Two For Tuesday (The Grocery Store Edition)

This weekend two new products caught my eye at the grocery store.

It’s no surprise why these were interesting. Kashi? Chocolate? Say no more.

I was a bit put off by the nutrition information:

With 160 calories per serving, they are much higher than my go-to chocolate fixes: Cliff Chocolate Brownie Z-Bars (130 calories) and Deep Chocolate VitaMuffins (100 calories). Although the fiber content is high for a snack bar, so is the fat content, and the ingredient list is long. Still, they are from Kashi and they were on sale, so I tried them.

Honestly, I was not impressed. There is an off taste that screams “I am a ‘healthy’ food trying to taste indulgent.” (Maybe it’s the sweet potatoes?) I would never attempt to get my family to try them, and I’m not even sure that I would recommend them to my Kashi-loving friends. I can’t even see myself choosing to have one again instead of a Cliff Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar or Deep Chocolate VitaMuffin, so I probably will put the rest of the box up for grabs in my office kitchen.

When I got to the dairy aisle, a woman was sampling new Keurig “iced” products, including Celestial Seasonings Half and Half Black Perfect Iced Tea (black tea/lemonade).

I don’t have a Keurig machine, but we have them at work, so I decided to give it a try. It was sweet, but not too sweet, although the ingredient list explains the 70 calories and 16 g of sugar per serving.

Evaporated Cane Juice, Black Tea with Tea Extract, True Lemon, Hibiscus, Natural Lemon Flavor, Citric Acid, Rebiana (sweetener from Stevia) and Tricalcium Phosphate (a natural free flow agent).

(It is gluten-free and Kosher if that matters to you)

I didn’t buy any yet, but if I find myself tempted to go to Starbucks for Shaken Iced Tea Lemonades this summer, I should stock up on these instead, since they would save me money and calories (a tall Starbucks Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade has 100 calories and 25 g sugar).

Have you tried any new products lately?

Is your office a kitchen a dumping ground for unwanted leftovers?