Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Calling all Grilling Masters!

Welcome to summer! It's time to fire up that grill and try out all your favorite foods. I'm here because BzzAgent invited me to a Kroger grilling campaign. As if my life couldn't get more exciting. So in my Bzz Kit was a pack of coupons for various kroger products including: a free bag of frozen burger patties (I chose the sirloin), free hamburger buns, free Kroger brand (Big K) Soda, free kroger chips and a coupon for $.40 off Kroger brand ice cream. So my first objective was to go buy everything. I of course bought way more than I had coupons for. I got enough to share at a get together, plus some for my own house where I regularly host dinner get togethers.

The hamburger patties are preformed and ready to go. the grill up by themselves decently but could use a little flavor. I let mine thaw just a little before cooking them so I can toss on spices. Watch them on the grill as the full size patties are thin and cook up quickly. You don't want to over cook them or they dry out. The patties are best with just a little garlic powder, salt and pepper (in my opinion). Topped with grilled onions, cheese, bacon and barbecue sauce. The Kroger brand hamburger buns are moist and flavorful. They seem like they'd really compliment any set-up that a cook would come up with. The sky is the limit with these patties and buns, really. It's perfect for those nights where you just need to save time. Maybe you had a late soccer game, or you were running late after dance practice. Throw these babies on the grill.. they are quite difficult to mess up!

Kroger brand potato chips have been a favorite of mine since I moved to Texas a few years ago. I am skeptical of store brands, and I'm sure most of my readers are, too. A lot of the store branded products out there are bland or the flavor is all wrong. Sometimes it's the texture, especially with chips! These chips seem to have a good flavor, nice crunch and keep up with name brand chips. I am not a huge potato chip fan as it breaks my diet rules.. but I secretly love these. Especially their barbecue flavor. I could probably demolish an entire bag in a day, easily. They're worth a try, I haven't been disappointed yet!

Onto the topic of Kroger brand sodas, or Big K. Store brand sodas are another thing that seems hit or miss. They often miss the mark with taste, flavor and carbonation. I am one of those people that usually can't settle for anything but my favorite name brands. So this was probably my toughest part of the campaign. How do I happily try this soda and share it with others if it tastes terrible? I was in for a real surprise. I chilled a few cans of each soda I purchased so I could taste test them myself. If they were terrible, I planned to find some other purpose for them. I didn't know what. The flavors I purchased were orange cream, cola and root beer. Now, keep in mind I am a bit of a root beer connoisseur. I seek out fancy brands and tend to avoid anything in plastic or aluminum containers (just for root beer. Okay okay, I'm a snob). Root beer is my thing, ever since I was a kid. Anyway, so the last store brand soda was a type from another chain. It was gag worthy. This Big K soda was surprisingly crisp and flavorful. I like it better than ALL of the labeled sodas including: Mug, A&W and Barqs. It's so much better that I felt almost compelled to hoard it to myself. I shared.. but then I bought more and hoarded that. The orange cream and also the cola varieties were good too! I'd say I could probably be satisfied with these over name brands. Especially comparing the prices. Try it yourself and see!

This brings me to ice cream. I just want to preface this section by saying if you try their ice cream you will never waste money on name brands again. Okay, so no ice cream is ever a 'waste'.. you get my point. Kroger seems to have more flavors and more creativity. Their ice cream is rich, creamy and will knock your socks off. I love going to the freezer section and picking out new flavors. My favorite of theirs is their Moon Pie ice cream. I have to imagine it's seasonal as I've only been able to purchase it a couple times. It is DIVINE. So there you have it. When I shop for ice cream, Kroger brand is my go to!

What is your favorite Kroger branded product? Leave me a comment!

Disclaimer: I received coupons from BzzAgent as part of a campaign for all of these products as I mentioned above. I promise to bring honest reviews to my readers. I wouldn't want anyone wasting money or time on products they don't like.

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