Halloween 2013 in the Aisle already!

Yes that's right, Halloween has struck the candy aisle already. I had heard that Costco has had costumes on the shelves for the past 2 weeks, but I finally saw some candy on the floor of regular grocery stores this week.

Other than the big bulk boxes of mini candies, which I documented fairly extensively last year here, the only other real Halloween candy I've seen so far has been the Nestle Halloween editions of their most popular bars. Again this is something I saw last year and I have to say it worries me slightly that these may be the actual same chocolate bars.... but they couldn't be. right?

Since they're all the same flavor and just spooky packaging I feel pretty fine just observing from afar. I mean I like it and all, but I don't know that packaging alone is making me rush out to get these. Although that said they are still great chocolate bars :) so that might get me on board.

As for Halloween, I'm sure the next time I go to a Shoppers Drug Mart or the Dollarama I'll see more.
 Its definitely coming soon.

Frosting Creations in the Aisle

Here's an interesting new product I stumbled across at Target last weekend. Frosting Creations from Duncan Hines. Pretty cool stuff!

In case it isn't straightforward, the basics are as follows. You start with the plain frosting.

Then you add the flavor packet and mix to create your new frosting mix.

The most interesting thing though are the flavor selections.

If you think about the kind of demographic who are going to be interesting in this kind of a product it makes sense. These are flavors made for kids, and the joy of something like this is the mixing and creation factor. A very cool product for kids. And its not like Duncan Hines would ever really put out a bubble gum flavored frosting for reals, so this is perfect.

Obviously one of the great things here is you could make multiple flavors batches of frosting out of a single jar. But for my money the best thing though will be the flavor combinations kids can create by actually mixing two or more of the flavors together. I mean what kids hasn't taken their cup at the soda fountain and mixed together a little bit of all the drinks?! I would probably try Chocolate Mint and Strawberry Shortcake, or maybe Chocolate Marshmallow and Orange Creme. The possibilities are kind of endless.

Weather this is successful or not remains to be seen, but I applaud the innovation.

Aisle Walking - July

Every day while walking down the candy aisle, or the toy aisle, or the ice cream aisle I see fun and weird things. Some of these I want to mention but lots of them are just so brief that I can't be bothered making a stand alone blog post, so to alleviate that I thought I'd try a new blog monthly series called Aisle Walking. Essentially this will be a mish mash of things seen in the aisles. I'd love it to hear about it you have fun things you've seen. New stuff is always showing up and I'm always interested in strange variants on existing products. Now I'm still planning on posting some things on their own, but for the lots of little items this will be the round up.

So lets have a look and see what we can see for this past month or so :)

I found this out at a Staples of all places (that's an office supply store). I don't know why I am surprised to see this, I mean of course Planters should be competing with Reese I'm just surprised that I've never seen this before.

We all know that Red Velvet is the hippest of all cakes, and in cupcake form it cannot be beat. I'm impressed that this package comes with some frosting packets included.

This is just a small note that all of the formerly named "Dessert Delight" products seem to now be called simply Desserts. I noticed this a while ago with the Lemon Square flavor, but am surprised to see the entire line change it up. Could this be an only in Canada thing???

I've seen these Kit Kat flavors (only available in the 8 packs) out at the local Wal Mart for a while now, but they seem to be expanding their reach. I had assumed that they were just going to be limited editions around for a little while, but maybe they'll actually be staying.

So this exists. It shouldn't really be a surprise since Nestle also owns the Carnation brand, but for some reason seeing chocolate bars in other places always strikes me as interesting.

Lets talk cookies for a sec. Seriously these Chunks Ahoy look great! I am sold :D

Birthday Cake flavor Oreos are back. Seriously does it count as a Limited Edition if its been on shelves for like 4 years?!

Now this is new, and it looks amazing! Chocolate and Mint together in a triple stuff? yes please!

I've seen Rolo ice cream before, but did you know there was Rolo Peanut Butter ice cream? Sounds great.

So that's all I've got for you this month. I'll try to make this a regular feature. Its fun to just touch on all of the quick stuff that's going on in the candy aisle and beyond.

Almost Perfect Candy

I was out in Whitby, Ontario last week and my brother in law clued me into the Almost Perfect store.

This is the kind of store a lot of you may have seen if you live in or near an urban center. This is essentially an irregular food store. It's full of food that's been rejected, not over any health concerns but most likely because the food was discontinued, or possibly seasonal and the major retailers don't want it on the shelves anymore.

You can also find some of these items if you are the kind of person who goes on factory tours. I remember when I was a kid going with my parents to both the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont (or maybe it was headquarters), and most significantly when I went to Hershey Pennsylvania. These factory tours of course ended at the gift shop, and both of these companies offered "irregular" food products there. As a kid this just fascinated me to no end. The products may be slightly off, but they're crazy cheap and just awesome.

Almost Perfect seems to offer more of the straightforward food items focusing on seasonal stuff, maybe with misprinted packaging, or remainders of limited editions. They specifically have a pretty decent candy section too, which was of course my main reason for wanting to go.

Some of the items like this entire stand of Allan candy was a bit weird. I'm not sure why any of it wouldn't be on the market. These are the guys who make "Big Foot" and I'm sure I'll get to their products sooner or later in reviews. These are weird flavors, so maybe they were just limited time or discontinued. Hard to tell since I'm not that familiar with their product lineup.

More likely is seeing something like this Imported Continental European Dark Chocolate. Seems fine and all, but nothing I would imagine anyone would buy, especially if its not an in house brand or some kind of off-shoot loss leader to get people into the store. Without a good brand name behind it why on earth is anyone buying it? My guess is they are not. And that's why it's at Almost Perfect.

Here is a very interesting one, and something I wish I could've reviewed. But I wouldn't feel right reviewing something from Almost Perfect when I really don't know why its there. Most likely this unique variation on the classic Hershey bar didn't sell and was discontinued, but I don't know.... maybe it was awful, or maybe its still in development. Whenever the reason its not sticking around I don't think Hershey wants it representing them.

Do you suppose these Reese Eggs were sitting around in a warehouse since Easter? My guess is yes. The sure tasted great though, I bought a bunch of these!

Here are some great looking Red White and Blue M&Ms. I suppose these are from this past 4th of July. We'll see if they turn up again next year.

I love the idea of Fierce Cinnamon Hot Tamales. Do you think maybe they were too fierce for the public? Are these still available in real life?

Here's another one that I'm not sure of. Don't these exist on the market now? Why is this one here? Could it be because it has the "New" label on it?

Finally a simple question. Whats wrong with all these Jolly Ranchers???

This is totally a store that's good and bad at the same time. I mean how cool is it going to a store to get something no one else has? BUT then the truth sinks in, maybe other people don't want this stuff. for a reason...

I'll have to keep my eye out for more 'irregular' candy, or off the beaten path kind of stuff. Let me know in the comments if you've ever been to a store like this and what your impression has been.

Thanks for joining me, later all.

Jelly Belly Ice Shaver and more!

It was just about a year ago that I posted about seeing the Jelly Belly Electric and Manual Ice Shavers in my local Target. Well, now that Summer 2013 is ramping up it looks like the ice shavers are back, and now with accessories! I spotted this at the local Wal-Mart this past weekend.

Interesting that last year they only had the single ice shaver, and now they've got a double, but I think it probably makes more sense if they're trying to sell this as a party novelty. I mean who wouldn't want a Jelly Belly Snow Cone?

Looking at the back we get a few bullet points on the device. Although I see it has two syrup dispensers I don't think you can make two different kinds of snow cones at once.

It wasn't until I went to Target the next day that I actually saw the original single nozzle electric shaver and the old manual shaver... so archaic.

I also saw these at Wal-Mart.

Of course you can buy extra cups sold separately.... sigh. I guess the hard plastic ones with the curly straws are the way to go for long term use; but how on earth are you going to stack those in your cupboard?

Now this is the most interesting thing to me. This is not part of the snow cone experience. This is in fact a way to make Jelly Belly freezies. Or popcicles, or icees, or Mr Freeze, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods. (I guess here we should call them Lickety Sips (tm)). There were instructions on the inside of the wrapper but since I didn't buy it it I can't be sure of the process. I'd have to guess though that they suggest using the same syrup you make the Snow Cones out of and mix it with water then freeze. I'm interested in this though since I've always been partial to popcicles.

Finally we've got the flavors.

For some reason Wal-Mart didn't have the Berry Blue. I thought perhaps it had been discontinued but the I saw it at Target the next day.

I'd love to see more in this realm. How about some more uniquely Jelly Belly varieties? Where's my Tutti Frutti, wheres my Marshmallow, and yes I'm even saying where is my Buttered Popcorn?

If you start making those then you may just have a sale on your hands. Until then I think I'll keep walking down the aisle.

Philly Chocolate

I'm just not sure this is really necessary...

I mean I like chocolate as much as the next guy. Heck probably more so.... but really...

In a way I get it. Its not much different than eating Nutella. BUT I don't eat Nutella for breakfast, and I do eat cream cheese, so putting this in a breakfast setting seems wrong somehow. ANDis it really such a far stretch from cream cheese with lox to cream cheese with chocolate. I mean cream cheese with fish included is a little grosser than chocolate on an intellectual level, yet that doesn't bother me.

I suppose to each their own. Enjoy it if you get it, and let me know how it tastes in the comments. I think for my money though, I'll pass.

Xmas remainder

Walking the candy aisle a day or two after a candy holiday is always a treat. I've expounded on my general rules for remainder candy hunting here a bunch, but the most important thing is to just keep in mind the timing sweet spot. Two days is great usually. Three gets a bit long (all the good stuff is gone or they've started clearing the shelves), and one day is too short (not a good enough candy sale).

Anyhow I was walking the aisle on the 27th and came across a few great deals.

And since this was the first time I'd really looked closely at a Shoppers drug mart this holiday I actually ended up discovering a few items I hadn't even seen before!

I know I've certainly never seen Hershey's Fondue before.. Anyhow, you can expect a few bonus holiday themed reviews coming in the next few weeks. Until then I'll leave you with a pic of a giant twonie! (only Canadians will even know what that is probably :)