The Impulsive Buy

REVIEW: Stouffer’s Classic Lasagna Bites and Chicken Pot Pie Bites

Marvo / July 21, 2020 / Reviews

SALISBURY STEAK BITES!!!

And that was the first thing that popped into my head after learning Stouffer’s was taking some of its classic dishes and turning them into snacks. Sadly, Salisbury steak and mac & cheese didn’t get snackified, but the popular frozen food brand is now offering Classic Lasagna Bites and Chicken Pot Pie Bites.

The Classic Lasagna Bites feature crispy breading stuffed with meat sauce and Italian style herbs, mozzarella cheese, and noodles. The chicken pot pie version has a flaky golden crust stuffed with white meat chicken, peas, carrots, and a creamy gravy.

There are multiple ways to prepare them — conventional oven, convection oven, air fryer, or an unconventional air fryer that involves a dragon breathing on them. Since I lack an air fryer, the patience to wait for a conventional oven, or a dragon, I went with the convection oven instructions that involves baking them at five minutes at 450 degrees, flipping them, and then having them sit in the oven for another four minutes (five minutes for the lasagna ones).

After my first bite of the Chicken Pot Pie Bites, my mind instantly thought, “This needs more gravy.” It’s not dry or anything, and it’s impressive that Stouffer’s was able to fit everything it did into a nugget that’s smaller than a Tamagotchi. Heck, there are whole frickin’ peas in them, plus everything else. Still, when I think of a chicken pot pie, I imagine a gravy pool with all the other ingredients wading in it.

But beyond that slightly nitpicky detail, these do remind me of the comfort food. Although with each bite I’ve had so far, I taste the peas, but not so much the carrots, and the crust doesn’t seem to be buttery or flaky to me. It’s similar in texture to what’s on the lasagna one.

As for the Classic Lasagna Bites, if it weren’t for the noodles, I’d mistake these for pizza rolls. The combination of herbs and meat reminds me of Italian sausage, but the cheese and sauce complete the pizza image in my mouth. They taste as if they have more sauce in them than the amount of gravy in the chicken pot pie ones. Look, I’m not going to complain about these tasting like pizza rolls, because I found myself enjoying these more than the other variety.

But I am going to grumble about the crust on both. They’re not what I’d consider crunchity crispy, but they’re definitely not soft. Although my choice of preparation might be the reason for their texture. I should really invest in a dragon oven. The crusts are also thick, which is understandable since what they hold could ooze out during the heating process (which surprisingly didn’t happen). But they also seem to tone down the flavors of the ingredients within them.

If you regularly heat up Stouffer’s Classic Lasagna or Chicken Pot Pie, these Bites are a unique way of experiencing those classic entrees, although they’re not as flavorful or filling.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free samples of the products. Thanks Stouffer’s! Doing so did not influence my review in any way. But I hope by doing this review, I’ve encouraged Stouffer’s to create Salisbury Steak Bites. Also, the box images used are from Stouffer’s.

Purchased Price: FREE (MSRP of $4.99 – $5.99)
Size: 12 oz. boxes
Purchased at: Received from Stouffer’s
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Chicken Pot Pie), 7 out of 10 (Classic Lasagna)
Nutrition Facts: Chicken Pot Pie Bites (4 pieces) 190 calories, 10 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 500 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 6 grams of protein. Classic Lasagna Bites (5 pieces) 230 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 630 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.

SPOTTED: Chocolatey Payday Bar

Marvo / July 20, 2020 / Spotted on Shelves / 7 Comments

Update: We tried it! Click here to read our review.

While these are being promoted as new, I’m going to drop in this sentence links to Chocolate Payday and Payday Chocolatey Avalanche. (Spotted by Robbie at Circle K.)

SPOTTED: Snapple Name the Flav

Marvo / July 20, 2020 / Spotted on Shelves / 5 Comments

Update: We tried it! Click here to read our review.

Oooh, mystery flavor. It would be disappointing if the fact under the cap tells us what the flavor is. (Spotted by Peter K.)

REVIEW: Popcorn M&M’s

Leonard / July 20, 2020 / Reviews / 4 Comments

When I tore open the share size bag of these new Popcorn M&M’s that have milk chocolate with a crisp rice center, I was immediately transported to a movie theater.

Or, if you look at Blue on the package, it is to the stands of a football game chowing down on a chocolatey popcorn treat. The scent of these is outstanding as they do nail the essence of a creamy, buttery milk chocolate concoction.

However, please don’t get your hopes up too too much as the smell doesn’t fully translate to the taste of them, unfortunately, but it does get pretty gosh darn close.

Now, if you had asked me how these were when I first stumbled upon them at a random gas station in central Pennsylvania, I would have given them a 10 out of 10 and told you to drop everything, seriously drop EVERYTHING, and do whatever you need to do to indulge in these. It’s been a few days, so I have had time to come back down to Earth from the high of finding them unexpectedly and experiencing their intense aroma.

These come in perfectly themed colors of dark brown, neon yellow, and off-white to mimic the product they are trying to emulate. These being M&M’s there is, of course, the glorious hard candy shell to bite into first. The main flavor of these is definitely chocolate, and you can tell it is prevalent throughout the bite. And, technically, if you look at the packaging, these are CHOCOLATE popcorn flavored treats.

There is a definite butter flavor with a hint of salt, at least as far as I can tell, but it is very light. As I ate more, the flavor seemed to diminish, and I could see potentially without the shell colors, bag, or smell someone could mistake these for regular crispy M&M’s, although a very creamy milk heavy version.

One component that is a slam dunk, or field goal, I guess I should say based on the sponsorship is the crisp rice core. It adds another crunchy texture in addition to shell, and this being a lighter one definitely reminds me of the crunch that popcorn would give.

All in all, these are delicious M&M’s with a light popcorn flavor as I have already downed 2.5 share size bags singlehandedly. I also applaud Mars for thinking outside the box with this inventive flavor. I just wish the butter flavor (and maybe the salt) was dialed up a few more notches as it would have truly knocked these out of the park flavor-wise. (Eeek sorry, would have made the flavor make an amazing touchdown flavor-wise, keeping with the theme.)

P.S – I wish Blue would have been chilling in a movie theater auditorium seat instead of with a football and eye black. I get the sponsorship, and that popcorn is a snack at stadiums, but not having a movie theater connection seems wrong.

P.P.S. – Rather than Blue holding a bucket of chocolate popcorn, shouldn’t it be a mixture of M&M’s and popcorn since that is what I originally thought they were drawing inspiration from when hearing about this flavor. Although maybe that is too meta and also means Blue is a cannibal. Eeek.

P.P.P.S. – Let’s not end on thinking about cannibalism, these are milk chocolatey with a hint of butter goodness, try them!

Purchased Price: $1.75 (2 for $3.50)
Size: 2.83 oz. Share Size Bag
Purchased at: Sheetz
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 27 g (1/3 of bag) – 130 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 40 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 15 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.