Favorite Day Freeze-Dried Strawberries in Dark Chocolate

A couple months ago, the beautiful wifey came home with a product called TruFru, or trüfrü. We were both pleasantly surprised at how delicious and simple they were. They're just freeze-dried fruits with a chocolate coating.

We tried milk chocolate covered strawberries in that instance, though I know the company makes other combinations of fruit and candy coatings including bananas, blueberries, or pineapple covered in ruby cacao, white, milk, or dark chocolate.

I loved the perfect strawberries and the quality milk chocolate, although I wished they were a little smaller. Most of the strawberries were way too big to be bite sized. Sonia wanted to try a dark chocolate version, but they didn't have any in stock at the time. Well, this Target brand iteration is both bite-sized and covered in dark chocolate. Yay.

I do think I'd like a milk chocolate or white chocolate version better, but these snacks are quite tasty. The beautiful wifey loves this version with dark chocolate. Again, the strawberries are dry and crunchy and covered in a quality confection. The bag is resealable and there's plenty in the bag to curb the munchies for a couple people easily.

About four bucks. Not bad. Would buy again or try other flavors of the same style product, either from TruFru or Favorite Day.

I give Favorite Day Freeze-Dried Strawberries in Dark Chocolate 8 out of 10 stars.

Good & Gather Probiotic Fruit & Yogurt Trail Mix

This furthers my suspicions that GAG is now representing what Simply Balanced once did: Target's kinda healthy-ish foodstuffs. And Favorite Day is taking the place of Archer Farms: normal, not-so-healthy treats and indulgent trail mixes. Good & Gather Probiotic Fruit & Yogurt Trail Mix is a healthy-esque trail mix that not only features two kinds of fruit, but probiotic yogurt-covered cranberries. Woohoo. Let's dive in.

First up: dried sweetened cranberries and blueberries. If we're trying to be nutritious here, GAG, we should avoid added sugars. I would have been fine with dried berries without added sweeteners. But whatevs. They taste good and there's plenty of 'em in the bag.

Next: yogurt-flavored cranberries with probiotic. Yogurt flavored cranberries? Wouldn't yogurt covered cranberries be more accurate? And they're "with probiotic"? Probiotic what? Why'd your team of marketing geniuses decide on this diction instead of "Probiotic yogurt-covered cranberries"? Or why not "Cranberries with probiotic yogurt"? Again, whatever. They taste like normal yogurt-covered cranberries. Nice and plump. I like these.

Thirdly: almonds. Self-explanatory. Honestly, there weren't that many almonds in my trail mix. I wouldn't have minded more in this instance.

Last up: Greek-style yogurt confectionery chips. They're not just globs of vanilla-flavored sugar. They're made of Greek yogurt and therefore are good for you. Slick. They're okay.

The overall flavor is quite sweet, fruity, and there's plenty of vanilla creaminess. But now that I'm near the bottom of the bag, the whole thing seems overly salty. Would I purchase again? Probably not. $6.49 for the resealable 9 oz bag.

I give this healthy-ish trail mix 6 out of 10 stars.

Favorite Day Piña Colada Trail Mix

Things are already sticky enough in the summer. We don't need sticky foods to make things stickier. I can already tell the ingredients of this trail mix have fused together from the summer heat before I even open the bag. It looks like some genius has mixed together five of the stickiest foods known to man in a little plastic bag and released it as a seasonal summertime-only offering at Target...because, you know, in any other season the stickiness wouldn't be an issue.

This stuff better taste great, because I have a feeling I'm going to go through a lot of Wet Ones and be very grumpy after consuming a few handfuls...

First impressions: yes, my suspicions about the sticky-factor were absolutely correct. The ingredients all stick together in giant wads that you have to pry apart with your fingers, which then get covered in all manner of sugary glazes and syrups, which you then have to spend absurd amounts of time licking clean and/or using entire packs of wet wipes and/or running your hands under the faucet and/or showering to cleanse yourself from the tacky substance that now coats your entire body, and if you've eaten a handful or two somehow amidst the chaos, your pores are now secreting a sticky sweet jelly that fuses you to your car seat or office chair and prevents you from moving and making further attempts to clean the viscid goo from your body, face, and clothes and soon you succumb to the mucilaginous substance completely, cease moving, and become prey for whatever insects or wild animals smell the cloying glaze and begin to feed first on the confectionery coating and rum-flavored syrups and continue on to your lifeless body now too weak to resist the ravenous creatures as they feast and frenzy unto your demise.

But if you can make it past the stickiness, yes this is a tasty mix. It's possible I'm exaggerating just a tad, but this product is a little on the sweet side, I'd say. It vaguely tastes like piña colada, and I LOVE piña coladas.

They even have an element that tastes like rum. Those pecans go great with that gooey, syrupy, rummy glaze. The dried fruits are nothing to write home about, but they don't really detract from the mix, either.

I like the coconut pineapple balls. They're the best part. Not as sticky as some of the other ingredients.

TL;DR - The mix is a tad too sweet and way too sticky, but it tastes pretty good overall.

I give this trail mix 7 out of 10 stars.

Favorite Day Neapolitan Sundae Trail Mix

Well if this doesn't fall under the category of "decadent or indulgent" trail mix, then I don't know what does. Target is trying to imitate the flavor of Neapolitan ice cream...with nuts, berries, and chips? This I gotta taste. Shall I break things down ingredient by ingredient?

The best and most unique elements by far are the "dried sweetened strawberries." I thought they'd be like super dehydrated berries with that weird, almost styrofoam-like consistency. Nope. These are whole strawberries, and they're actually chewy and moist, despite being "dried." They're also candied a little bit, so they're even sweeter than regular strawberries. I've never had a dried fruit anything like this before. They get a big thumbs up from me. It's worth trying the mix just for the strawberries.

Next, vanilla creme almonds. Nice. They're good. I think we've seen these before in another mix. Yep—in last year's Orange Creme Trail Mix. I wanted more of them in that mix. There are plenty of 'em in here. Another win.

Cashews. They're not candied in any way, but floating around with all those other sweeties, they inevitably have some sugar rub off on them. Slightly sweetened cashews = not a bad snack element.

Finally, there are three kinds of chips: chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and strawberry chips. None of them really stand out as particularly flavorful or necessary, but all together, they add extra sweetness and creaminess to the mix. The strawberry-flavored ones are the most unique. I don't know that I've had strawberry chips before. There are a good many of the chips in the mix, but they're fairly well balanced with the nuts.

Once again, the beautiful wifey enjoyed this product a bit more than I did. I was on the fence about a re-purchase, but she's definitely in the "I'd buy it again" camp. All in all, it's a thumbs up. I wish there were more of those candied strawbabies and maybe a little less chips.

I give this trail mix 7 out of 10 stars.

Good & Gather Organic Blueberry Fruit & Grain Bars

I used to be absolutely crazy about Nutri-Grain bars. I'm not sure why. I mean, most people will agree they're convenient and tasty as far as snacks or quick breakfast options go, but I used to excited about Nutri-Grain bars the way most people get excited about cheesecake or apple pie. I loved everything about them.

And I still do. But I'm more or less past my "Nutri-Grain bars are the best thing ever" phase. I'll still grab a box from time to time, or I'll try newfangled versions as they release them—you know, like when they started filling them with yogurt. We even saw a unique, gimmicky cereal bar from Target once before: the Market Pantry Banana Fudge Bars. I liked them okay, but I'd just as soon reach for a blueberry Nutri-Grain bar.

Or these. They're the exact same thing. Yep. Pretty much dead ringers for the original Kellogg's cereal bar product. I think Target used to make them under the Archer Farms or Simply Balanced brand name. There's nothing wrong with them at all. 

There aren't any improvements on the original, and there aren't any shortcomings, either. Well, I guess using certified organic ingredients is a step up from the originals. To the best of my knowledge, Nutri-Grain doesn't offer any organic cereal bar options. Price-wise, they're comparable, as well.

$2.69 for 6 bars. I would buy these again, but maybe I'll try a different flavor next time.

I give these fruit and grain bars 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Toasted Coconut Trail Mix

When you're hiking around in the desert, you're obviously going to crave one thing in particular: water. That goes for times when the desert isn't even that hot. It's just dry. Even when it rains, the air is drier than the climates that I'm used to.

But once that immediate need for water is met, I, personally, get a craving for some snacks. This trail mix really hits the spot. It's not super salty, which is good. I mean, I'm trying to cut back on salt since I might have high blood pressure and seeing some family members have strokes and other health concerns makes me want to avoid those trials later in life if I can.

That said, I must admit this trail mix isn't super healthy in the sugar department. There's a good bit of added sugar, and it's quite sweet.

For that reason, it doesn't take much to satisfy an immediate case of low blood sugar or a minor sweetness craving. Both the wife and I really enjoy this trail mix, but we've been nursing the bag for well over a week now. It just doesn't take much of it to satisfy our snacky sweet-tooths.

The coconut cashews are the base of the mix. They're sweet, coconutty, and have all the deliciousness of regular whole cashews. There are plenty of coconut chips and almonds, which help temper the sweetness of the mix. The dried fruit is also sweet, and it furthers the tropical vibe to the mix.

The overall flavor is very complex, but the main essence is, as the title would suggest, very reminiscent of toasted coconut. The nutty and fruity flavors give it something even more special. They actually import the coconut from Sri Lanka and the mango from Thailand. It makes the product all the more exotic, I suppose, though certain consumers might wonder why we couldn't source these fruits from our own continent for carbon footprint reasons, if not our own country, for "America first" type reasons. I won't get too political on this blog, since I don't in general, but seeing such notes on product packaging does make one raise an eyebrow once in a while.

Archer Farms/Target might have relied more on the natural sweetness of the fruits and coconut and added less sugar to this mix. I think it still would have been quite satisfying. As is, this is still a very tasty, if perhaps a bit desserty, trail mix.

Another winning snack from Archer Farms. $4.99 for the bag. We definitely would consider buying this one again.

I give this trail mix 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Antioxidant Trail Mix

What? No red wine? No kale?

Still, it's an impressive collection of antioxidant foods, and it doesn't taste half bad either.

Nuts, berries, and dark chocolate might be found in any run-of-the-mill trail mixes, but they also happen to be antioxidant rich. It might be a marketing gimmick, but hey, it worked on me.

There's a good balance of nutty and sweet in here. As usual, there are too many pumpkin seeds, er sorry, "pepitas," but we can forgive this product for that, since there are plenty of almonds and cashews, too.

Honestly, it's a decent mix of all the ingredients. They didn't skimp on any one element. For six bucks, I'd hope they would be generous with everything.

The mix is unsalted. I wouldn't have minded a little sodium, but I won't complain too much since I get plenty in the rest of my diet. I just tend to eat trail mixes when I'm hiking or biking, and in the hot summer, I tend to sweat buckets. I drink plenty of water, but I've gotta recoup that salt somewhere, too.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've reviewed an Archer Farms trail mix. They've always been good quality. The resealable bags are nice, too. This particular mix is on par with the others I've tried in the past.

Six servings seems about right. I guess a dollar per serving isn't a terrible value. The ingredients taste and feel as fresh as any other shelf-stable snack. The wife really liked it as well. I'd definitely consider buying it again.

I give this trail mix 8 out of 10 stars.

Market Pantry Banana Fudge Soft Baked Breakfast Bars

It's been forever since I made a Target run. There just aren't many Target locations convenient to this part of South Jersey. In fact, our closest Target is in another state. I'd even go so far as to say that both Delaware and Pennsylvania have Targets that are easier for us to get to than our closest, most convenient location here in the Garden State. Of course, crossing the Delaware River involves a toll, so every once in a while, we brave the chaotic Camden/Cherry Hill traffic and head up towards Deptford or Sewell.

But this fun little breakfast find came from Christiana, Delaware. There's something odd about the food section of the Target there. No matter how crowded that mall gets—and it gets hella crowded on weekends—the food section there in Target looks like a ghost town. I mean, there's always food on the shelves, and as far as I can tell, nothing's expired. There's just something uninviting about it that I can't put my finger on. Nevertheless, I popped in and zig-zagged up and down the quiet aisles looking for something to snack on/review on my last adventure in The First State, and I found these interesting "soft-baked" bars.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, they're basically off-brand Nutri-Grain bars with banana fudge filling. We've seen something similar from Target in recent memory. Why that previous selection was "Simply Balanced" and these are "Market Pantry," I'm not quite sure. Maybe fudge is too indulgent for the "Simply Balanced" moniker..? Also, there's a pretty significant price discrepancy. The Simply Balanced offering was $2.99 a box. This product only cost me $1.39. They might have been on some kind of mark-down, but I didn't notice a special price tag next to the item. $1.39 is pretty cheap for something like this. I've never seen Nutri-Grains come close to that, even with coupons.

The bars are indeed soft. There's a good bit of fudge in the middle, too. I'd prefer a little less breading and a little more banana. As it is, there are just teeny-tiny little wads of banana hiding among the chocolatey center of the bars. The breading, though soft, makes the product seem drier than it really is. A bit less of the grain and a bit more of the fruit would go a long ways for both the flavor and texture of this product. As it is, it's not bad, and I'd absolutely consider a repeat-purchase—especially if they stay at that low price.

I give these breakfast bars 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Blueberry Mini Muffins

When I was a very young lad growing up in Hershey, PA, my parents threw a grand soiree for their friends featuring home-baked goods to be shared by all the attendees. Only one other youngster was in attendance—my best friend at the time, whom we'll call Phillip for the sake of this blog post.

He and I were staying out of the way of the adults and were looking to get into a bit of mischief. We began sampling the desserts and pastries at opportune moments here and there when our parents weren't looking. There were pies, cakes, tarts, and a random assortment of cookies. At the end of the table, I spied a basket of blueberry muffins. I don't know what it was about those things, but I fell in love at first bite. I handed one to Phillip. His eyes lit up as he bit into the fluffy muffin. We were both completely enchanted by these treats. I was young enough that these might have been the first blueberry muffins I'd ever had. They were soft, sweet, and nearly perfect in every way.

Phillip and I consumed the entire basket within minutes, giggling as we devoured each one. We left only crumbs and blueberry stains across the bottom of the empty serving container. Suddenly, it dawned on me that our parents and their guests wouldn't be particularly pleased that there were no more blueberry muffins to be served at their party. Surely enough, as we hid out in my bedroom, we heard my mother scream my full name, middle included, and we knew we were in for it. I got a spanking and a stern lecture and Phillip was immediately escorted home. It was one of my earliest memories of corporal punishment—and certainly not my last—but at least in this case, I actually deserved it...all thanks to those delicious blueberry muffins.

These Archer Farms muffins were good enough that history almost repeated itself—except instead of getting in trouble with my parents, it was my wife doling out the corrections this time around. I had already eaten a few of the muffins for breakfast and I was exceptionally hungry after a long hike, and I wound up consuming the whole rest of the container. My wife did get a couple of the muffins in this case, before I managed to polish off the last few—and she liked them enough that she was hoping to go back for more.

It might just be because I was particularly hungry, or that I just always crave blueberry muffins ever since that incident when I was young, but I simply can't give these a low score. They went down pretty easily. Probably not the healthiest muffins I've ever consumed, but hey, it's the holidays. I'll take these blueberry muffins over Christmas cookies any day.

I give these muffins 8 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Blueberry Fruit & Grain Bars

If you've ever had a blueberry Nutri-Grain bar, then you know exactly what you're getting here. Nutri-Grain and Simply Balanced look and taste extremely similar.

In fact, it amazes me how generic food products can imitate the original name brand, right down to the style and color of packaging, and not be violating some kind of copyright law.

In the art world, it's different: duplicate a song or a film with a certain level of similarity, and you're violating what someone has already claimed as their intellectual property.

But with food? Seems like anything goes. Lucky for store brands like Market Pantry, Archer Farms, and Simply Balanced.

This Simply Balanced version flaunts organic ingredients, and strangely, 10 more calories per bar, but other than that and the packaging, the two products are virtually indistinguishable. Both this product and the traditional Nutri-Grain offering are soft, sweet, and individually wrapped for breakfast on the go.

They were $2.99 at the Target I found them at, which is pretty close to what you'd normally pay for the name brand at full price. One unique, original thing about the packaging: that one-eyed blue guy on the cover art. I guess he's a blueberry person. He looks like he belongs in Monsters, Inc.

If you're interested in the nutrition info, here's a link for calories, fat, etc.

I give this product exactly the same score I'd give to blueberry Nutri-Grain bars: 8 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Gluten Free Blueberry Nut & Fruit Clusters

I think this is the first gluten-free product we've reviewed here on WGAAF—at least, it's the first product being marketed as a gluten-free snack option. I guess there's not a whole lot of wheat gluten in products like habanero salsa or sparkling grapefruit juice, but these clusters are snacks that might be assumed glutenful unless otherwise noted on the packaging.

So I guess this is the part of the blog post where I tell you that I'm "gluten-sensitive." It's true. Not gluten-intolerant personally, although I've known a few folks with celiac disease and Crohn's disease throughout the years, and I know vicariously that both of those conditions can be highly difficult, life-altering, and even debilitating. My sympathies if you or someone close to you suffers from either of those maladies.

"Gluten sensitive" means if I eat gluten, I feel it in my digestive system. It can be uncomfortable and make me sluggish, but it won't cause any major complications. My wife is the same way. We avoid gluten when it's practical to do so, but as you can see by the many pizza reviews on this blog, for example, we often throw caution to the wind and "bite the gluten bullet," so to speak.

All that to say that I'm no stranger to the world of gluten-free foods. Just check out our other blog. I know it can be extremely difficult to find gluten-free options, and I know that when they are there, they tend to come at a premium. Be prepared to shell out more cash if you want to go gluten-free.

This product is no different. Three dollars for three ounces of food is a bit steep. But Target knows that if you're gluten-free out of necessity, you'll go ahead and pay whatever you have to. Celiac sufferers gotta live, too. But are they worth it for the rest of us?

Their texture is surprisingly hard. The nuts are firm and somewhat crunchy, but there's also a tackiness to them that makes them just slightly difficult to chew. They're slightly sweet and there is, in fact, a detectable blueberry essence about them. They're also salty and nutty—in fact, I'd say the dominant flavor is that of almonds and cashews. They do fall apart and crumble if you attempt to bite them in half, although I was pretty pleased with the truly bite-sized squares—significantly smaller than other products labeled "bite-sized."

The flavor grew on me by the end of the bag. They're convenient and snackable...now if they can just find a way to bring the price down by a buck or so...

I give these clusters 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Apple Cinnamon Trail Mix

Even after hearing a number of rave reviews of this trail mix on social media, I was still skeptical. Not that it didn't sound good. I guess I just tend to have my own opinions about food products, and when I hear nothing but unanimous praise about a particular item, I don't want to get my hopes up too high since they've been let down so many times in the past. I mean, let's face it: being slightly let down by the taste of any fall-themed food product is very much a first-world problem, and not one that I'm proud about even having to mention.

However, when a random, unassuming trail mix from the shelves of the local Target store not only lives up to the buzz about it, but exceeds my expectations in almost every way, I have to admit, it puts a little extra spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye. That's what this stuff did. It's friggin' awesome.

Little perfectly-seasoned and sweetened dried apple squares? Check. Cinnamon pretzel balls? Check. Sweet craisin things? Check. And I mean, not only are these things there, but they're all on point. Delicious. They blend together so well, it's hard to describe. Last but not least, "apple pie-flavored pecans." Before I actually had any of the trail mix, I chuckled at that. As if there's such a thing as apple-pie flavored pecans. Ridiculous, right? Wrong. I could seriously see someone trying these in a blind taste test and going, "Yum! It's a pecan...that tastes just like...apple pie!"

@Jesse_NER added #TastesLikeFall to his tweet about this trail mix. And that about sums it up.

I have this foggy memory of being in a candle shop with my parents at autumn-time long ago. There was a lovely blend of potpourri wafting through the air. It smelled so sweet, cinnamony, and crisp. I thought to myself, "Someday, there will be a food that tastes just like this potpourri smells. But not in a gross way. In a really yummy way." Well, friends, that day has finally arrived. $2.99 for a bag. Not bad for a quality trail mix.

I give this snack 9 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Caramel Apple Caramel Corn

Ah, it's just about harvest season here in the northeast. Temperatures drop, colorful leaves paint the countryside with red and yellow accents, corn mazes and haunted houses open up—and last but not least, store shelves abound with pumpkin and apple-flavored treats.

And this is our first fall-themed product of the season as far as Target goes. So far, so good.

Just in the past twelve months, I've seen cranberry caramel corn, mango coconut caramel corn, and recently, pumpkin spice caramel corn. Not all from Archer Farms, of course, but still, it's an interesting trend—and one that I can appreciate.

I was never into caramel corn before, but now, it's fun to try all these different versions of it, infused with various fruits and flavors. And this new caramel apple flavor is absolutely on par with all the other fascinating varieties of caramel corn I've tried.

We already know that apple and caramel go hand in hand, in the manner of a traditional caramel apple. It's also a no-brainer that caramel and popcorn can work together. So by the transitive property of deliciousness, all three ingredients must necessarily blend well together, too.

The apple flavor is definitely there, but not overpowering. If anything, I'd want more apple taste in this product. A few bites contained surprisingly large slices of actual dried apple. Those particular bites were adequately applicious, but in general, I could always go for more.

The product is sticky and sugary, similar to traditional caramel corn. Likewise, the dried apple pieces are pretty much what you'd expect—and again, some dried apple pieces are huge, while most of the others are small. In general, that's my biggest complaint. More of the larger apple slices could really improve this product.

As it is, it's still worth a purchase, particularly if you love the taste of caramel apples. Thumbs up from me.

I give this snack 8 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Lime Fruit Juice Bars

Look: I have a sweet tooth, and I know it. I like sweet things. I get cravings for sticky-sweet, candy-esque things relatively often. I'm not proud of it, that's just the way my taste buds are wired. I also enjoy sour, tangy things. These frozen juice bars are both very sweet and very sour/tangy.

But I couldn't really get into them. If anything, they were too sweet—just super syrupy. I mean, sugar was very high up in the ingredients list, second only to water.  And then right after sugar is "apple juice concentrate," which, of course, is also extremely sweet. I mean, thank goodness they didn't use HFCS to sweeten these, but honestly, I think they could have made due with the apple juice alone.

They tasted and felt like concentrated margarita mix frozen solid into popsicles. Like I wanted to melt them down and add tequila, water, and salt just to dilute the syrupiness of the product.

On the plus side, they did indeed taste like lime. Somehow the tartness of the lime juice did power through the sticky sweetness of it all. And really, 90 calories per bar isn't all that bad when one considers how indulgent they felt and tasted.

I guess I was just hoping for a light, refreshing flavor, rather than the gooey, drippy, sickly-sweet product these turned out to be. After mowing the lawn on a hot summer day, I would definitely not turn to these bars for a cool down. I'd go for something a little thinner.

I give these fruit bars 6 out of 10 stars. 

Simply Balanced Organic Mango Lemonade

This isn't really a winter item, but it's definitely worthy of a review. I could see it being a huge hit in the summer time since it's incredibly refreshing, as most lemonades are.

It's not super sugary, syrupy sweet, but it's sweet enough that it will hit the spot if you're craving something at that end of the spectrum. It's got the sweet and sourness of normal lemonade, but also the mango puree adds a bit of extra tartness.

The balance of mango flavor and lemonade flavor is pretty spot-on here. If you absolutely hate mango or mango juice, this probably isn't the product for you. But by that same token, the mango flavor isn't overwhelming either. Whenever I see "puree" in ingredients lists, there's a little red flag that raises in my mind, and I worry that the product will be full of sediment that collects on the bottom of the bottle. A little shaking normally solves the problem, but not always. Thankfully, this beverage was thin and smooth, just the way I like it.

In addition to being organic, the ingredients list is short and simple. I'm not the most health-conscious consumer in the world, but I'm always happy to see that I'm not eating unpronounceable weirdness. The Simply Balanced line is usually pretty good at keeping things...well, simple. This product is no exception. Even that bright orange color comes from beta carotene, the naturally-occurring pigment in carrots.

In general, I'm a big fan of juices and sweet beverages, but I've certainly seen my share of sub-par drinks from Archer Farms. This isn't one of them. This is exactly what a mango lemonade should be.

I give this drink 9 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Apple Streusel Walnut Multigrain Oatmeal

Boiling water is hot.

Just a friendly reminder for those of you who are impatient and/or stupid like me. When making instant oatmeal, I usually just half-arse it and nuke a mug of water or milk for a minute or so and put the very-warm-but-not-boiling liquid into my oatmeal or whatever so I can consume it right away, despite the instructions calling specifically for "boiling water."

In this case, I put some water mixed with almond milk in a mug and microwaved it for three minutes. That was plenty of time to send the liquid into a bubbling rage, nearly spilling up over the edges of my tall mug. I let the oatmeal sit in the hot milk mixture for three minutes, per the instructions, but then I just shoveled the first spoonful into my mouth without blowing on it or anything. Whoops.

Anyway, after my tongue cooled down a bit, I went back to the oatmeal and discovered that it's actually really good. There are real bits of apple and walnut—in fairly generous amounts—and there's just enough cinnamon and sugar to give it a streusely essence. Considering this product is shelf-stable and needs no refrigeration, the textures of the ingredients were surprisingly pleasant. Nothing felt or tasted like cardboard. The serving size is perfect: just enough to fill one person's hungry belly. This product really hit the spot on this cold January morning.

I'll have to give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Cranberry Caramel Corn Clusters

"You had one job!" yelled the packaging engineering specialist to the sticker-putter-onner guy. You can see in the pic there that the label is a bit goofed. Maybe that's why we got these holiday treats on special. I don't remember how much they were, but the price was under $3, marked down from about $4.

Which was a pretty good bargain, because they're actually quite tasty. I've never been a huge caramel corn person, but I think the addition of cranberries is all I needed to really get into it. Any other dried fruit would work, for that matter. The tartness of the berries really balances out the sweetness of the caramel, and it blends way better than I ever thought it would.

Just add cranberries to anything to make it more Christmassy. I'm not sure who came up with that rule, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing now. Exhibit A. Not convinced? Exhibit B. Still not convinced? Whatever, just take my word for it.

My main complaint about this product is that there simply aren't enough cranberries. I found myself wanting at least one cranberry in every bite, so I'd seek them out the way a kid might seek out the marshmallows in a Lucky Charms-esque cereal. This method works wonderfully until you're left with a bunch of caramel corn and no cranberries—or a bunch of weirdly-shaped oat things and no marshmallows, whichever the case may be.

But other than that, I really can't think of a reason not to check this stuff out. It's pretty good quality caramel corn. If anything, it's better than that gigantic tin drum of caramel corn Aunt Edna gives you every Christmas time. Plus the alliteration in the name is fun to say: "cranberry caramel corn clusters." Try it.

I think I'll go with 7 out of 10 on this one.

Archer Farms Apple Cider

I really want to like everything Archer Farms puts out, but this stuff was just a little sub-par in my opinion. It wasn't bad. But I expect more from Target and Archer Farms. This seasonal beverage tasted like store brand apple juice with a little bit of...something? in it. Oh—that special something was apparently just "natural flavors." A little vague, no?

And again, the flavor wasn't terrible. It just didn't feel like they did anything special here. At all. It's passable as apple juice I suppose, but calling this stuff cider is a bit of a tease. No cinnamon? Nutmeg? Cloves? Allspice? Unless those are some of the unnamed "natural flavors" mentioned in the ingredients. It's hard to say whether there were any spices in it or not. And sure, you could add them yourself if you have a decent spice rack at home.

I guess I shouldn't complain. It's pre-packaged, shelf-stable (until opened) 100% juice from concentrate at a reasonable price—if memory serves me correctly, it was about $1.99 at our local Target.

I just like my apple cider...to taste more like cider. Or I want something unusual, like pear cider. Or cider-flavored tea. C'mon Archer Farms, you can do it. We expect more from you. You're not just a run-of-the-mill store brand, so don't act like one.

I give this "cider" 6 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Apple Streusel Pancake & Waffle Mix

There's nothin' like having dessert for breakfast. It's always nice when you can dress up a sweet treat and pass it off as a breakfast food, whether it be cereal that looks and tastes like cookies or pancakes that look and taste like streusel. I guess breakfast is the best time to have those things, because you've got all day to burn off the calories.

But this dish wasn't the sugar extravaganza I thought it might be. It's really not that sweet at all. The "cinnamon streusel crunch" added a bit of sweetness, but it baked right into the pancakes themselves and became part of the bread. The pancakes wound up with slightly charred, blackened edges where all the topping was.

As far as apple flavor goes, there wasn't much of it. The bread part didn't taste like apple at all. There were a few small bites of actual apples baked into the pancakes, but I think this product could have used a lot more apple pieces. Once you poured maple syrup on the pancakes, the maple-flavor pretty well drowned out the apple-flavor.

It didn't taste much like cinnamon to me, either. It had neither the sweetness nor the appliness of apple streusel. They were basically just normal pancakes with a few small apple bits baked into them.

This product could have really used an apple-cinnamon flavored syrup. That might have given them just enough flavor and sweetness to warrant calling them "apple streusel pancakes."

As they are, I think they're a bit of a let-down, especially if you're hoping for something super-appley. My wife felt the same way. "They don't taste bad," she said. "They just don't really taste like apple streusel to me."

I agree.

I give this product 6 out of 10 stars.