Tag: Great Value

REVIEW: Great Value Holiday Sugar Cookie Popcorn

Mark 4 Comments

Great Value Holiday Sugar Cookie Popcorn

What is Great Value Holiday Sugar Cookie Popcorn?

Walmart’s store brand has upped its game when it comes to seasonal products. One of its new yuletide items is a sugar cookie–flavored microwave popcorn. Even though “sugar” is in the name, there’s no sugar added; this microwave popcorn is flavored by “natural and artificial flavor” and sucralose.

How is it?

I had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. My coworker said, “It’s like they took a syringe and injected a full sugar cookie in each corn.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s definitely adjacent to a sugar cookie flavor.

Great Value Holiday Sugar Cookie Popcorn Closeup

It has a buttery element that is less reminiscent of popcorn and more reminiscent of sugar cookies. It’s sweet, but not as sweet as kettle corn. This would be a great snack to munch on while watching a holiday movie like How the Wonderful Elf Died Hard Home Alone on 34th Street.

Still, though, it’s not addicting. I usually can inhale popcorn (as long as it’s not overly saturated with artificial butter flavor), but with this sweet version, I’m satisfied with a handful or two, and I don’t feel like eating more.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Is there anything else you need to know?

I obeyed the packaging’s rule not to use the microwave’s popcorn button, even though everyone ignores that. The recommended minute and forty-five seconds was perfect for my home microwave, but it was entirely too short for the office microwave.

Also, it tastes much better than it smells.

Conclusion:

I can’t munch on this treat indefinitely, but Great Value deserves an A for ingenuity.

Purchased Price: $1.98
Size: 14.04 oz. box (6 bags)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bag) 340 calories, 21 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 350 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of total sugars, 0 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Great Value Dessert Pizzas (Apple Cinnamon, Pineapple, and S’mores)

Ann 12 Comments

Great Value Dessert Pizzas

Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening – Walmart has pizza for all the times!

(That fits the tune, right? Did you sing along as you read it? Solid.) ??It’s true, Walmart has decided we, as a species, don’t have enough solutions to our 24-hour pizza needs and has launched both a breakfast and a dessert line of pizzas. I, for one, will always and forever hail the cold-leftover-slice-of-pizza-straight-out-of-the-fridge as one of the most satisfying breakfast foods out there (HOW is it so delicious hot and cold?), so I went out to find the dessert situation it’s created.??I was lucky enough to stumble upon all three flavors of the new Great Value (I’ll be the judge of that) dessert pizzas and immediately knew I had to try them all — Pineapple, Cinnamon Apple, and S’ mores.

Great Value Cinnamon Apple Dessert Pizza Raw

Apple Cinnamon straight out of the box had enormous apple pieces atop the pizza along with blobs splattered of what I assume was supposed to be the icing drizzle. The word “drizzle” in the product description and image on the box is an outright lie.

Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza Raw

Pineapple had bright, appetizing pineapple pieces, a visible cinnamon sauce, and like its apple brethren, icing blobs trying their best to meet expectations of a “drizzle” but failing miserably.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Raw

S’ mores appeared to be the closest to the image on the front of the package and had a plethora of marshmallows, chocolate pieces, and graham crumble. ??The prep instructions are straightforward, and the pizzas even come pre-wrapped sitting in an ovenable (real word, I looked it up) tray. So all you had to do was pull off the plastic wrap and pop it straight into the oven!

Great Value Cinnamon Apple Dessert Pizza Baked

With the Apple Cinnamon one, I didn’t realize when I got excited about the giant apple pieces that it takes longer than 18 minutes to heat those pieces of frozen apple. They were thawed but STILL COLD. They also had no added cinnamon/sugar flavor. When I bit into the pizza, I got a mix of decently-toasty sweet crust, lukewarm flavorless sugar goo icing, and a cold mass of apple that filled my mouth with cold liquid when I bit into it and didn’t taste like anything. It. Was. Horrible.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Baked

The s’ mores pizza looked and smelled the most appetizing of the three. I mean, are we surprised? The crust was perfectly baked, solidly crispy on the bottom, but very soft (and thicker than I thought it would be) throughout. Honestly, this tasted like a big open-face chocolate babka with marshmallows, and I wasn’t mad at it. But I do wish the graham crumble and marshmallows had a strong enough flavor to compete with the chocolate. It was definitely the best of the three but didn’t quite live up to the s’ mores hype.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Closeup

Sidebar about the crust – all three dessert pizzas say they’re made on a waffle crust. I tried really hard to believe what I was eating was a waffle base, but it wasn’t. It was still delightful, but more of a sweetened dessert focaccia than a waffle. There weren’t even any square indents.

Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza Baked

I realize that when I say this, many of you will roll your eyes so loud that I’ll be able to hear it — I like pineapple and ham pizza.

(Please stay calm)

Once baked, the Great Value Pineapple Dessert Pizza has a flavor that I imagine a pineapple upside-down cake on cinnamon toast would have. The crust was fine. It was sweet and definitely not a waffle. The cinnamon sauce could have had more of the warm spice, and the fruit chunks were delightful. Though, I’d still pick the cake version if forced to choose. For those of you who hate the golden fruit on pizza, this probably isn’t good enough to make a turncoat out of you.

Great Value S mores Dessert Pizza Slices

Overall, there’s a LOT of food for less than $5 with these pizzas, but the s’ mores one is the only one worth buying.

Purchased Price: $4.74 each
Size: 23.95 oz. (Apple Cinnamon), 23.55 oz. (Pineapple), 20.7 oz. (S’mores)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 2 out of 10 (Apple Cinnamon), 5 out of 10 (Pineapple), 6 out of 10 (S’mores)
Nutrition Facts: (1/5 pizza) Cinnamon Apple – 320 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 370 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. Pineapple – 310 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 330 milligrams of sodium, 49 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 18 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. (1/4 pizza) S’mores – 420 calories, 12 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 430 milligrams of sodium, 74 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 30 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Great Value Danish Butter Cookie Coffee Creamer

Meghan 1 Comment

Great Value Danish Butter Cookie Coffee Creamer

What is Great Value’s Danish Butter Cookie Creamer?

Walmart’s Great Value Danish Butter Cookie Creamer is a union between an often overshadowed holiday treat and similarly underappreciated line of private-label coffee accoutrements. It promises to give you the ability to freely pour the nostalgic flavor of Danish Butter cookies into your morning cup of joe.

How is it?

Considering that Danish Butter Cookies are one of the best treats to pair with coffee, it should be no surprise this creamer is ideally suited for your morning caffeine. It’s sweet enough to take the bitter edge off a fresh cup without adding additional sugar. Also, the creamer’s predominant flavors of vanilla and butter complemented my drink well.

Great Value Danish Butter Cookie Coffee Creamer 2

After trying this in several different types of coffee, this tastes best when used alongside light or medium roast beans. It’s passable enough in bolder brews, but I found that darker ones tend to drown out some of the creamer’s flavor.

To be honest, I can’t believe Walmart was the first company to think of making a creamer like this. Coffee-mate and International Delight have covered everything from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to Strawberry Cheesecake, so I would have figured that one of them would have developed a butter cookie flavor first.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Since I got the taste of Butter Cookies when I tried it in java, I got curious as to whether drinking it on its own would be like the Danish variation of Target’s Sugar Cookie Milk.

Walmart s Great Value Danish Butter Cookie 3

Lesson learned: It’s not. Without coffee to hide the artificial flavor, sipping this by itself tastes less like a cookie and more like how a vanilla Yankee Candle smells.

Conclusion:

If you prefer your joe on the light to medium side and have been looking for a new creamer to try, then I’d say Walmart’s Great Value Danish Butter Cookie Creamer is worth a shot. Just don’t expect to be able to leave out a straight glass of this for Santa without getting coal in your stocking.

Purchased Price: $2.48
Size: 32 fl. oz.
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 tablespoon) 30 calories, 1 gram of total fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 5 grams of total sugars, 5 grams of added sugars, and 0 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Great Value Frosted Mystery Toaster Pastries

Leonard 6 Comments

Great Value Frosted Mystery Toaster Pastries

What is it?

Walmart’s store brand Great Value brings some excitement to your morning by releasing a Frosted Mystery Flavored Toaster Pastry. It comes in a fun multicolored box complete with question marks and a magnifying glass. The pastries themselves have white frosting and crunchy white bits but most intriguing is its clear filling that doesn’t give off any clues to its real flavor.

How is it?

As mentioned above, the mystery aspect is well executed throughout both the product and packaging. So well done in that regard. These also had a nice doughy taste that was pleasantly surprising.

Great Value Frosted Mystery Toaster Pastries 2

However, if we go back to the mystery flavor aspect of it, it might’ve been taken a little too far as I can’t figure out for the life of me what it could be. I enjoyed eating them as the mixtures of textures between the crunchy bits, frosting, dough, and sticky filling were all very satisfying. The flavor, though? I HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE.

Great Value Frosted Mystery Toaster Pastries 3

I ate an entire box, dissected one to isolate the filling, and even asked friends for help, but all to no avail. They have a sweet, definitely fruity taste but not enough flavor to lead my taste buds to anything more specific. I couldn’t even narrow it down to some potentials.

Is there anything else I need to know?

The ingredients list does offer up a morsel of info in that white grape juice concentrate is one of the things listed. However, upon further thought, this is likely how they executed the clear filling because it also does say natural flavors too.

Since toaster pastries are meant to be, well, toasted, I thought this action would help me out and unearth its true flavor. Did it work? Absolutely not. I was still stumped eating the warmed-up concoction.

Conclusion:

This is a decent store brand Pop-Tart that’s kind of tasty and fun with its white/clear elements that beg you to investigate the mystery! However, anticipation and excitement soon leads to frustration as you realize the flavor isn’t nearly intense enough to guide you anywhere. What a bummer.

Purchased Price: $1.00
Size: 6-pack
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 pastries) 390 calories, 9 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 74 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 40 grams of sugar and 3 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Great Value Associates Choice Apple Pie Ice Cream

Mike 3 Comments

Great Value Associates Choice Apple Pie Ice Cream

What is it?

Great Value Associates Choice Apple Pie Ice Cream features vanilla custard flavored ice cream with an apple butter ribbon and cinnamon sugar shortbread pieces.

You know that small diner down the street? The one that will totally blend up a piece of their apple pie in a milkshake if you ask? Ideally, that’s what this is, just in your grocer’s freezer instead.

How is it?

I’m not sure what the difference between vanilla ice cream, frozen vanilla custard, and “vanilla custard flavored ice cream” is, but this tastes like plain vanilla ice cream to me. It’s good ice cream with a mild cinnamon spice flavor, but vanilla ice cream nonetheless. After it gets a bit melty, a very subtle apple flavor appears and completes the pie flavor.

Great Value Associates Choice Apple Pie Ice Cream 2

The shortbread pieces have a 50/50 shot of being either impressively crispy or as soggy as you’d expect. Their flavor contribution is modest in either case.

Is there anything else I need to know?

The apple butter ribbon is almost completely absent, which is a shame because it’s an unconventional ice cream inclusion that could’ve elevated it above other store brand ice creams.

Great Value Associates Choice Apple Pie Ice Cream 3

Plus, I really like apple butter, so I was looking for it. Believe me, I dug as greedily and fervently as the Dwarves of Moria. If I had delved any deeper into that carton, a Balrog of Morgoth may have been awakened. Then my ice cream would’ve melted.

Conclusion:

Great Values Associates should be a bit choosier. It’s not a bad product, but some shortcomings keep it from achieving its full potential.

Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: 48 fl. oz.
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (68 grams) 150 calories, 7 grams grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 50 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.