The Impulsive Buy

REVIEW: Salted Caramel Milky Way

Mike / October 16, 2019 / Reviews / 3 Comments

What is Salted Caramel Milky Way?

I’m of two minds when it comes to salted caramel. On the one hand, “We added salt!” seems like the absolute bare minimum a company can do to differentiate its product. On the other, salt is a magic rock that makes everything taste better, and salted caramel demonstrates this particularly well.

Mars’ latest addition to its famed Milky Way line of products is the Salted Caramel Milky Way. According to the nutrition facts, a typical Milky Way 2 to Go bar has 75 milligrams of sodium, and this one has 170. Will adding 95 milligrams of rock be enough to rise above the competition?

How is it?

Unlike the more gourmet salted caramels that you might find, there are no salt flakes on the outside of these bars – they look like plain Milky Ways. As I bite into the bar, the saltiness is striking but not overwhelming. I’ve always found Milky Ways to be a bit too sweet, so it takes a fair bit of saltiness to balance it out.

I take another bite and am surprised at the crunch. If this was a plain Milky Way, visions of insect endoskeletons and other foreign objects being ground into nougat would flash through my mind. In a salted caramel confection, it’s very pleasant. Context is everything. There may be not salt flakes on the outside, but they’re somewhere.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Given the vivid salty crunch, I expected to see some sizable flakes mixed in to the caramel, but close inspection doesn’t reveal any. This makes me think the caramel itself may not be the salted component in this bar.

But how to isolate the famously ooey-gooey bar into its constituent parts? The results of my freezer + meat mallet solution can be seen below.

Picking through the shards of candy, I taste some bits that are mostly caramel and mostly nougat and am convinced that this is actually a “Salted Nougat Milky Way.” Salted Nougat sounds like the kind of weird old-fashioned candy that your grandfather ate at the 1904 World’s Fair, so it’s understandable that Mars went with the more popular Salted Caramel moniker.

Conclusion:

The Salted Caramel Milky Way bar is an excellent addition to the Milky Way line. It’s noticeably salty with crunchy bits, which may be off-putting for some, but if you’re a fan of salted caramel, you’ll love it.

Purchased Price: $1.48
Size: 3.16 oz.
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) 210 calories, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 27 grams of sugar (including 25 grams added sugar), and 2 gram of protein.

SPOTTED (STORE BRANDS EDITION) – 10/16/2019

Marvo / October 16, 2019 / Spotted on Shelves / 4 Comments

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

Central Market H E B Limited Edition Italian Anise Cookie Organic Italian Soda — *Central Market H-E-B Limited Edition Italian Anise Cookie Organic Italian Soda*

(Spotted by Robbie at H-E-B.)

Trader Joe s Non Dairy Oat Beverage — *Trader Joe’s Non-Dairy Oat Beverage*

(Spotted by Rachel C at Trader Joe’s.)

*Kroger Private Selection Deep Dish Cookies*

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Kroger.)

Kroger Private Selection Roasted Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower — *Kroger Private Selection Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Cauliflower*

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Kroger.)

*Kroger Private Selection Mexican Inspired Elote Street Corn*

*Kroger White Cheddar Bacon Mashed Cauliflower*

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Kroger.)

*Kroger Simple Truth Organic Gluten Free Yellow Cake Baking Mix*

(Spotted by Rachel J at Fred Meyer.)

Hill Country Fare Sweet Cream Non Dairy Coffee Creamer — *Hill Country Fare Sweet Cream Non-Dairy Coffee Creamer*

*Hill Country Fare Hazelnut Coffee Creamer*

(Spotted by Robbie at H-E-B.)

H E B Simple Chocolate Flavored Syrup — *H-E-B Simple Chocolate Flavored Syrup*

(Spotted by Robbie at H-E-B.)

Buc ee s Jalapeno Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Jalapeno Kettle Style Potato Chips*

Buc ee s Sea Salt Cracked Pepper Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Kettle Style Potato Chips*

Buc ee s Mesquite BBQ Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Mesquite BBQ Kettle Style Potato Chips*

Buc ee s Zesty Dill Pickle Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Zesty Dill Pickle Kettle Style Potato Chips*

Buc ee s Salt Vinegar Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Salt & Vinegar Kettle Style Potato Chips*

Buc ee s Sour Cream Onion Kettle Style Potato Chips — *Buc-ee’s Sour Cream & Onion Kettle Style Potato Chips*

(Spotted by Robbie at Buc-ee’s.)

*Safeway Signature Reserve European Cookie Collection*

(Spotted by Rachel J at Safeway.)

H E B Beef Bone Broth — *H-E-B Beef Bone Broth*

H E B Chicken with Lemongrass Jalapeno Bone Broth — *H-E-B Chicken with Lemongrass Jalapeno Bone Broth*

H E B Chicken Bone Broth — *H-E-B Chicken Bone Broth*

H E B Chicken with Turmeric Bone Broth — *H-E-B Chicken with Turmeric Bone Broth*

H E B Chicken with Rosemary Lemon Bone Broth — *H-E-B Chicken with Rosemary Lemon Bone Broth*

(Spotted by Robbie at H-E-B.)

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’ve tried the product, share your thoughts about it in the comments.

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

SPOTTED: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Mexican Hot Chocolate Almondmilk

Marvo / October 15, 2019 / Spotted on Shelves / 1 Comment

Maybe it’s just me, but every dairy-free milk needs to have a Mexican hot chocolate flavor. Come on, Silk. Come on, Ripple. Come on, Oatly. Come on, So Delicious. Come on, Califia Farms. (Spotted by @ReneBarba89 at FoodMaxx.)

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 or if the product is old, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.

If you’ve seen the product, help out your fellow readers by letting them know in the comments what city and store you found it in.

SPOTTED: Sonic Root Beer Float and Banana Shake Instant Pudding Mixes

Marvo / October 15, 2019 / Spotted on Shelves

I’d like to see Sonic Blasts in ice cream pint form next. (Spotted by Lisa D at Walmart.)

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

If you’ve seen the product, help out your fellow readers by letting them know in the comments what city and store you found it in.

REVIEW: Mountain Dew Maui Burst

Marvo / October 15, 2019 / Reviews / 5 Comments

I’ve openly expressed my desire for a pineapple-flavored Mountain Dew for years to anyone who would listen and to stationary objects. I’ve thought about how it would look, smell, and taste. And I’ve dreamed about what would happen if that Dew became a reality. I imagined celebrating by slow dancing with a giant pineapple, squeezing it hard with so much joy that it explodes and makes it rain pineapple juice.

Well, I’m ready for my dance, giant pineapple! And that violent fruit dream is the reason why I don’t eat spicy pineapple salsa before going to sleep anymore.

Mountain Dew Maui Burst is currently an exclusive variety at Dollar General. Its can describes it as, “Dew with a blast of pineapple flavor. With other natural flavors.”

But before I get into how it tastes, I’m pretty sure many of you Dew Dew Heads, like myself, are wondering what kind of sweeteners are used. Well, I’m happy to report it’s good ol’ high fructose corn syrup, and that’s it. No sucralose. No acesulfame potassium. No stevia. No aspartame. No saccharin. No mogrosides. No beet sugar. No sugar alcohols. No cane sugar. Just H-F-C and S.

What I can detect with my nose and taste buds is that the pineapple is the star of the show, while the citrus Dew flavors take a backseat. Maui Burst’s flavor is like what I imagined it would be — a Mountain Dew that tastes like it’s been mixed with some pineapple juice. It’s simple, but I love it.

For me, it has easily jumped into my top five favorite Dew varieties of all time, which include Pitch Black, Code Red, and, of course, the original one. Also, I imagine this would go great with some Taco Bell.

Although I think it’s wonderful, I can see how some might feel the pineapple is a little too heavy-handed, like they’ve bear-hugged a giant pineapple while dancing with it, causing it to explode, and making it rain juice into their open mouths.

In my pre-Maui Burst dreams, I thought a pineapple Dew would be bright yellow. Fortunately, for Mtn Dew’s social media person, who would’ve been blasted with thousands of notifications with the word “pee” in them, it’s not. Instead, it’s a lighter shade of regular Mtn Dew.

Again, it’s a Dollar General exclusive, and, unfortunately, there are no Dollar General stores in Hawaii (hence the reason why I bought it on eBay). So folks on the island of Maui can’t get their hands on Mtn Dew Maui Burst, which is sad because it’s a great flavor.

Purchased Price: Too much on eBay
Size: 16 fl. oz. can
Purchased at: Dollar General
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (16 fl. oz.) 220 calories, 0 grams of fat, 75 milligrams of sodium, 59 grams of carbohydrates, 59 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

Mountain Dew Mtn Dew Soda

REVIEW: Salted Caramel Milky Way

What is Salted Caramel Milky Way?

How is it?

Is there anything else you need to know?

Conclusion:

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SPOTTED (STORE BRANDS EDITION) – 10/16/2019

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SPOTTED: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Mexican Hot Chocolate Almondmilk

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SPOTTED: Sonic Root Beer Float and Banana Shake Instant Pudding Mixes

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REVIEW: Mountain Dew Maui Burst

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