Year: 2012

NEWS: It’s Easier For Your Kids To Become Lemonade Tycoons With Lemonade and Blueberry Lemonade MiO

Marvo 6 Comments

2012-05-24 04.08.31

When I was in sixth grade, I opened a lemonade stand in my neighborhood to make money so that I could buy Choose Your Own Adventure books. Unfortunately, not a lot of foot and car traffic went through my neighborhood, it’s a pain in the ass to squeeze lemons, and I didn’t understand the concept of ratios. My lemonade ended up being either too sour, too watery, or too cavity causing.

If only I had the new MiO Lemonade and Blueberry Lemonade Liquid Water Enhancers back then…or Countrytime lemonade powder mix…or the courage to shoplift, then I would’ve had all of the Choose Your Adventure books.

Like the other MiO flavors, these two new varieties have 0 calories and can make 24 eight-ounce servings per bottle. But more importantly, there’s no seeds to worry about or lemon juice flying into my eyes. Just squeeze the instructed amount into eight ounces of water and voila!

NEWS: Dunkin’ Donuts Revamps Their Bagels and Adds The Word ‘Artisan’ To Their Name

Marvo 1 Comment

What’s with the word “artisan”?

It appears to be the hot marketing adjective right now. It’s been used to describe pizza, breakfast sandwiches, and tortilla chips. Now Dunkin’ Donuts is attaching “artisan” to their improved bagels.

Dunkin’ Donuts new bagels feature “a soft and chew texture with bolder flavors.” They come in the same varieties they came in before such as Plain, Multigrain, Sesame, Poppy Seed, Blueberry, Salt, Onion, and Cinnamon Raisin.

Along with the normal flavors, Dunkin’ Donuts introduced two new limited time only flavors, Sun Dried Tomato and Pumpernickel. Oh, but that’s not all the bagel news coming from Dunkin’. They also introduced a new reduced fat Artichoke Spinach Cream Cheese.

The Artisan Bagels are available all day long.

I shall end this post with a couple of facts about Dunkin’ Donuts bagels.

1. Dunkin’ Donuts is the number one retailer of bagels in the United States.

2. A Dunkin’ Donuts Artisan Salt Bagel has 3,350 milligrams of sodium. If you top it with the new reduced fat Artichoke Spinach Cream Cheese, the amount jumps to 3,550. Take that, every Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s burger!

REVIEW: International Delight Original Iced Coffee

Marvo 68 Comments

International Delight Original Iced Coffee

I’m gonna find me a long straw and make me a sessanta coffee with this half gallon of International Delight Original Iced Coffee.

What’s a sessanta?

What? You don’t stick random words into Google Translate when you’re bored? For those of you too lazy to click this link and then hit your browser’s back button when you’re done, here are a few hints to help you figure out what sessanta is. If venti is Italian for twenty, trenta is Italian for thirty, and a half gallon contains 64 ounces, then sessanta is…

That’s right, you guessed it…a bladder-filling amount of coffee.

Well, the International Delight Original Iced Coffee isn’t just coffee, there’s also dairy…lots of dairy. If you like your iced coffee as black as I like my iPads, you will not enjoy this.

There’s possibly an udder’s worth of dairy. How much dairy is that? Let’s just say when you’re drinking it you shouldn’t be around one of those people who might say in a douchey tone, “Would you like more coffee with your cream?”

Actually, it shouldn’t be surprising it tastes like it’s mostly dairy since International Delight is known for making the poor excuse for coffee your damn co-worker makes every morning taste better with their liquid coffee creamers that come in flavors like hazelnut, French vanilla, Cinnabon, and Cold Stone Creamery Sweet Cream.

But what about the coffee?

It’s made with 100 percent premium Arabica coffee, which is known for its never-bitter flavor and it’s the same variety of beans Starbucks uses. So if the International Delight Original Iced Coffee uses the same coffee as Starbucks, it must have a Starbucks-like price. For a half gallon, you’d think it would cost about a kigillion dollars, but a carton is around the same price as a trenta-sized Starbucks iced coffee.

As I said earlier, International Delight went heavy on the dairy by adding skim milk and cream to the coffee, both of which gave the iced coffee a pleasing creamy consistency. Or it could’ve been the ingredients gellan gum and carrageenan that gave it its viscosity. The iced coffee is also very sweet, thanks to the sugar and corn syrup added.

International Delight Original Iced Coffee Closeup

A cup of International Delight Original Iced Coffee tastes like I’m drinking melted coffee ice cream. But I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. Because while this stuff is really yummy, I can’t help but think how unhealthy it would be to drink this creamy beverage regularly.

Yes, regularly.

International Delight is hoping you drink their iced coffee instead of visiting Starbucks, which for some of you is a daily ritual. Sure, by not going to Starbucks you avoid long lines, easy listening music, and the possibility of having your name horribly misspelled on your cup, but a 12-ounce sweetened Starbucks iced coffee with whole milk has 90 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 18 grams of sugar, while a 12-ounce glass of International Delight Original Iced Coffee has 225 calories, 3.75 grams of fat, and 34 grams of sugar.

Also, the carton says nothing about its caffeine content. I need to know how much caffeine it has because I need to supplement if it has too little, and if it has too much I need to make sure I don’t do any spontaneous parkouring to burn off the excess energy. After drinking it, I did feel a slight energy boost, but I’m not sure if it was the caffeine from the coffee, the sugar, or both.

Again, the International Delight Original Iced Coffee is damn good. It’s so good that will hold an open carton above my open mouth and bang the carton’s sides with my other hand to get every last drop of it. However, because of its high sugar content it would be a horrible idea to stick a straw into one and make it a sessanta iced coffee.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 cup – 150 calories, 25 calories from fat, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 105 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 15% calcium, and 4% iron.)

Item: International Delight Original Iced Coffee
Price: $4.99
Size: Half gallon
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: My goodness, it’s yummy. Creamy. Smooth. It’s like drinking melted coffee ice cream. Cheaper than Starbucks. It’s a frickin’ half gallon of iced coffee. Google Translate.
Cons: Too easy to drink. Lots of dairy. Lots of sugar. Don’t know caffeine content. It’s like drinking melted ice cream. Your co-worker not knowing how to make coffee.

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 4/3/2012

Marvo 4 Comments

New products are released all the time and here are some we found on our most recent shopping trips. We may or may not review them, but we’d like to let you know what new items are popping up on store shelves.

Jet-Puffed JUMBO EggMallows on shelf

With the right PVC tubing, these jumbo marshmallows would make wonderful ammunition for a double barreled marshmallow shotgun. Also, I want to buy a bag just so I can see how silly it would look to place one of them in a mug of hot cocoa.

Newman's Own Complete Skillet Meal for Two on shelf

I thought Tupac has released a lot of things posthumously, but Paul Newman has him beat. These Newman’s Own Complete Skillet Meals are meant for two and come in five flavors: Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo; Chicken Florentine & Farfalle; Chicken Parmigiana & Penne Garlic Chicken, Vegetables & Farfalle; and Italian Sausage & Rigatoni. Just pour the contents of the bag into a skillet, heat it up for 10 minutes, and enjoy.

Stouffer's Farmers Harvest Steam Bags on shelf

Newman’s Own isn’t the only company that recently put out bagged frozen meals. Stouffer’s Farmers Harvest line now comes in microwaveable steam bags. There are five varieties: Cheesy Southwest-Style Chicken, Chicken Florentine, Creamy Shrimp Scampi, Five Cheese Tortelloni, and Garlic Chicken. You provide the plate and utensils, and Stouffer’s will supply the food that will force you to wash the plate and utensils.

Ruffles Loaded Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins on shelf

I learned about these in February, thanks to a Fatguy Food Blog review, and I’ve been looking for them since. Recently, they popped up at my local Safeway. While I did buy a bag, a part of me doesn’t think it’s very creative to make a potato chip flavor that tastes like something else that’s made with potatoes.

Doritos Dinamita on shelf

Photo via Impulsive Buy reader Travis.

These have just started to roll out nationwide at Walmart stores, but were released in February in certain markets in the Midwest, Texas, and Western U.S. If only the Hispanic population here on these rocks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean made up more than nine percent of our total population, then we could’ve gotten Doritos Dinamita earlier. Here’s a review of the Nacho Picoso flavor from our friends over at Review Spew.

If you’re out shopping and see a new product on the shelf, snap a picture of it, email it to us at theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com, and you might see it in our next Spotted on Shelves post.

REVIEW: Glaceau VitaminWater Attention

Marvo 13 Comments

VitaminWater Attention

When I first saw the new VitaminWater Attention bottle, I thought to myself, “Finally, a VitaminWater for horny men!”

The label is green, which everyone knows is the horny color, and if you’ve got a dirty mind, the word “attention” screams erection. And the red liquid represents the blood which…well, you boys and girls know how an erection works.

I thought a VitaminWater for sexual health was a logical next step since it seems there’s a VitaminWater for every situation. Need energy? There’s VitaminWater Energy. Need to focus? There’s VitaminWater Focus. Want healthy skin? There’s VitaminWater Zero Glow. Want the courage to face a tiger in a raw meat vest? There’s probably a VitaminWater for that too and it might be called VitaminWater Nerve or something like that.

And the list goes on and on until the break of dawn.

However, after reading the label, it turns out VitaminWater Attention isn’t liquid Viagra, instead it’s kind of a liquid Ritalin that helps one focus. Color me Viagra blue with disappointment.

So how does VitaminWater help one focus?

I was hoping they found a way to bottle YouTube cat videos because, my goodness, they’re really good at grabbing my attention and keeping it, but instead Glaceau does it with a 1-2 punch of 87 milligrams of caffeine and 15 grams of glucose.

With the amount of caffeine it has, I believe VitaminWater Attention is the most caffeinated VitaminWater on the market, and it has more of the good stuff than a skinny can of Red Bull. While this VitaminWater has a decent amount of caffeine, I’m not sure about the glucose. But I do know studies have shown glucose helps with mental performance.

VitaminWater Attention is Fuji apple and watermelon flavored, which explains the green label and red liquid much better than my reasoning (see 2nd paragraph). If you like watered down apple flavored products, that’s not like drinking severely watered down apple juice, you’ll enjoy this particular beverage. However, if you’re hoping for a watered down watermelon flavored product, VitaminWater Attention is probably not for you. There is a little bit of watermelon flavor, but it comes with the slight tartness at the end of each swig. Yes, tartness doesn’t happen with actual watermelon, but does with a particular watermelon hard candy I’m tired of naming that rhymes with Golly Blancher.

Although VitaminWater Attention doesn’t have a lot of watermelon flavor, I kind of like it. It’s pleasant and refreshing. As for helping me focus, I thought the caffeine did its job, but it’s hard for me to determine if the glucose did anything. With cocaine, 15 grams is a lot, but I have no idea if 15 grams of glucose is a lot or a little.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 bottle – 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 31 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, 100% vitamin C, 100% vitamin B6, 100% vitamin B12, and 100% pantothenic acid.)

Other Glaceau VitaminWater Attention reviews:
Foodette Reviews (Really hated it)
Drink What (Enjoyed it)

Item: Glaceau VitaminWater Attention
Price: $1.00 (on sale)
Size: 20 ounces
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Pleasant watered down apple flavor. 87 milligrams of caffeine. Awesome source of Vitamin C. Awesome source of B vitamins. VitaminWater for every situation. No bitterness from caffeine. It’s got electrolytes.
Cons: Not much watermelon flavor. 31 grams of sugar per bottle. Not sure if 15 grams of glucose is a lot or a little. Not a VitaminWater for sexual health.