Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eleventh day of the month is "Stranger."
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Because we shop for basically the same items in the grocery store every week, I rarely even enter aisles like the cereal aisle. But Dr. BB wanted some Chex, so there we were and I turned around to see this display of Pop-Tarts and I literally gasped. I feel like the last time that I personally bought Pop-Tarts, my choices were raspberry, cherry, or cinnamon sugar. There are so many types of Pop-Tarts. And I see this very occasionally in things like cookies (do you know how many Oreo variants there are?!), coffee creamers, and potato chips.
It's all so strange to me. Do people switch up the type they get each week? Is our reliance on the same two dozen products strange or unusual? Don't other people see this display and immediately feel a sort of fatigue of all the small decisions that must be made each day? Does anyone else look at this display and immediately assume we are at the end of civilized society?
My favorite Pop-Tart flavor is brown sugar cinnamon, although to be completely fair, I've only tried about four flavors. What's your favorite flavor? Have you tried the limited edition frosted gingerbread? Does this display make you tired?
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To see what Bestest Friend has to say about stranger, go visit her at Too Legit to Quit.
Ah pop tarts. From what I remember they taste like cardboard, but I have good memories of all four flavors that existed when we were kids, so I keep wanting them to be something that they are not. The boys brought home a stash of s'mores flavored ones from camp, so maybe I'll give them another shot.
ReplyDeleteI can handle one million flavors of pop tarts since I never eat them, but sometimes all the flavors of oreos stress me out a bit.
I don't remember them tasting like cardboard - I feel like I remember them as just blasts of sugar! If you do try the s'mores flavored ones, let me know how they turn out.
DeleteOh, I have decision fatigue just looking at that picture! I didn't get to eat them much when I was a kid, but remember liking blueberry. The coffee creamer flavors also make me a little crazy. It's hard enough for me to find a flavor I like, and then I can't find it in stores because you're bringing out weird holiday flavors all the time! I mean, heaven knows I have a sweet tooth, but the thought of peeps-flavored creamer makes me feel a bit ill.
ReplyDeleteYes! With all the seasonal flavors, I feel like the worst thing that could happen is you *like* something a lot and then it just goes away never to be found again. But they also take shelf space away from the regular products. *sigh*
DeleteThat's crazy. One thing that I have noticed when in grocery stores in the States is the incredible variety of snack foods. Sure, we have variety here too, but it pales in comparison. I remember going to a grocery store and seeing all the Oreos. It was really crazy! I think I have eaten one Pop Tart in my life, when I was a kid, so it was probably a raspberry or strawberry one, I couldn't tell you really.
ReplyDeleteThe grocery store would absolutely overwhelm me if I didn't ignore 95% of it. LOL. I don't remember stores being like this when I was a child!
DeleteThat picture is indicative of what's wrong with America. So ridiculous and idiotic. That's why every single time a politician says, "I have faith in The American People" I laugh and roll my eyes. Eleventy hundred flavours of PopTarts and Oreos is what The American People truly care about. And spray cheese.
ReplyDeleteThe American People spend their time debating the merits of the different Cheetos flavors and fail to recognize the collapse of their economic system as it crumbles around them. I feel like this photo is just a direct representation of that.
DeleteHoly Moly---that's a boat load of pop tarts! Kind of ridiculous because if you only had four choices, you'd find one that you like. Right? I've not had a pop tart in years, but I did grow up on eating them. Strawberry was my drug of choice!
ReplyDeleteI feel like the frosted strawberry were very common when I was in college, but I haven't had one in years, either. I wonder if they'd hold up to my older taste buds.
DeleteI haven't had a Pop-Tart in decades and wouldn't have even known they still made them! I have a very hard time with decision fatigue and I HATE how many decisions we have layered on to daily life. I am so much happier when my options are very few...yet it's almost impossible to look for something (at a store at least) where there aren't a dizzying number of options. There is a lot to unpack here...all from a MASSIVE display of Pop-Tarts...
ReplyDeleteYou're telling me. Decision fatigue is real and I like it when people just tell me "this is the right one for you" and I don't have to do research or figure things out.
DeleteThat was how I bought my TV! My friend's brother had done massive research into brands and features and bought one. She got the same kind he did, only smaller (aka, not as ridiculously huge), and I got the same one only smaller yet. It's still plenty big for me. And I didn't have to figure it all out myself!
DeleteI just had to buy a new laptop and we walked into Costco and started looking at the ones in our price range and the young worker came over and told us that one of them was going on sale in two days and would be $150 less and was the best option for what I needed and I just took it. It was the best.
DeleteToo many options. I cannot express to you how disturbed I was by this selection!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's funny because I basically sail through the store, getting the same things every single week. Now that I think of it, I know where the poptarts are (same aisle as the oats) but I've never really looked closely. BUT, now that you bring it up, there is a crazy amount of choices for junk foods. I wonder why- were people really not satisfied with the basics? Maybe it shows our obsession with food. Anyway, interesting post... I've never thought about this.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you think it's just food. I see this surplus of choices in everything from cars to electronics to holiday cards to gift wrap to everything, not just food! In some ways it's lovely to have options, but sometimes I just want to be told what to do!
DeleteI’m so out of touch with what is in the grocery store since Phil does all of our shopping. Before I knew about my gluten intolerance, brown sugar was my favorite flavor of pop tart too. We rarely had them in our house though. Instead we had toaster strudels which were really yummy!
ReplyDeleteToaster strudels are 100% superior! You're right about that.
DeleteThey are not part of my diet. Those that I have had didn’t appeal to me a whole lot. Maybe I am missing out.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're missing out. It's just a puzzle as to why there are so many choices for those who do partake in them.
DeleteThat is so crazy. We have a small grocer near us that has a good selection of different foods but often only one brand and its actually refreshing just to pop in there and get what we need. I'd probably never go anywhere else except that they don't carry a couple of things that my husband and son eat.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've never eaten a pop tart. I think we might have them here but I'm not sure.
You're really not missing out on Pop-Tarts, I promise. They're just sugar bombs. You can just eat a couple tablespoons of sugar and save yourself the trouble!
DeleteMy good friend, who knows that we are not exactly discriminating eaters, gave me a Costco sized box of Chocolate Pop Tarts that her kids had rejected. There are many things I would prefer to eat over a Pop Tart (and the dough is just weird and sticks in my teeth), but I will say, I froze a bunch and eating them frozen wasn't terrible. Again not my favorite, but you know, sometimes it's 5:30pm and dinner isn't ready yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso - how cool is it to be the person who has to come up with Pop Tart Flavors? Are they under constant pressure?
I used to teach a class at the General Mills HQ when I lived in Minneapolis. One time there was a food scientist in my class who worked on the Yoplait flavor line. It seems like a very interesting job because they have to work within constraints of the product (the Pop-Tart shape, etc.), costs of ingredients (no truffle-flavored will probably ever happen because the ingredients would be too expensive to keep the Pop-Tart at roughly the same price point), taste appeal to a wide variety of people, and keep flavors unique without being something no one has experience with. It sounded like an interesting job, but maybe not my wheelhouse!
DeleteI first read this on my phone and thought the photo was the cereal isle... how are there that many pop tarts? I am always amazed to remember how many variations of one thing there are in the US grocery stores. I sometimes find the pasta isle overwhelming and that's just full of different pastas! However, I used to love pop tarts as a kid, I think the cinnamon swirl flavor was my favourite. I don't think i would eat one now, because if I wanted that much sugar I would just go for a chocolate bar. Kid tastes are odd!
ReplyDeleteYes, the brown sugar cinnamon seemed to have been a hit for all my readers when we were young. I don't know what would happen if I had one today - maybe I would still like it? Or, like you, maybe I'd prefer a different treat?
DeleteYou're not wrong...that wall of Pop Tarts is tiring. I can sometimes become overwhelmed by options, and find myself wishing I lived in the Soviet Union and could be happy with whatever the hell I just stood in line for 2 hours to buy. I've never been a fan, they don't taste good to me. So many better ways to spend my calories, I think. I mean, a good donut. A croissant. Even crappy grocery store food, aka, potato chips, would be above Pop Tarts.
ReplyDeleteI do not eat Pop-Tarts, lol, so I don't care about how many flavors there are... although I am getting tired of snack companies trying to come up with always new, always stranger flavors every year. We also buy the same things (usually). I branch out sometime and try something new, it can be fun, but most of the time, we like to stick with what we know ;)
ReplyDeleteGod, I love a Pop-Tart every now and then. I haven't had one in ages and I prefer just a strawberry flavor, but I do remember how much I love them. But I MUCH prefer them warmed up than cold, which I think is out of the ordinary.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting thought experiment, though. Why do junk food manufacturers feel the need to give us SO many different flavors of things? I mean, obviously it's to sell more products and appeal to different taste buds, but it is crazy how many options there are now even compared to a decade ago. So much decision fatigue in that photo!
I'm exhausted just looking at that. Also, I think I have had one pop-tart in my life? Maybe? And I don't even remember what flavor, or when. Clearly, a memorable experience...
ReplyDelete