Here are some interesting new or limited edition frozen foods found by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments.
Guinness Irish Nachos
Guinness Loaded Taters
Guinness Mac & Cheese Bites
(Spotted by Nicholas C at Food Lion.)
Ajinomoto Teriyaki Beef Take-out Box
Ittella Orange Tempura Cauliflower
Member’s Mark Applewood Smoked Bacon Mac & Cheese Bites
(Spotted by Richard at Sam’s Club.)
evol Korean BBQ Style Chicken and Shawarma Style Chicken
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 (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) 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.
Waysnack Machine is a series that looks back at discontinued products.
I’ve always loved popcorn. One of my favorite childhood memories is my dad making it in a pan, pouring the kernels out from one of those big plastic canisters of good ol’ Orville Redenbacher.
I’d stand there in the kitchen, waiting for the first pop, then listening to the following explosion of kernels, until we got down to that three-second count that meant it was ready. Then he would melt some butter in the already-hot pan and pour it over the bowl, adding generous amounts of salt.
There was one point, however, where I took ownership of my own popcorn destiny. That sentence has a really inflated sense of self-importance, but what I’m getting at is that in 1991, Pop Qwiz came out, and ten-year-old me was more than ready for it.
Why would a kid know or care about a very specific brand of popcorn? Well, Pop Secret (the maker of Pop Qwiz) went apeshit bonkers with their marketing. The commercial for Pop Qwiz had D-rate Zach Morris wearing a jacket I swear I owned, zany music, and a bunch of kids trying to win the “qwiz” (ugh) by guessing which color would “pop up next.”
You see, the gimmick behind Pop Qwiz was that it came in small, different-colored bags, but the color of the popcorn inside the bag didn’t necessarily match the color outside. That’s right, it was popcorn that came in neon-bright colors! Red, green, blue, yellow, purple, and…orange? I think orange was the sixth color. Obviously, yellow was the dud, since buttered popcorn already came in that color. I always considered green to be the win, as it seemed to be the most vibrant of the bunch.
In addition to the color guessing, there was also a bunch of puzzles and activities on the box. The popcorn equivalent of a breakfast cereal box. Between that and the commercials, who could resist?
It’s a shame the popcorn tasted like flavorless styrofoam and the bag held little more than a handful of popcorn. I’m not sure when Pop Qwiz was discontinued, because my interest soon waned, despite the novelty of colored popcorn. I guess I was just spoiled by my dad’s buttery, salty approach to making popcorn (and the copious amounts I received).
Mystery flavors have made a comeback recently, so I could see Pop Qwiz becoming popular once more. If they did bring it back, they’d better work on taste and portions, though, because novelty wears off quickly.
Update: We reviewed it! Click here to read our review.
The one item I miss having at my local Panda Express locations is sweet and sour pork. I don’t know when it disappeared, but it was my “Ugh, I have to wait five minutes for a fresh batch of Orange Chicken” replacement. But, for the next few months, Panda Express will be offering a new sweet and sour pork dish — Peking Pork.
The entree features crispy, lightly battered pork chop bites, with green bell peppers and onions tossed in a savory sweet and sour glaze.
A 5.6-ounce serving has 400 calories, 180 calories from fat, 20 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 960 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 20 grams of protein.
If you’ve tried it, let us know what you think of it in the comments.
From the makers of Takis. Are there Nitro and Xplosion popcorn too? (Spotted by Robbie at Target.)
If you’re out shopping and see an interesting new product on the shelf, snap a picture of it, and send us an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) 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, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.
McDonald’s is once again offering chicken tenders.
The first iteration came out over a decade ago and was around for many years. It was discontinued and replaced with Chicken Select Tenders, which was also discontinued. But you know what they say, “The third time is the chicken.”
McDonald’s new Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Tenders feature battered and breaded 100 percent white meat chicken with no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors. It’s available in 4-, 6-, and 10-piece servings with your choice of dipping sauce, which now includes a sweet and tangy Signature Sauce.
A 4-piece serving has 490 calories, 26 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 105 milligrams of cholesterol, 1360 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 39 grams of protein.
If you’ve tried it, let us know what you think of it in the comments.
