Breaking Newz: Due to the current Writer’s Guild of America strike, Cheap Eats will be broadcasting reruns via the interwebnetthingy. I will be proudly walking the picket lines with my fellow writers in Hollywood. I will be wearing a shirt that says “DIE MOVIE MOGUL SCUM”. Come on down and toot your horn to support this great endeavor!

Ah.. yes, I jest. Or maybe not. Stuff like this strike remind me that hey, there are actually people who get a regular paycheck to write things. I’m not saying that I should be hired by a major motion picture studio to write the next Shrek movie. (I forget, are they on XVI or XVII?) No way - those writers are way too good for me. I mean they’re way gooderer or betterer than me (Than I?) I could never be one of them.

But, it gets me down sometimes. It also makes me want to write shorter posts. I think it’s something a huge majority of semi-successful bloggers face, there’s just not enough time in the day to churn out really interesting, humorous posts with character unless you’re writing for Slate or the LA Times. Try writing posts every day for a few years for free - I bet you’ll get a tiny bit bummed occasionally.

Here’s the thing: most of the successful bloggers take a huge amount of pride in what they do. I have to keep reminding myself that however proud I am of the posts that I make: IT’S NOT A JOB. So it’s not a big deal - I can take a break for 15 weeks and only 15 people will notice. These writers who are striking - it IS their job that they’re defending (or at least the union wants them to think so) - so it IS a big deal.

Anyhow, to sum things up… Note to self: Relax and Enjoy the occasional free food coupon.

Sometimes I feel like Stuart Smalley: I deserve good things, I am entitled to my share of happiness, I refuse to beat myself up, I am an attractive person. Well, that’s debatable. I am fun to be with. Not really…

Holy crap, is there going to be some sort of review in all this? I guess so. I was sent the Curves Chocolate Peanut Granola Bars many, many moons ago. Here is what they look like:

The box is the picture at the top of the post. I was also sent the cereal but I’m “reviewing” the bars only. But the cereal is not too bad. However, in either case, I did not feel like jumping up in the air like the lady on the box after eating them. (Mostly because I am afraid of a large 8 ton beer can falling on me if I do anything “un-manly”. Because men should act like men.) If I want to see get my jumping jollies off, I just go to one of the Flickr groups that deal with it.

Well, OK maybe I’ll give the bars just a little hop. A small bunny rabbit jump.

Curves partnered with General Mills to market these 100 calorie each, 0.88 oz granola bars. These are the chewy type unlike the Nature Valley Nut ones we reviewed earlier.

You know what, I really, really can’t think of anything positive or negative to say about these. They’re just average in every sort of way. They’ve got granola, some sort of chewy binder, chocolate chips, and peanuts. Well, the peanuts are either chopped up so fine or ground up so that you only barely notice any peanut taste in the bar. The chocolate tastes a little bit chalky to me, but what do you expect from a healthy bar like this. It’s pleasant, but not super exciting.

One more closeup:

I guess what I am saying is: if you gave me it for free (which they did) I’d eat it. But I don’t think I’d run to the store to get it. I never know what to say with these diet foods - you see, I’m just not on a diet. But it seems like everyone else is. In fact, I’m on a weight-gaining program due to an overactive metabolism - I have an eating coach - I swear to God it’s true. It’s working wonderfully so far, all those Pastrami Sandwiches and Chili Cheese Fries have added a few pounds…

Price: Free (MSRP = ?)
Found At: Sent in for review
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10