SPOTTED: Lay’s Kettle Cooked Ruffles All Dressed Potato Chips

/ / Spotted on Shelves / 6 Comments

I promise I’ll buy many, many, many, many bags of these, if you bring back Ruffles All Dressed to the US, Frito-Lay. I took it for granted and thought it would be around forever. Then you took it away. Bring it back and it won’t ever happen again. (Spotted by Chris W at Cub Foods.)

If you’re out shopping and see new products, snap a picture of them, and send them in via an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) with where you found them and “Spotted” in the subject line. Also, if you want to send in photos and are wondering if we’ve already covered something or if they’re new, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Shredded Beef Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco

/ / Reviews / 18 Comments

Have you heard about this new lawsuit against Taco Bell?

Some dude is suing the company because he says it deceives customers, stating the product is nothing like the advertising. I just wanna go on record right now that I am NOT the dude suing Taco Bell… despite the photos that will follow.

Look, I adore Taco Bell. When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is, “¡Yo quiero Taco Bell,” so I was obviously gonna try its new birria-inspired Shredded Beef Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco no matter what.

On the surface, the SBGCDT sounds great – a hard-shelled taco with a three-cheese blend of cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack baked on the outside. Inside you get braised shredded beef, a creamy jalapeño sauce, and more cheese for good measure. And if that’s not enough, it comes with two dipping sauces — nacho cheese and “red sauce.” How could you go wrong?

Well, I won’t mince words; my taco was an absolute crime scene. It was the messiest thing I’ve ever had at Taco Bell, and I’ve eaten the horrendously overrated Mexican Pizza.

There was only cheese on one side of the shell, and about five tacos worth of sauce blasted inside, which completely ruined the integrity of the entire thing. For something called a “dipping taco,” I had a really hard time picking it up, let alone dipping it.

I’m not one to complain (lol), and the (very nice) employees had a lunch rush to deal with, so I just soldiered on. I figured it looks bad, but I bet it still tastes good… and ya know what? It did, for the most part. You can literally see the lowlights, so I’ll focus on the highlights.

The birria-style shredded beef was excellent. It was seasoned well, super tender, and not even a little bit stringy. If it becomes a menu staple, I’m customizing all my meals going forward with shredded beef. The half-cheesed shell was limp, but I dig the general idea. It’s like a Cheesy Gordita Crunch without the outer soft tortilla.

There’s an epidemic in our society with over-saucing everything, and this jalapeño cream sauce went way beyond that. While it has a nice, slightly spicy kick, it needed to just be a dollop. Better yet, it should have been the dipper in place of nacho cheese, which is completely redundant.

The red sauce is really just a vague taco sauce, but I liked the consistency, which was similar to a thin spiced-up tomato bisque. It was actually a good “dip.”

I’m a little baffled by the concept in the sense that even if mine was clean and compact, it’s just a taco. That doesn’t seem like the right delivery system for a “dipper.” I get dipping taquitos, but an entire taco?

Assuming I got a properly constructed taco, I’d still toss this overall concept in the upper “mid” category. The grilled cheese taco shell and the pulled beef were both winning ideas. This isn’t the first time Taco Bell has done either of those things, but it should become a standard… just take it easy with the sauce.

I decided to rate this on taste and ignore the presentation. It was an absolute disaster to look at and a huge pain to eat, but I’d still rank it a “Hot” on the Taco Bell sauce chart. Sue me.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 300 calories, 19 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 580 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

Click here to read all our previous fast food reviews.

SPOTTED: 8/7/2023

/ / Spotted on Shelves

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

Great Value Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem Lemon Lime Yogurt
Great Value LOL Surprise Blue Raspberry Yogurt with Shimmer Confection

(Spotted by Robbie at Walmart.)

Friendly’s Super Hero Ice Cream Bars
Friendly’s Unicorn Sparkle Ice Cream Bars

(Spotted by DJ at Redner’s.)

Red’s Turkey Sausage Pizza Snacks

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Sprouts.)

Red’s PB&J’Wich Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam
Red’s PB&J’Wich Peanut Butter & Grape Jelly

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Sprouts.)

Quest Chocolatey Peanut Coated Candies

(Spotted by Erin K at Hy-Vee.)

Kodiak Banana Protein-Packed Muffin and Quick Bread Mix

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Target.)

Seven Sundays Oat Protein Cereal (Super Fruity, Simply Honey, and Chocolate Sea Salt)

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Sprouts.)

If you’re out shopping and see new products, snap a picture of them, and send them in via an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) with where you found them and “Spotted” in the subject line. Also, if you want to send in photos and are wondering if we’ve already covered something or if they’re new, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.

REVIEW: Doritos Spicy Pineapple Jalapeno

/ / Reviews / 6 Comments

Much like putting pineapples on pizzas, adding pineapple flavor to a Doritos chip is, um, unusual. And much like pineapple-bedazzled pizzas, I feel many folks won’t enjoy the uniqueness of Doritos Spicy Pineapple Jalapeno chips. Am I one of those people? Well, you have to read on to find out.

Having fruity-flavored Doritos shouldn’t be surprising since Frito-Lay added mango seasoning to its potato chips TWICE — the awful Lay’s Wavy Mango Salsa and the decent tasting, but not compelling enough to make me finish the bag, Lay’s Chile Mango. But now that pineapple flavor exists in the Doritos universe, which also includes pizza Doritos, should we expect a “Hawaiian” pizza variety someday?

When I first opened this Party Size bag, I got a strong hit of eau de pickled jalapeño with hints of something sweet that didn’t register as pineapple to my nose. Because of the bold peppery aroma, it reminded me of other Frito-Lay chips, like Lay’s Kettle Cooked Jalapeño. Their appearance also reminded me of other chips. If not for how they smelled, these could be mistaken for Doritos Cool Ranch or plain Toasted Corn Doritos at arm’s length.

My taste buds’ first impression of these wasn’t good. I guess they were shocked by the spicy, peppery, and fruity combination, which was a bit acrid at first. If I based my rating on those first few chips, I would’ve given these a three out of ten, but they got better after eating a few more. While the jalapeño and pineapple flavors were equal initially, the fruitiness stood out more after stuffing my face with more chips.

When I first started eating these, I thought having the pineapple there was weird. However, just like I got used to eating pineapples on pizza, my taste buds eventually accepted the fruitiness of these Doritos. I mean, the idea of pineapple flavor on Doritos is still odd, but it ended up tasting better than I thought it would. There were also times when my taste buds thought they noticed a bit of lime, which goes very well with spicy seasoning on chips, so maybe that’s why these grew on me. With that said, these aren’t as tasty as Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limón.

They’re also not as spicy as Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limón, but if you find Taco Bell’s Hot Sauce to be too hot, then you might want to avoid these.

Doritos Spicy Pineapple Jalapeno is not a flavor that will end up on my favorites list, and I think the pineapple and jalapeño combination might be too weird for some. But I do like it, and it has a unique taste that I feel is worth the money if your taste buds are adventurous.

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 13 3/4 oz bag (Party Size)
Purchased at: eBay (available at Walmart and Target)
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 11 chips) 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 2 gram of protein.

SPOTTED: M&M’s One For All & All For Fun Bag Design

/ / Spotted on Shelves / 1 Comment

As our friend @CandyHunting has pointed out, the new Purple M&M is missing from this colorful mix. (Spotted by Robbie at Target.)

If you’re out shopping and see new products, snap a picture of them, and send them in via an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) with where you found them and “Spotted” in the subject line. Also, if you want to send in photos and are wondering if we’ve already covered something or if they’re new, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.