I must say, I love the name: “Strawberry Dessert”. What does that mean, exactly? It could really be anything! Perhaps a delicate pink soufflé or a magical strawberry-scented fluff?
While British readers won’t find the word “pudding” any less ambiguous than “dessert”, for the Americans out there, the translation is simple: this is just like Jell-O brand pudding. You get some powder, stir in some milk (semi-skimmed or whole are equally tasty, boasts the box) and viola! Ten minutes later you have pudding, which ever definition you follow.
I was a bit meh on this one. The texture was odd, with the top layer gritty and a different consistency than what lie beneath, however, I suspect that stirring might remedy this. The taste was like Nesquick, in other words, very artificial. The product itself wasn’t terrible, and I think I might give the chocolate flavour a go, as it does have one big draw for me: it’s low in calories and saturated fat. For the diet conscious, you could do worse.
Image of Alpine Strawberry taken from van swearingen’s Flickr photstream.
The bag says “all shapes and sizes”, but really, a pepper is a pepper. This Basics product should be a no-brainer to the cost-conscious pepper lover, as a bag of six peppers for only £1.48 is a steal. And if you’re lucky, you might get a bag with no greens! Sure, some of the peppers are small, others are a bit dirty, and even more are lopsided, but when cut up (and thoroughly washed) who can tell the difference?
I’m sure the Sainsbury’s Basics marketing people were working late last night, after the news that the EU is lifting the ban on selling less-than-perfect produce. Expect to see a cornucopia of new Basics, including carrots, cucumbers, asparagus and garlic. With the addition of 26 new Basics fodder, the marketing team is going to have to put in some overtime to come up with snappy slogans. I’ve decided to help them out with a few ideas of my own:
Carrots: Knobbly but nice
Onions: Nothing to cry about
Beans: Will still make you toot
Garlic: Strange shape, still smelly
Mushrooms: At least we washed the shit off!
There are still 11 fruits and vegetables that are lovingly protected by the EU, so don’t expect to see any unappetising apples, unsightly strawberries, or loathsome lettuce anytime soon. Personally I’m glad—we can’t let the world think we’ve gotten rid of all of our standards, can we?