I Tried Tons of Snacks With Simple Ingredients—These Are My Favs

Cedar’s sent me some tzatziki and toum with really clean ingredients. While the tzatziki was good, I became mildly obsessed with the Garlic Toum. This surprised me because here’s the ingredient list: Sunflower Oil, Water, Fresh Garlic, Starch, Guar Gum, Vinegar, Salt.

How good could that be? I craved it so much that I’d make excuses to eat it on crackers. When I ran out of crackers, I’d have it on toast. It’s so, so good.

I really had no idea what to expect with this sorbet. The rep mentioned how it came inside the fruit, which I didn’t fully conceptualize until I saw it. To use everything in this Island Way Sorbet, the pineapple fruit is scooped out, made into a sorbet, then put back into the pineapple shell.

The ingredients are non-GMO with no preservatives, artificial colors, or flavors, but they aren’t exactly simple—there are stabilizers, guar gum, and carrageenan. Regardless, I want more. It tasted just like a pina colada, which is exactly what I needed in the middle of a snowstorm. I had to hold the frozen pineapple shell with a dish towel, but I appreciated not needing to dirty a bowl.

Those who know me know that I do not like cheese. At all. There are some exceptions, like when the cheese tastes fake (Cheez-its and Doritos are fair game) or when it’s thin and watery. So, when I had the opportunity to try the new Sargento Cheese Bakes, I was a little nervous. Sargento is known for quality cheese, and these cheese bakes have authentic, full-flavor cheese as the first ingredient.

I reluctantly opened Parmesan & Oregano, tried one, then immediately said, “Nope! That tastes way too much like real cheese.” Then I tried a second, crunched through it (they have a good bite to them), and I really, really liked it. Actually, I think I loved it. Turns out I like Parmesan cheese flavor so long as it’s not the texture of cheese. Would buy again.

Tate’s Bake Shop cookies are pretty iconic, apparently. They are made locally in NY and have quality ingredients and no preservatives. I am not a huge cookie person, so I probably would have never tried these on my own—and when I do have cookies, they are usually gooey and soft. These aren’t like that; the heirloom recipe is meant to be thin and crispy.

I’ll be completely honest: after my first bite, I thought they were too crunchy. (On the rare occasion I make cookies, if they are crunchy, that’s usually because I burnt them.) Then I finished the cookie, reminding myself that it’s not burnt, and I was hooked. The buttery, crisp cookie is what freshly baked cookies are supposed to taste like.

Last up is this high protein smoothie from Daily Harvest. I see this brand a lot on social media, but I hadn’t tried it. I was sent a few smoothies and some freezer snack bites. I wasn’t a huge fan of the bites, but I loved this smoothie. At first, I thought it was ready to drink—until I opened the little cup and found a bunch of frozen produce. (I may have skimmed over the “ready to blend” part.)

You drop the block of ingredients in the blender, then add a milk of choice—but I wanted a little more. I added milk, Greek yogurt, and chia seeds, which made one of the best smoothies I’ve had in years. What I loved, too, is that it had so much more than I usually keep in my freezer, like dates, pea protein, pumpkin seeds, zucchini, and so on. I’m sure my gut health appreciated it.