Monday, December 29, 2008

Andy Capp's Cheddar Fries Bag

When one of our staff shoppers spotted this at a local convenience store - she knew we would want to sample them in our test kitchens. These are not chips - they are corn and potato 'fries' - kinda like thin straight cheetos or something. Andy Capp is a thin man and we should have known that being he is loaded all the time he wouldn't know a good fry snack from a nasty one. He should have sobered up before he put his mug on this line of bagged snacks made by Con-Agra. Bland, stale and just plain boring was the consensus of those here who took place in the sampling. They were thin and full of air in the middle. Also, it was another one of those products that has 99 cents printed on the bag, but the store has them stickered at 1.29. As mentioned before, we here at the FPT believe in the honor the printed price policy. Disappointing.

Snickers Charged Bars - Limited Edition

We found these limited time flavor Snickers bar on sale at 3 for 99 cents and wisely purchased 12 at that price. Upon returning back to the FPT test kitchens, Donny (long time staffer) ate 3 of these guys, then layed out on the couch and passed out for 2 hours. He said they tasted a little different than normal Snickers - but where was the 'kick' they advertise?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

New Charbroiled Steak Sandwich at Carl's Jr. - The FPT Staff Review

One of our staffers was at Carl's Jr. the other morning getting us a bag of the Big Country breakfast burritos when she noticed this new offering. Knowing full well we would want to try this, she asked the counter person if it was available - as it was 10:00 am - the answer was yes. For the price of 4.99 ala carte - this sandwich is a winner. The photos above speak for themselves. This was a nice cut of meat - no chewy spots or toughness - on nice bread with the onion ring toppers. An excellent idea to offer up an affordable and decent cut of beef in a take-out/drive-thru restaurant. We fully endorse this new menu item at Carl's Jr.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Frodo in Florida Steps Up With Spaghetti

Our friend Frodo from Florida has once again emailed in a media blitz showcasing his recent adventures cooking spaghetti: "used contadina tomato products since it has an italian lady on it so it must be more authentic. also i added ground beef to the recipe because meat sauce is king. even though i like to cook, funny enough this is my first time making the sauce from scratch (well, it's not really from scratch). it was a fine sauce" He followed this recipe here: cookeatshare.com recipe link