newsfromme, your full service weblog, is about to do some of you a big favor. You may recall a recent post here where I discussed the new Hostess Cupcakes that come in 100 calorie packets. Lately, I've been trying almost every 100 calorie item I've spotted in my local markets. These come in handy for me. Since my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I don't have to worry much about my weight but I have to eat in certain rhythms. It usually comes down to two or three small meals a day and three or four smaller ones. The 100 calorie packets are usually perfect for the latter, not so much because of their calorie count but their size.
I've sampled the Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Lorna Doone, Planter's Peanut Cookies, Cheese Nips and Ritz Mix packets, all from Nabisco. The Ritz Mix, I found nearly inedible and since I bought a box of six packets, I forced the other five on company. The Oreos bothered me because they weren't Oreos. It was as if the Nabisco scientists said to the boss, "No way can we configure Oreos for 100 calorie packages," and the boss said, "I don't care…I want 100 calorie packets of something I can say are Oreos." So they came up with these air-filled chocolate wafers that they claim are Oreos but which have nothing to do with real Oreos. They're probably decent cookies but who can swallow a lie like that?
The other Nabisco products were okay. So were the 100 calorie packets of Cheetos that come from that company, and I've also tried 100 calorie Hershey dark chocolate bars, 100 calorie Thomas' English Muffins, 100 calorie Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn and the aforementioned 100 calorie Hostess Cupcakes. They were all decent in that they were either tasty food or they reminded me of tasty food. But I'm here to tell you about my favorites, and some of you will thank me for this.
The Trader Joe's chain has gotten into the 100 calorie sweepstakes with several items, two of which I like a lot. One is their cheese crackers, which are shaped like little toucans. The other is their oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which are shaped like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They taste pretty good, you get more product in each packet than you might expect, and the ingredients do not include too many unpronounceable chemical names.
Give 'em a try…and while you're there, you might want to sample some of Trader Joe's other 100 calorie products, just in case you like the cinnamon graham cracker toucans more than I did. They were all right but I liked the others better. The stores also have some multigrain cracker toucans that I didn't test. In my experience, Trader Joe's products are very hit and miss, and when I find a good one, I sometimes opt to not press my luck.