Mm.. Crunch ‘n Munch. To make a short story longwinded, I was casting about trying to think of something to review for Earth Day. Something that would really speak to the heart of the matter about Us destroying the ozone and whatnot. I was going to be a real Green Hero by calling attention to the plight of Mother Earth.

Instead, as usual I caved to the pressure of cheap, preprocessed food bought at the Dollar Store. Truth be told, awhile back I stocked up on a number of different Cheap Eats items at the Dollar Store to review (the people who work there must think I’m insane buying all that random food). I guess Earth Day can wait another week. Not that I don’t think about the state of the environment.

So, about the Crunchity ‘n Munchity… I was going to insert a joke here about people having the “munchies” after ingesting the afterburn from certain plants, but since this is a family friendly website I decided against it.

I’ve been eating Crunch ‘n Munch, since the 70s or so. Made by ConAgra (who bought the rights from Franklin Nut Company?), this is pretty much in a similar vein to Cracker Jack and Fiddle Faddle. I’m not sure what it going on with the rhyming in all three of those names.

Cracker Jack is probably the most traditional and popular of the three, and for some reason I don’t think I’ve reviewed it yet. I’ll probably try get a hold of some if I can find it for cheap. Fiddle Faddle - I know it’s similar and I used to eat it that back in the day as well . For the life of me, I can’t remember how it was different than Crunch ‘n Munch - I think maybe it didn’t have any peanuts?

The Crunch ‘n Munch formula is basically clusters of sugar syrup coated popcorn with peanuts embedded in them. I got the “Caramel” variety which is different than the original flavor of Buttery Toffee. They also have an almond version of it.

I have to say that I was pretty pleasantly surprised with the flavor and quality. A side note: everyone thinks that stuff at the Dollar Store is “past it’s prime” and that’s how they can sell it for cheap. But so far, I haven’t had too many instances where the product was not fresh. This box of Crunch ‘n Munch tasted pretty fresh to me.

Continue reading “Crunch ‘n Munch” …

Well, let me tell you - I had a whole production planned for April Fool’s. This involved changing the website to look like it was bought by Google, buying a domain name (cheepeatr.com) and installing social networking (web 2 point blow) software, and then youtubing myself sitting naked in a bathtub full of caviar saying, “How do you like me now, suckahs!”

I had actually planned to do something funny like that since about last summer or so. But as it turns out - I’m just not a funny guy. In fact, I’m so un-funny that on the Funnilee Scale, which is measured similar to the Scoville hotness scale but in units of funnyness - I rate a little higher than a bell pepper.

I don’t know about you, but being as funny as a bell pepper means I have a hard time coming up with laughy joke production things. It’s true I can be funnier than Saturday Night Live, but hey, that bar is set REAL low…

Also, it turns out that I have no funny friends to inspire me to new funnilicious heights. You see, I have been living in a cave for the past 2 years and while the benefits are decent (low incidence of predators in the area, running stream just outside), the walk to the comedy club where all the other alien bears hang out to get their funnybones tickled is just too far to make it on an average day.

The other thing is that I can’t really leave the cave for long periods of time right now because I’ve left my flying saucer double parked in front of the meadow where we’re gathering specimens to take back to Betelgeuse. The Alpha alien bear really gets PO-ed if he notices anyone doing that, so I’ve had to keep an eye-tentacle out. Last thing I want is to have it impounded by the Galactic Bear Force and be stuck on this godforsaken planet for another year or so.

So in lieu of the hilarity that normally goes with April Fool’s, here is a nice picture of Alien Bear Ramen defaced by myself with a light sky blue Photoshop pen. It is the best I could do on such short notice with the computer in the cave, but I figure it gets the point across. Happy April Fools, earthlings.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be taking a short break from posting. It should be no more than 2-3 weeks and then we’ll return with food reviews and recipes. Thanks for standing by.

(Apologies, I spelled Korokke wrong…)

Not much progress to be found on the shoulder / back ailment lately. The only thing I’ve been able to do is limit my computer usage severely. That’s making me extremely sad, but what can you do. I’ve got an appointment to have it checked again, possibly get some kind of physical therapy lined up, but we’ll see.

Till then, I think posts are mostly going to consist of this type which is Leftovers for Lunch. I think I might have covered this particular one in the past, but I’m not sure. I really like to combine two different leftovers into one lunch where possible. This is part of a cold somen noodle lunch we’d made earlier plus a little fried korokke courtesy of the folks.

Once again, an important Cheap Eats tenet: Eat at the parent’s house whenever you can (If you like their food, of course).

“Korokke” is actually a japanese version of croquettes. My mom makes the version that doesn’t have cream or milk in it so it isn’t as rich. It’s basically mashed potatoes, ground meat (beef or turkey) and some spices. You form patties with them and use a flour, egg wash, panko mix to coat them, and then fry them up. Eaten with ketchup, hot sauce or tonkatsu sauce.

I put it with cold somen that is meant to be the kind that you dip in sauce and eat. Topped with any number of things - this time around it’s a sliced egg omelette, green onion and chopped lettuce. Yep, that cup is NOT filled with tea but with a soy sauce / mirin / bonito flake based sauce. Ordinarily, if you get this type of noodle at a restaurant it is brought out on these bamboo trays with slats that allow water to drain out the noodles. But we don’t have those, so I just put it in a bowl, slosh it in the cup of sauce, and eat it. Messy, but effective. Cold noodles like this make a great summertime lunch…

Hello there, if you’ve arrived here from Lifehacker. Thank you, Wendy B., for the nice mention on that site - I occasionally read Lifehacker as well for the great tips there. I have to apologize in advance for not writing more just at the moment, but see the post below for an explanation why (ouchee shoulder). If this is your first time here, welcome, have a look around, and I hope you find some interesting Cheap Eats to read about!

Whoops, I nearly forgot… today being July 11 it is 7-11 day all around the nation. Yes, time will indeed stop for you while you head out of the office at lunch to pick up yer free Slurpee drink. Just remember that the sizes they give away are the tiny ones, the 7.11 ounce slurpees. I’m going to be passing on this one although there is a 7-11 within walking distance (too much brain freeze lately), so let me know how it goes…

I completely goofed and forgot to post this yesterday. I wanted you to all get fair warning about picking up a FREE Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Cone. Yep, it’s that time of year already.

They’re celebrating 28 years of making their ice cream. The shops should all be open from 12-8pm. I actually have never partaken in this yearly ritual, though I know there are quite a few people who do. It hasn’t been hot enough here lately to get ice cream, but then again I guess who needs a heat wave to enjoy some?

Make sure to check which Ben & Jerry’s stores are actually participating in this giveaway. There are definitely more than a few, say in California where I live, which aren’t giving it away. I looked and for the most part, it’s mostly those which are in amusement parks or baseball stadiums. Yeah, if they honored the giveaway in a stadium full of people they’d go bankrupt.

Price: Free Ice Cream Cone
At: Ben & Jerry’s
Cheap Eats Score: 10/10