When I found out the next taste test would be toaster pastries (aka Pop-Tarts), I already knew it would be a slam dunk.  I’ve become a believer through the past few months of these taste tests and I’ve already begun altering how we shop for groceries.  I now have a cart full of mostly Best Choice products when I check out.  My kids eat toaster pastries four times a week on average (and my husband probably snacks on them equally) so I began purchasing Best Choice toaster pastries a few weeks ago.

I can guarantee there is no discernible difference in taste between Best Choice and Kellogg brands, as my picky little eaters would have refused the Best Choice brand if there had been a difference.  As far as texture, the Best Choice brand is a flakier pastry, while the Kellogg brand is kind of hard.  Also, the icing on the Best Choice brand is more consistently applied to the whole pastry; the Kellogg brand seems more haphazard in how the icing is applied, sometimes not covering the entire pastry.  Overall, the kids liked both brands equally, but why spend more on the name brand?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is another perfect example of how to save money and not compromise on the quality of product.  In this comparison, you will be saving twenty cents every time you purchase Best Choice brand toaster pastries.  That’s like an automatic coupon that you don’t have to clip, store, carry, and remember to use.  I am thinking that once all of my annual savings are added up from purchasing Best Choice brand products, my annual grocery spending can be cut in half.  That is amazing.  I didn’t have to subscribe to multiple coupon websites, clip coupons from the Sunday paper, or compromise on the quality of food.  I simply made smarter choices while shopping.- Shonna

Cereal is the ultimate breakfast staple in most homes, especially the toasted oat variety known as “Cheerios”. My children have been eating Cheerios since they were toddlers. Picking up Cheerios with their chubby little hands was a simple activity for my kids to work on fine motor skills. Now my children are older, and still love a bowl of cereal in the morning. It is a fast and simple breakfast on the way out the door to school. Honey Nut Cheerios vs. Honey Nut Happy O’s was the taste test this round. To ease confusion, Cheerios and Happy O’s will be used when comparing these two cereals.

When comparing the nutritional labels, both cereals contain the same amount of calories, fat, and carbohydrates including 9 grams of sugar per serving. The ingredients list appears similar. The cost for a 12.25 oz. box of Happy O’s is 2.99, whereas the box of the Cheerios is $3.29. The box of Happy O’s also had a great summary about the story of Lewis and Clark. It was a great opportunity for my 1st grader to learn about American History.

Now on to the important part, the taste test! I gave each member in my family two bowls with the same amount of cereal and milk. Happy O’s appear lighter in color and crunchier than the Cheerios. Cheerios seem to have a clear coating on them that make them appear shiny. My husband noted the Cheerios tasted sweeter than the Honey O’s. I thought for sure my kids would like the sweeter tasting Cheerios, but both my husband and my kids liked the Happy O’s more than the Cheerios. The next time I am in the market to buy toasted oat cereal, Best Choice Honey Nut Happy O’s will be the box that ends up in the shopping cart. - Hillary

My daughter really isn’t too picky of an eater. She does well with most fruits and vegetables. But of course there are some she likes more than others. Corn seems to be a favorite. So I worked that in to our evening meal last night, and decided to do a head to head challenge with canned corn.

I was given 2 cans of Del Monte Canned Corn, and 2 cans of Best Choice Canned Corn. The 2 cans of Del Monte retail at $2.90 for both, with the Best Choice coming in at $1.98 for 2 cans. So we are looking at just under a dollar for a difference in price. That can be a big deal! So now I had to decide what to do with the corn.

I have a ton of recipes that use corn. I have an incredible recipe for a corn casserole that I was tempted to make. But after giving it more thought, any recipe I used wouldn’t really showcase the corn well enough to see if there was a difference in taste or quality. So we are going head to head with simple corn as a side dish. I want to see if there is a difference in taste and appearance. Now I will say that I microwaved a can of each brand (in a microwave safe dish) with one tablespoon of butter added to each. I’m from the Midwest and as good as corn is, it just needs butter.

Now I can whip up my corn casserole! - KC

I knew this would be the easiest of my family’s taste tests: Macaroni and Cheese. My youngest daughter would eat mac & cheese for every meal if we let her. While I knew I would have no problem getting everyone to try the mac & cheese, I was very curious how the Best Choice brand would stack up against the competition. Once again, my brand loyalty is showing; I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever bought Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Most of the time we prepare the mac & cheese according to the box instructions, but on some occasions we steam frozen broccoli in the microwave and add it to the prepared mac & cheese. We decided to add the broccoli for our taste test. We made both the Best Choice and the Kraft brands of macaroni and cheese. We might actually have some leftovers this time!

Both brands were the kind with the cheese sauce already prepared so no need to mess with the cheese powder, milk, and butter. Simply boil the noodles, drain, and add the cheese sauce; a working mom’s dream. Each family member was given two small plates of mac & cheese; one plate with Best Choice and one plate with Kraft.

While both plates were equally gobbled down, my family hands down liked the Best Choice brand better. The Kraft brand was thick and sticky, whereas the Best Choice brand was much creamier. While the taste was perfectly comparable, it was the texture of Best Choice that won us over. Combine that with price difference (Kraft is $2.19 per box; Best Choice is $1.89) and it really doesn’t make sense to be buying the name brand. I would estimate we have mac & cheese at least a couple of times per month, so we’re averaging close to $10 in savings per year by buying Best Choice. The savings are really beginning to add up!

Due to making both brands of mac & cheese, we did have some leftovers. The next day I added a splash of milk to each brand and reheated in the microwave. Interestingly, the Best Choice brand perked back up while the Kraft brand was even thicker and stickier than when freshly prepared. I consider my kids the experts on mac & cheese, so it was very telling when they only ate the Best Choice brand and left the Kraft brand sitting. - Shonna

My children have been eating apple sauce since they were babies. They still love applesauce as an after school snack several times per week. We decided to have a simple taste test between Mott’s Natural Applesauce and Best Choice Natural Applesauce. I have read recently that some companies are decreasing the serving sizes in order to cut costs. Here is one example; the Mott’s brand is $2.19 for 6-3.9oz containers, while the Best Choice brand is $1.99 for 6-4oz containers. When comparing nutrition facts, a serving of each brand contains 50 calories. The Mott’s brand contains 11grams of sugar, whereas the Best Choice brand contains less with 8 grams of sugar. Although the calories are the same, I always try and go with items that contain lower sugar content when feeding my children.

On the actual blind taste test…both my kids thought the Mott’s brand tasted a little sour. When looking at the ingredients, both contain three. The Mott’s brand contains apples, water, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). I am guessing the “natural ingredient” ascorbic acid is what gave it the sour taste. The Best Choice brand contains apples, water, and salt. The kids couldn’t come up with any other reason as to why they liked the Best Choice brand other than Mott’s had that sour taste. With a savings of $.20, less sugar, and better taste, the winner of this test is the Best Choice Natural Applesauce. Mott’s, however, does provide a significant amount of Vitamin C, which may be beneficial for some families. - Hillary

As a child I remember no matter what complaint I had, my mom offered to fix it with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. As long as I can remember, it was the ultimate comfort food. It could soothe colds, fevers, scraped knees and even the occasional broken heart. I never remember my mom buying the soup at the store; I only remember it always being in the pantry. It was there, I suppose, waiting on the sure to come ailment that would need to be taken care of. I have to confess, I am not that kind of mom. If my children need comfort, I either offer them a hug or have to race to the nearest grocery to find just the perfect product to soothe that which ails them. So it was kind of a nostalgic experience to offer my husband and kids a big bowl or two of chicken noodle soup on a recent afternoon when the weather was nasty and everyone was “so bored” and out of sorts. Wow, chicken noodle soup has sure changed since I was a child. It is no longer slimy noodles with little squares of processed something (presumably chicken) all housed in some slimy yellow water. Today’s comparison product is healthy, fresh and more than edible. The noodles are all substantial and the chicken is clearly chicken. The broth has been thinned out and spiced up with fresh vegetables. Now not only does the soup serve to calm whatever anxiety, it also tastes great. In comparing the Campbell’s brand to the Best Choice brand it was easy to tell the difference. The Campbell’s brand has larger noodles and fewer vegetables although it has more chicken. The Best Choice noodles were firmer and had more taste to them. They tasted like they had just been put into the can rather than like they had soaked in the broth for days. Also , I prefer not to have to cut my children’s soup with a knife and the size and texture of the Best Choice noodles did not need that individual treatment! The carrots in the Best Choice were a nice addition although my sweet 6 year old didn’t think they slurped quite as well as the noodles did! My family definitely voted for me to stock the pantry for those sure to come rainy days and disappointments and even a few broken bones and scraped knees with the Best Choice Chunky Chicken and Noodle Soup. - Edie

Let’s bring on the battle of the ‘Mommy’s quick supper helpers’!

Let me start off by stating that I would love nothing more than to be able to cook my family a gourmet meal that I made from scratch on a nightly basis. Complete with making my own pasta and coming up with sauces from scratch. The reality of the situation is that I work a full time job. As does my husband. I feel very accomplished in the fact that I cook at all instead of running through a fast food drive thru! So sometimes you just need to find a shortcut that gives you that quality meal in a pinch. I will also throw in the fact that my 4 year old is obsessed with pasta at the moment. She is constantly asking for spaghetti for supper, and we have started calling all of our dinners some type of spaghetti. Like beef stroganoff is ‘white spaghetti’. I’ll do whatever it takes to convince her that this is the dinner she asked for.

So I did a head to head challenge with Beef Stroganoff boxed dinners. You know the type that you add browned hamburger to, mix in the noodles and the sauce…and BINGO! You have that great tasting quality dinner you wanted, without having to roll out fresh pasta and pour through your spice rack to make a sauce. And it can be done in less than 30 minutes. So this mommy can go fold another basket of laundry or give a kid a bath.

I took a box of Betty Crocker’s Hamburger Helper classic Stroganoff and a box of Best Choice Easy Skillet Stroganoff. One thing I like about these boxed dinners, is that you can add different things to pump them up. I always brown onion with my hamburger as I love the flavor it adds. If I had mushrooms on hand I would have thrown them in to the mix as well! But I prepared both packages, and was surprised to notice a few differences. The Best Choice is about 2.5 ounces larger. And it seemed to make a large batch of food. A bigger difference to me was that the Best Choice required only 1 cup of milk and 2 ½ cups of water. Hamburger Helper needed 2 ¼ cups of milk and ½ cup of hot water. Once I got both skillet dinners almost finished, I thought I might add a little sour cream to the mixtures to pump it up a little. But when I went into the fridge, I saw a few ounces of leftover cream cheese sitting there. I threw about an ounce of cream cheese into each skillet and it gave the sauce a little bit creamier texture.

Now it was time for the taste test. The Best Choice dinner went into colored bowls while the Hamburger Helper went on to plates. I couldn’t taste a difference at all. The only visual difference was the shape of the pasta. But as far as taste, they were the same. My daughter ate them both easily calling them her white spaghetti. When my husband sat down I didn’t tell him which was which, so he basically did a blind taste test. He liked the Stroganoff in the bowl. Which was the Best Choice Easy Skillet.

Now let’s look at cost. Best Choice retails for $1.50 and Hamburger Helper comes in at $1.69. But remember, you have to use more milk with the Hamburger Helper, and that can add up. You are using over a cup more milk! So for me Best Choice is the way to go.

And since we had some leftovers doing this head to head challenge I came up with a great lunch for my husband. I took a hoagie roll, split it in half and layered the Stroganoff on the inside to make an incredible sandwich for him! - KC

I was maybe a little too excited about comparing Best Choice peanut butter and strawberry jelly to the name brands. Number one, I’m a pretty big peanut butter fan (as are my kids); number two, there’s this cookie recipe that I’ve wanted to try… 

First, my kids and I started with the most basic of taste tests: peanut butter on a spoon. I have to admit, this is one of my go-to “snacks” when I’m too busy to make a proper snack, or in need of a grocery shopping trip. I approached this as a blind taste test. My kids and I each had two spoonfuls of peanut butter, one was name brand and one was Best Choice. The kids did not register a difference between the two, but I thought there was maybe a slightly more roasted taste to one of them. In fact, it was so slight that I did a re-test. In truly comparing them side-by-side, the name brand seemed to have just a touch stronger flavor; however, the more I tasted, the less I noticed any difference at all. It was not a noticeable enough of a difference for me to declare one better than the other.

Second test was still fairly basic, but this time I did not participate. I dipped small pretzels in peanut butter, and then pressed an M&M into the peanut butter. I gave one daughter Best Choice brand and the other got name brand. They both snacked away completely unaware that there was any difference between their snacks. When they weren’t paying attention, I swapped their plates. Did they notice a taste difference? Nope. They continued eating without as much as a peep about it.

Test number three was a classic, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I tried the” two birds, one stone” approach with this by making one sandwich with name brand peanut butter and strawberry jelly, and another sandwich with Best Choice peanut butter and strawberry jelly. Turns out my kids didn’t appreciate my approach. They wanted grape jelly on their sandwiches, not strawberry. So, while this test was a bust with the kids, I tried both sandwiches and found them equally delicious. Sometimes a mom just has to take one for the team. Speaking of, did I mention cookies earlier?

The fourth and final test was the one I was most excited to do. I made two batches of peanut butter cookies with strawberry jelly “thumbprints” (one batch using Best Choice brands, the other with name brands). I made a ridiculous amount of cookies, but I HAD to in order to truly test the brand difference. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. This time, my blind tasters were my coworkers. I brought both batches to work and gave each coworker two cookies, one from each batch. I did not tell my coworkers up front about the taste test, but at the end of the day I told them and asked if anyone could discern a difference between the two cookies. Not a single person registered a difference.

I have had a long-time brand loyalty when it comes to peanut butter, but that has now been shattered. I have to admit that I started this taste test with preconceived notions. I didn’t think the Best Choice brand would hold up to the name brand when it came to flavor and quality. I was wrong. While I thought I might have registered a slight difference when eating the peanut butter straight from the spoon, no one else did; when making snacks, sandwiches, and cookies neither I nor anyone else could taste a difference. At a savings of 60 cents per jar of peanut butter, I estimate an annual savings of about $10 just by switching to Best Choice peanut butter. I had honestly never even thought about switching brands (it’s what my Mom used!), but this taste test made me a believer. Same goes for the jelly. We don’t go through as much jelly as we do peanut butter, but still a worthwhile switch to make for the 90 cents savings per jar. One last thing I have to mention because it is such a relief – I have a strange food allergy. In my late twenties, I developed an allergic reaction to red dye #40. If I eat anything with red #40, my face swells and my eyes swell shut. This makes me a diligent label reader. I was so relieved to see that Best Choice does not use red #40 in their strawberry jelly. THANK YOU BEST CHOICE! - Shonna

Who knew that our first snowstorm of the year would be the middle of February? So following a friendly snowball fight, the kids wanted a nice warm cup of hot cocoa. This was the perfect opportunity to implement a taste test for them when they came inside to warm up.