste
Okay, now for the real test. The first munch on the corner
of the pastry was nothing more than “meh”. The frosting and filling tasted
below average. The blueberry flavor did not come out at all. It could have been
any flavor berry for all I know. The real disappointment to me was the
flavorless pastry. Not sure what Kellogg’s does to make their tart crust taste
good, but Meijer needs to look into creating a similar taste or at least
providing taste to the pastry. My suggestion would be adding some vanilla,
almond, lemon or some other flavor addition to inject some life into the pastry
crust. Maybe add some extra blueberry flavor as well.
Purchase
Okay so the pastries saved me thirty cents; not very good savings as I see myself
struggling to get through the rest of the box over the next few weeks.
This was a bit of a letdown as I have experience good luck with Meijer brand
products over the past few years. These were a clunker. I rate this product a
“do not buy”. Spend more and go Kellogg’s pop tarts or get the Kellogg’s brand
when they go on sale.
