French's Cheddar French Friend Onions

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Sustainability	Appearance	Packaging	Total
15	10	5	5	N/A 5	1	2	5	48

This product is a MISS!
You have to wonder about any product which has palm oil as the first ingredient... looking at the package you might expect onions to be the first ingredient - as I did! This product is straight out of the sixties with so many artificial ingredients it makes me wonder who would buy it. I do give French's some credit for at least putting recipes on the package because eating this stuff straight out of the can couldn't be a good thing, but these recipes call for 1 1/3 cups - when you do the math that would mean you'd be adding 70 grams of fat and 900 calories to your meal! (1 serving is 2 tablespoons and 1 1/3 cups equals 20 tablespoons). Retails for $3.99 / 6 oz.

FRENCH'S Foods
Parsippany, NJ
800 841 1256
www.frenchsfoods.com



Hint Premium Essence Water: Honeydew Hibiscus Flavor

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Sustainability	Appearance	Packaging	Total
10	12	15	15	N/A 5	1	5	5	68

This product is a MISS!
The bottled water trend is officially over when companies have to resort to flavors like 'Honeydew Hibiscus" to tempt consumers. With an aroma that is way too perfume-y and a taste that is way too unappealing I have to wonder about the future of bottled water. I applaud that Hint doesn't contain sweeteners or preservatives and I like their cute slogans like "Honey, do this, honeydew that..." but hint, hint: let's not forget someone's got to drink this stuff! Retails for $1.79 / 16 fl oz.

Hint, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
866 895 4468
www.drinkhint.com


Vivi's Original Sauce: Roasted Grandstand Carnival Mustard

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Sustainability	Appearance	Packaging	Total
30	16	14	14	N/A 5	1	5	5	90

This product is a HIT!
Vivi's actually has an interesting taste and flavor - they say on the package it's the ultimate condiment and you know what? I'd have to agree! I could envision putting this on just about anything, but I wonder with such a strong flavor if that would make everything taste the same? My suggestion is to use it instead of mustard or mayo in sandwiches or as a dip for veggies. There are other recommendations on the jar - so who knows? Retails for $5 / 12 oz.

Vivi's Original Sauce, LLC
Sherman Oaks, CA
310 729 3842
www.vivisoriginalsauce.com


Betty Crocker Instant Mashed Potatoes: Cheddar and Sour Cream Flavor

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Sustainability	Appearance	Packaging	Total
15	19	12	8	N/A 5	0	5	5	69

This product is a MISS!
I don't know anyone who doesn't like mashed potatoes and I admit that making it from scratch is a bother - so when I saw Betty Crocker's new Cheddar and Sour Cream 100% Real Mashed Potatoes I was excited! This is so easy to make - you literally just add boiling water, give it a stir and it's done - however I thought it said Cheddar and Sour Cream on the package and all I can taste is potato. One look at the ingredients answered that conundrum - the package contains less than 2% of dried cheddar cheese and dried sour cream and there's my answer. Why can't these companies come up with an easy to make product like this that isn't loaded with artificial ingredients and actually tastes good? Retails for $1.00 / 3.3 oz packet.

General Mills Sales, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
763 764 8330
www.BettyCrocker.com


B.Lloyd's Salad Topping: Glazed and Roasted Pecan Flavor

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Sustainability	Appearance	Packaging	Total
29	15	7	15	N/A 5	2	5	3	81

B.Lloyd's slogan is "NUTS DID IT" - I would suggest that B.Lloyd did it! This is a great product that will add both a touch of sweetness and crispiness to your salads - most other glazed nuts sold in produce departments are so sickeningly sweet you can't even tell what type of nut you're eating. However I have a couple of issues with this product - the pull-open package creates a very sharp edged opening so watch your fingers. My other BIG issue is with the misleading serving size of half a tablespoon - come on, a real person is going to put maybe 5 or 6 times that on their salad - and as the lid tells you to enjoy this product as a snack, let's say you eat half the can (less than 3 oz) - you'll be getting roughly 500 calories and 50 grams of fat, but mysteriously 0 grams of sugar, because by using such a small serving size the company has calculated a negligible amount of sugar on the nutritional info; which when you consider that sugar is the second ingredient and organic corn syrup the third is just not fair: so watch your waistline too! Retails for $2.99 / 5.5 oz.

B. Lloyd's Barwick, GA
800 322 6887
www.blloyds.com

Our ratings have evolved!

More of our readers and viewers are concerned about the impact on our environment and of course the effect on agriculture. So, it's time for SupermarketGuru to meet that need and to take into account the important effect the entire chain of food production is having on our planet and ourselves.

As of this week we are changing our New Product evaluation scoring : adding 5 points for sustainability and subtracting 5 points from preparation; total possible score remains at 100 points.

Phil taste-tests and judges each product based on the following 8 criteria:

1. Taste (30 points): the most important attribute of any food
2. Value (20 points): is it worth it?
3. Health (15 points): based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?
4. Ingredients (15 points): what's in it, how natural is it?
5. Preparation (5 points): when applicable, how accurate or good are the directions *
6. Appearance (5 points): is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description
7. Packaging (5 points): Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as resealability, added freshness, better storage, etc.
8. Sustainability (5 Points): is the packaging biodegradable, is it wasteful, is the company endeavoring to offset their carbon footprint?

* products that do not have any preparation will have the full value of these points included in their total score 

More from Phil Lempert:

• More new product reviews
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