The Impulsive Buy

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 12/1/2017

December 1, 2017January 13, 2021 Marvo 4 Comments

Here are some interesting new and limited edition products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments.

Sheila G’s Organic Raspberry Almond Thindulgent Dark Chocolate Bark

Sheila G’s Organic Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Thindulgent Dark Chocolate Bark

Sheila G’s Organic Wild Berry Almond Thindulgent Dark Chocolate Bark

Sheila G’s Organic Thindulgent Cherry Almond Dark Chocolate Bark

(Spotted by Carla at Safeway.)

7-Select Glitter Gummi Snowflakes, Mini Meltaways, and Rainbow Gems

(Spotted by Bianca L at 7-Eleven.)

Kroger Private Selection Limited Edition Milk Chocolate Toffee Truffles with Sea Salt and Caramel Pretzels with Sea Salt

Kroger Private Selection Limited Edition Carame Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters and Cinnamon Sugar Soft Caramels

Kroger Private Selection Limited Edition Caramel & Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters and Cinnamon Sugar Soft Caramels

Kroger Private Selection Limited Edition Dark Chocolate Caramels with Sea Salt and Milk Chocolate Caramels with Sea Salt

(Spotted by Rachel C at Smiths.)

Katz Gluten Free Gingerbread Donuts

Katz Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Spice Glazed and Cranberry Donuts

(Spotted by Caitlin J at Wegmans.)

Wegmans Organic Mango and Raspberry Fruit Delights

(Spotted by Caitlin J at Wegmans.)

Patti’s Good Life Blackberry Cobbler

Patti’s Good Life Cherry Cobbler

(Spotted by Bob K at Walmart.)

Thank you to all the photo contributors! If you’re out shopping and see an interesting new product on the shelf, snap a picture of it, and send us an email ([email protected]) with where you found it and “Spotted” in the subject line. Or reply to us (@theimpulsivebuy) on Twitter with the photo, where you spotted it, and the hashtag #spotted. If you do so, you might see your picture in our next Spotted on Shelves post.

Also, if you want to send in photos and are wondering if we’ve already covered something, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.

FAST FOOD FLASHBACK: McDonald’s Pizza

November 30, 2017January 13, 2021 Kelley 9 Comments

McDonald s Pizza

Do you remember McDonald’s Pizza? If you don’t, you’re apparently not alone. In fact, if you’d Googled “mcdonalds pizza” before March of this year, your resources would have been scarce. Since then, the subject briefly went viral – there’s even a podcast extensively devoted to the subject.

The reality is, McDonald’s Pizza was test marketed in over 500 locations between 1989 and 1991. From the jump, it seems like it was doomed to fail – a special oven was needed that took up precious space, it reportedly took 11 minutes to cook (a lifetime in fast food minutes, obviously), and special drive-thru windows had to be installed so the family-size pizzas could fit through.

In the end, it did indeed meet its demise, for any of these reasons or just because it wasn’t popular enough. But one franchisee refused to get the message, and continued to sell pizzas in two locations – Pomeroy, Ohio and Spencer, West Virginia. Unfortunately, McDonald’s corporate eventually caught wind of this rogue hero, and those two locations shut down pie production in August of this year.

McDonald’s Pizza is now well and truly gone, even if you never knew it was there to begin with.

McDonald s Pizza 2

The pizzas were available in personal or family size, and the toppings offered were cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and deluxe (sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions). Here’s the thing – for the first time, I’m writing about a food I never actually had the opportunity to taste.

From all the resources I’ve gathered, feelings about McDonald’s Pizza range from “bland” and “the sauce was too sweet” to fond memories of it rivaling the taste of big chain places like Pizza Hut. For the record, the podcaster previously mentioned got to try it this year, and called it “everything I had hoped for”.

McDonald s Pizza 3

I knew about the two locations still serving McDonald’s Pizza before they were forced to stop, but I just didn’t have the resources to travel 2,000 miles to try it. I sure wish I could have, though, just for the novelty of the experience.

Given the logistics, I doubt we’ll ever see McDonald’s Pizza again, and that’s probably for the best. While I never did get to try it, I doubt it could compete not only with the big chains that deliver today but also with the ability to order from mom ‘n’ pop places that can now deliver via apps like DoorDash.

REVIEW: Brach’s Fruit Cake Nougats

November 30, 2017January 13, 2021 Mark 15 Comments

Brach s Fruit Cake Nougats

In many European folk tales, a family discovers that their child has been replaced with a changeling, a hideous, ill-tempered fairy baby.

I think Brach’s has a changeling on its hands.

I have always loved their Christmas Nougats: wonderful white peppermint, gorgeous green wintergreen, and pretty pink cinnamon.

Brach s Fruit Cake Nougats 2

But the new member of the family, Brach’s Fruit Cake Nougat, is nothing like its siblings. It’s brown. And it doesn’t have the festive tree in the middle—just a few fruity globs that are drab when mixed in with the brown.

When I open up the bag, I get a whiff that is vaguely reminiscent of baked goods. But not grandmotherly baked goods. I never lived in a fraternity, but I imagine this is what a baked good in a frat house smells like.

Brach s Fruit Cake Nougats 3

The flavor has that same off-putting baked-good vibe to it. Sometimes I detect a nuttiness. But mixed in with the baked good is a strong flavor of Fruity Pebbles. I like Fruity Pebbles, but not combined with whatever that other flavor is. Even once I’ve finished, the flavor lingers in my mouth.

Brach s Fruit Cake Nougats 4

I find it perplexing that they decided to go with a fruitcake flavor. I’ve always felt that fruitcake jokes are more common than fruitcakes themselves. I even had to buy a fruitcake as a point of reference, because I haven’t had them enough to remember what they taste like.

In addition to the gummy, fruity bits, Brach’s uses real cranberries and raisins. Props to them for trying to make it like an authentic fruitcake. I guess. These candies don’t taste like the fruitcake I got; the fruitcake actually tastes better.

I can’t help but wonder who is really going to buy this —- and then who is really going to like it. They had so many other holiday flavors to choose from. Spearmint, gingerbread, sugar cookie, eggnog, cranberry orange, hot cocoa -— not all of those would be good as nougat, but most of them would be better than fruitcake.

In many of those European folk tales, the family would throw the changeling into the fire. It would escape out the chimney, and their own child would be restored to them.

Brach’s should treat their Fruit Cake Nougat the way any sensible person would —- kill it with fire!

Then maybe we’d get to see a lovely Christmas Nougat baby that actually belongs in the family. Spearmint, perhaps?

(Nutrition Facts – 4 pieces – 130 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 35 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 21 grams of sugar (including 17 grams of added sugars), and 0 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 9.5 oz. bag
Purchased at: Walgreens (exclusive flavor)
Rating: 3 out of 10
Pros: Uses actual cranberries and raisins. Has a Fruity Pebbles taste.
Cons: Tastes like baked goods from a frat house. Lingering flavor. As hideous as a changeling. Inferior to the other Christmas Nougats.

FAST FOOD NEWS: Cinnabon Cookie BonBite

November 30, 2017January 13, 2021 Marvo

Cinnabon Cookie BonBite

In honor of National Cookie Day, December 4, you could eat an Oreo, a chocolate chip cookie, or the cookies your kids want to leave out for Santa. Or you could celebrate the food holiday at Cinnabon and gobble its new Cookie BonBite, a bite-sized version of Cinnabon’s cinnamon roll inside of a chocolate chip cookie.

Cinnabon’s Cookie BonBite will be available at mall bakeries for a limited time, while supplies last, at a suggested retail price of $2.99 for one or $9.99 for a half dozen.

Cinnabon Cookie BonBite 2

Also, for National Cookie Day, Cinnabon has teamed up with fairlife to provide a free 8 oz. bottle of milk with every Cookie BonBite purchased on December 4, while supplies last.

If you try it, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

(Image via Cinnabon.)

REVIEW: Hershey’s Gold Peanuts & Pretzels Bar

November 30, 2017January 13, 2021 Rachel 18 Comments

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar

HERSHEY’S GOLD – IT’S THE FIRST NEW HERSHEY BAR FLAVOR IN 20 YEARS!!! At least that’s what the press release and news articles screamed.

But didn’t I review a new Hershey’s Cherry Cheesecake bar flavor. a few months ago? And wasn’t I snarfing down Candy Corn and Candy Cane flavors recently? Yes, but Hershey’s says it’s the first non-chocolate flavor release since Cookies ‘n’ Creme in 1995. Like the C&C bar, Hershey’s Gold is a creme-based bar.

How is that different than a flavored white chocolate bar? I fell into a rabbit hole of internet research on what’s considered real “chocolate” and comparing ingredients from various Hershey’s bar flavors.

Three hours later, I realized there was a candy bar next to me, being NOT eaten. Focus! Let’s just say it’s a new Hershey’s bar flavor and consume it already.

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar 2

This bar is a deep golden hue, as promised. The peanut and pretzel bits mixed in were tiny shards. I expected larger peanut chunks and hoped for crunchy pretzel balls in the style of the Cookies ‘n’ Creme cookie balls.

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar 3

A fun surprise was the new pip layout (yes, that’s what those squares are called, apparently). Instead of the standard uniform rectangles, these are offset with some larger ones. The design initially looked asymmetrical, but came together to satisfy my sense of geometric justice.

On first smell, this thing is ALL peanut butter. On first taste, same thing. Overwhelmingly peanut butter. I can’t discern any pretzel taste beyond a slight burst of salt. Same with the caramelized creme – a little toasty sweetness. These are flavors I associate already with peanut butter and PB-flavored foods, however, so to me they’re hard to separate out. What they do is blend seamlessly to make a really nice peanut butter bar. It’s creamy and salty and sweet, but not too much of any of those things.

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar 4

The texture was slightly crunchy, but a far cry from what I’d expect from peanuts and pretzels. As a big pretzel fan, I was disappointed in their shallow presence here. Had this been billed just a peanut butter bar, I’d say this was a great entry.

But the larger issue was — was it s’moreable? I grabbed some holiday Peeps and graham crackers and headed to the microwave. (Yeah, I’m one of those.)

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar 5

18 seconds later – Holy peanuts, Batman. These are great. I think this bar is far more interesting as s’mores than as a candy bar.

Hershey s Gold Peanuts Pretzels Bar 6

(Nutrition Facts – 1 bar – 220 calories, 14 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of total sugars, 17 grams of added sugars, and 3 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $1.39
Size: 1.4 oz. bar
Purchased at: Duane Reade
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Good peanut butter flavor. New artsy pip design. Incredibly S’morable.
Cons: Are you there pretzels? It’s me, Rachel. Still haven’t figured out the whole “first non-chocolate bar in 20 years” thing.

Basic