Category: General

Starting today (Monday, April 13), TIB will not accept Spotted photos taken in stores, until further notice. If you happen to spot something new, and it’s something you plan on buying, and you’d like to let your fellow TIB readers know about it, please take a photo of it at home.

With this way of doing things, we won’t have photos of a lot of new products, but that’s okay. Safety is the number one concern during these times.

If you’ve sent in photos sometime within the past few days, we’ll be posting them throughout this week and maybe next week.

Stay safe, everyone!

Marvo
Editor

Welcome to The Impulsive Buy’s 2019 Season of Giving!

(I’ll pause here to let you all celebrate)

Now the bad news.

In previous years, we did multiple prize drawings for things like gift cards and mystery boxes. This year, we’re giving away ONE large mystery box to a lucky Impulsive Buy reader. What’s in the mystery box? Well, it wouldn’t be a mystery if I told you.

But I will say this, a number of brands have sent me free samples and swag over the past year, so those are some of the items you’ll find in the mystery box. I also have included extras of products I purchased for review.

Among those extras is a product that made my taste buds hate the rest of me for a few days. But I didn’t write a review about it because it’s not available in stores. Hopefully, it doesn’t come out in stores. What is it? You’ll have to win this box to find out.

So how can you win this mystery box?

RULES:

To enter this prize drawing for this Mystery Box, leave a comment with THIS post that answers the following question:

Out of all the new food products that came out in 2019, what were your favorites?

Don’t forget to fill out the email field because we’ll be emailing the randomly selected winner for his or her mailing address.

We will stop accepting entries on December 31, 2019 at 9:00 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. Only one comment allowed per person, and it’s only open to U.S. residents 18 years old or older.

Just a note: If you post a comment and it doesn’t show up, it ended up in our comment spam folder for some strange reason. There’s no need to attempt to post another comment. I’ll be pulling those out of the comment spam vortex regularly.

Good luck!

FINE PRINT: The Impulsive Buy promises your email address will not be used to send you emails about how you owe us $5.99 via PayPal or else your account will be limited. The Impulsive Buy also promises your mailing address will not be used to send you the tears of a unicorn contained in a crystal bottle that was blown using the fiery breath of a dragon. Bribes will not be accepted. The Impulsive Buy will not be responsible for lost mail or damaged mail.

Hello, readers!

My name is Julie, and when I received the invitation to write reviews for The Impulsive Buy, I was drafting a recipe for “Leftover Halloween Candy Ice Cream.” Now I raise a waffle cone to toast you, my fellow snack enthusiasts in the pursuit of all things novel and delicious. (Anyone want a Milk Dud?)

I live in Pennsylvania, where snow and epic windstorms deter trick-or-treaters and where I work in online higher education. While my days are spent designing educational courses, culinary courses (and lame puns and wordplay) fill my spare time. While my background is in literature and composition, my creative writing pursuits have been dulled by years of composing e-mails that use phrases like “touch base,” “keep in the loop,” and “per my last e-mail.” In an office culture where colleagues call sugar “evil” and moderation “extremism,” sneaking a Snickers bar in my lunch bag feels like a subversive act. I’ve never been much of a rebel, but junk food is definitely a worthy cause.

Food has always played a profound role in my life, serving as the gooey caramel center of some of my most cherished memories. While I love to cook and bake, dreaming of someday infiltrating the Great British Baking Show and reducing Paul Hollywood to tears with my mixed berry layer cake, my 1990s upbringing instilled a deep and lasting love of snacks with cartoon characters on the box.

In the golden age of junk food, I kept a secret stash of Creme Savers under my bed, fought my siblings for the last Froot by the Foot, and knew that any day beginning with Waffle Crisp was bound to be a good one. I still eat more Bagel Bites per capita than the average adult, but junk food blogs like The Impulsive Buy help me to continue chasing the high.

Although my sweet tooth is legendary, I’m willing to try anything twice, especially if it’s pizza. I love novelty items and the small thrill of hunting for treasure up and down the aisles of the grocery store. If there’s a hot trend in frozen food, I want to be the first one to know. While everyone’s at the beach, my summer vacation means a pilgrimage to the nearest Trader Joe’s a couple of hours away in a car loaded with coolers and ice packs. Time for back-to-school shopping? Time to buy every new pumpkin spice item on the shelves! Loving food makes every day a special occasion, even if that only means finding “those hazelnut spread M&M’s I read about” to enjoy later.

What I thought was a weird obsession turned out to be a shared philosophy centered on reveling in the joys of everyday life. I am psyched to share the love with fellow likeminded junk foodies, who can appreciate a limited edition Oreo flavor the way a wine enthusiast savors a fine sauvignon blanc. Maybe together we can form a dedicated tribe to storm the Betty Crocker headquarters and demand the return of Dunkaroos. We’re gonna bring those things back, guys!

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Elaine!

Hi! I’m Elaine and I’m like a foodie-Superman with a lot less powers and no toned abs. Like Superman, I have speed – I can scarf a cheeseburger faster than anybody I know. I also have enhanced senses and can identify when dessert is nearby. As an avid consumer of edible goods with years of experience eating and critiquing nutritionally bad food, I’ve been honing these superpowers.

I’m always on the lookout for new and better tasting products to try. Carbohydrates, in any form, call to me. Are carbs my yellow sun or kryptonite? Huh. Naturally and like many of you, I found TIB years ago and now check it daily. I’m delighted to now be a TIB reviewer. What’s better than trying scrumptious products while subsidizing a food addiction?

While I have a day job that requires a lot of work, I spend my free time daydreaming of delicious dishes to try. Prior to the years of training and education required for my day job, I honed my palate by working at Taco Bell. I come from a long line of Taco Bell employees. Seriously, this line includes my mother, sister, brother, cousin, second cousin, and probably some other relatives I don’t know about.

I have also worked as part of the Hy-Vee family, a Midwest supermarket chain. Hopefully you’ll find these qualifications worthy of a cape. No skintight suit for me please (see ab description above).

I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve you, TIB readers, by reviewing new food products and sharing whatever tangential, but hopefully interesting, thoughts come to mind. Now to find a phone booth…

Respectfully, Elaine

Well, Gouda day to you, and aloe me to introduce myself!

My name is Sam, and I am a food-obsessed, food-loving, and food pun-loving individual, and you butter dill with it! Ok, I’m done with the lame puns.

To kick things off, I am a born-and-raised Wisconsinite, so I’ve got the heart and soul to deal with anything fried, hearty, or related to good food. I know how to properly eat cheese (fried) and how to differentiate between all creamed goods that come from a cow. Seriously, some of the ice cream flavors in Wisconsin are utter this world. Ok, last one.

I grew up in a town right outside of Green Bay and have loved discovering new food products and recipes since I was a little kid. However, there was always an issue with where I grew up. I never had access to the cool and trending options and products that plaster themselves in all large, urban areas. For Heaven’s sake, if I want a decent vegan burger, I need to drive two and a half hours to Milwaukee. Not that I have done that. Not at all.

Anyhoo, since I didn’t always have access to the most exciting foods, ya know, besides fried cheese and custard, I was so excited when I could get my hands on something new. I mean, after a while, a diet of dairy, dairy, dairy, and fried dairy tends to get a little lifeless.

As much I love cows and cows, I really need to move to a bigger city. Eventually, I want to get to Chicago, so I can start being even more of a scatterbrain with just a little more chaos because what’s the fun in being sane? Plus, I’ve been to Chicago every year, and their food game is honestly stronger than a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson cheat meal.

I am so excited to be joining The Impulsive Buy to give a fun glimpse into various products and review them so that I can help you in your life. Should you disagree with an opinion of mine on food, you’ll be wrong, but we can still coexist. I’m absolutely kidding, but I will make you prove me wrong about a cheese curd.

I look forward to reviewing all the fun, sugary, and tasty treats for this site, and I have one motto going forward: If it has greens or kale in it, I’m not wasting my time.

Here we go!

Sam