Monday, June 28, 2010

New product roundup: Not all junk food

  • Hey, thanks, Starbucks. I'm usually pretty good at resisting the high-calorie, high-price allure of frozen Frappicinos. But I will stop by for iced coffee, one of my secrets to existence in the summer. Now there's Starbucks Via Iced Coffee, a mix that you can make wherever you are. Add 16 ounces of water and ice and you have iced coffee. The one I have sitting next to me, made with water from the office water fountain, tastes convincingly like a pretty good iced coffee. (Next on my wish list: An unsweetened version. But maybe that's just me.) You get a package of 5 packets, each good for 2 (8-ounce) servings, for $5.95, which works out to less than I spend to say "nonsweet/nonfat/vente iced" before I go into the grocery store.

  • Remember when I wrote about reduced-fat peanut butters hiding a lot of sugar? If you're still looking for a good all-natural peanut butter, check out Crazy Richard's, available with the other peanut butters at Harris Teeter. It's got a great taste, and it's only ground-up peanuts. Thanks to reader Sonia Womble for that tip.


  • Ben & Jerry's has two new do-gooder ice cream flavors that will only be available at Target stores, Berry Voluntary and Brownie Chew Gooder. BV is a raspberry cheesecake flavor with white chocolate chunks and a raspberry swirl; BCG is vanilla caramel ice cream with fudge brownie pieces and a caramel swirl. Pints are $3.50 suggested retail, but you can score a coupon for a free pint by going to www.volunteermatch.org/scoopitforward, registering for a volunteer activity in your area and forwarding it to five friends.


  • Jamba Juice is on the move. You can now buy frozen smoothie mixes in the Razzmatazz, Strawberries Wild and Mango A-Go-Go flavors in supermarkets and in Wal-Mart. Suggested retail price is $2.99 for a two-serving package; 120 calories a serving.
  • I've heard that M&M's has added a pretzel flavor, but I haven't spotted them yet for a taste test. As soon as I do, I promise to check back. Strictly in the interest of research, of course.


  • Frito-Lay has been lowering the salt. We did get to try Frito's, Ruffles and Lay's chips with 50% less sodium. Verdict? Not bad. We really didn't miss the salt.

5 comments:

Nibletodell said...

The Prezel M&Ms are available up here in New York City, they are pretty awesome I must say!

Anonymous said...

Target has the pretzel M&Ms.

Shawna said...

You can find the Pretzel M&Ms at Target. They are pretty good!

Elaine said...

I saw the pretzel M&Ms at the Harris Teeter off Sam Furr Road and Hwy 73 in Huntersville.

Anonymous said...

Both the pretzel and the coconut M&Ms are on the counter at the convenience store that's associated with the Jack in the Box on Park Road...the one where the Dilworth Car Wash is.

Both are really good!!!!!!!