Hello! Welcome to episode 127 of I’d Rather Stay In. This week, we’re taste testing some fall snacks.

Episode transcript

Megan 0:00
Welcome to I’d rather stay in with your hosts Megan Myers and Stephie Predmore is decorative gourd season so we’re gonna taste test a bunch of fall themed snacks. Stay tuned. Do you love listening

Stephie 0:11
to I’d rather stay in and want to support the podcast? Well now you can visit our website or the LinkedIn or Instagram profile and click Buy me a coffee or visit buy me a coffee.com/irssi podcast for the price of a cup of coffee, you can help us cover the costs of creating this podcast. There are no monthly memberships, and you could support us at whatever level you like, whenever you like, whether you buy us one coffee, many coffees or simply continue listening as always, we’re so grateful for your support

Hello, Megan, Hi, Stephanie. What’s up?

Megan 0:54
So the other week, you guys came over for my husband’s birthday. And after dinner, we were watching the Lion King. Yes. The original. And I’ve seen the Lion King many many times. Because it came out when I was a child. I remember how old it was when I when it came out. But you know, when it came out, it was also like

Stephie 1:22
94 or something.

Megan 1:24
Yeah. Disney. Yeah, like 9492, something like that. It was the golden age of Disney animation. So everyone went to go see all the things and also my friend and I just really loved all those movies. And so I know all the words to every song in The Lion King Of course. And so the past few days, I have had be prepared stuck in my head. Oh, that’s a weird one that have stuck in your head. I think it’s because that’s right where we like turn the movie off. Especially the part where the hyenas go. No, okay, no, okay. I’m just really into that part. Apparently.

Stephie 2:07
Bless. I am really excited about the new Little Mermaid, they finally have a release date for it. We’ve been waiting forever. Literally. It’s been like four years.

Megan 2:19
I think that they really that long. It feels like it was that long.

Stephie 2:22
I legitimately think I feel like we mentioned it. Like, I feel like we first heard about it. Not too long after we started this podcast, which was the end of 2018. So unlikely 19 Either way by the time.

Megan 2:41
Yeah, it was 2019. But didn’t

Stephie 2:42
it? Was it 2018. Either way, by the time it comes out, it will have been like four years that we’ve been talking about this because it kept getting pushed back because of the pandemic. Yes, but it will also be because we finally have a release date. It’s like March of 2023. And I’m very excited because I think it might be Edie’s first movie theater movie. I think that would be good to see. Yes. Our first movie, the movie theaters and like, you know, yeah, all about the representation. And I’ve been seeing all the TIC TOCs of the little black girls like I started crying last night straight up sobbing because I’m like mama, she’s black. Like, oh my god.

Megan 3:21
So I love it. Um, there’s always a tick tock bros that are like, it’s they’re the worst. And also the same thing with all the Marvel stuff recently to where they’re complaining about She Hulk and all sorts of things in it. And they’re complaining about that elves and Lord of the Rings and how’s the dragons and all this? Well, you guys it’s not real

Stephie 3:42
that literally whatever you want, like all creatures,

Megan 3:45
it’s a mermaid. Yeah, mermaids don’t exist dragons aren’t real and any Hobbit any place I’m not real definitely not real. Like

Stephie 3:59
get it together,

Megan 4:00
but also I did see one that was basically like this is making men pretend that they’re interested in The Little Mermaid like a was never for you know? Never for the toxic dude bros.

Stephie 4:20
No. Not for the toxic dude, bro.

Megan 4:23
So just maybe stepped down?

Stephie 4:24
Yeah, yeah,

Megan 4:25
it was good. I’m excited. I am wondering whether if what slash if they’re going to change the storyline. I’m a big fan of the original stories. Oh, obviously is not

Stephie 4:40
gonna be at all depressing was where she like Rose was like she kills herself at the end. She

Megan 4:45
turns into seafoam. Oh, yeah, that’s right. She hasn’t killed herself. She just dies and turns into see

Stephie 4:50
what’s worse. What’s the one that we’re there’s one more that the protagonist kills herself.

Megan 4:56
Oh, I don’t remember which one it is. But

Stephie 4:57
you know what I’m thinking of though, right?

Megan 4:59
I can’t remember. Burma, she’s supposed to kill the Ursula equivalent. And instead of killing, or maybe she’s supposed to kill the prince. She’s supposed to kill people. And instead of doing that

Stephie 5:10
she chooses to just turn in this terminal. So film. Yeah, they’re depressing.

Megan 5:15
Obviously, that’s not going to I don’t think that’s the end goal. But they have changed certain aspects of like Aladdin. And I think maybe they choose a little bit of The Lion King. And so I’m just

Stephie 5:26
yeah, the lions in The Lion King like they’ve taken. Like some of the like, kind of problematic lines, they, which is good, but yes, which is good. And like all of these in Aladdin, they actually made it so that Jasmine like becomes the Sultan, like she will becomes like the ruler, the ruler or whatever, like she wants to become Sultan, she’s not just like, No, no, I’m gonna get married, like actually wants this. And then like, and Beauty and the Beast, they didn’t change a lot of the storyline itself. But they did add some stuff to like, explain some things. They added some content. So they added a little bit about like, what happened to Bell’s mom and like, how they ended up in this like little town and stuff like that. So I would imagine just based on the those other, like live action samples that they’re probably going to keep most of the storyline the same, but they might just like tweak some things like, hopefully, they age her up a little at least make her 18 She’s 16 in the ER originally, she was 16 in the animated version. Yeah. I mean, tastemaker 18 You would think you would think I don’t know, we’ll see but I am very excited about it. If nothing than to like go and support. Yeah, this the new cast. Yes.

Megan 6:48
I do have a question about who decided that they needed to make a live action. Pinocchio.

Stephie 6:53
Oh, that was cool.

Megan 6:57
Because it’s not just okay. Tom Hanks. Whatever. Tom Hanks is great. But from the trailers I have seen of this movie. They they made it’s a it’s a quote, live action. Pinocchio. However, they made Pinocchio look exactly like he looks in the original cartoon. Yeah, they made the cricket look exactly like he looks in the original cartoon. And I understand some aspects of this. But if you’re gonna make a wooden doll, boy, and like, make it look more like wood, right? Make it look more real. If you’re making a live action version of this. I don’t understand it

Stephie 7:45
exist. You can like make a real looking cricket. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s weird. I think it’s the same people that thought that making a live action. Dumbo was probably a good idea.

Megan 7:54
I also never watched that. Well, absolutely not.

Stephie 7:57
I refuse to be that one. I’m

Megan 7:59
pretty sure they’ve changed a lot.

Stephie 8:01
I think they would have to. Yeah, I just. I don’t? I don’t know.

Megan 8:07
I don’t know. It’s also it’s interesting, because there’s actually so Pinocchio is actually in public domain. The story is in public domain. And so Guillermo de Toro is also doing Pinocchio. Oh, that’ll be clean. It’s gonna be insane. And I’m actually looking forward to that one. Yes, and it’s cricket looks like a creepy ass cricket.

Stephie 8:29
Yeah, that makes sense for our game on Guillermo del Toro.

Megan 8:31
Yeah, that sounds. I don’t know. I mean, I feel they do a lot of really great projects we’ve talked about like, we’d love turning red and we love some of the other ones that they’ve been doing recently. They also are doing like a lot of cash grab projects. I feel like you’re shit where you’re like, why?

Stephie 8:50
Who asked for this? Yeah, it’s weird. I don’t get another fucking cars. Like why

Megan 8:55
is it a movie or show?

Stephie 8:57
I don’t know. It’s also I didn’t ask for it. Either way.

Megan 9:00
It was very funny though. Because, um, so I’ve been watching a lot of what we do in the shadows, which is on Hulu, which is owned by Disney. And so the commercials have been doing a lot of Disney promotions. And so like all a few weeks ago when it was the Disney Day, oh, there were all of these promotions for Disney Day and they’re like Disney died September 8, the Disney Day Disney Day Disney and then like, I literally forgot the day that it was Disney day job. Even though I had seen every many promotions for it. I was just like, Nah, you know what, Nah, no.

Stephie 9:39
No, absolutely not. Um, I so I’ve been doing working on some fall recipes. And so I purchased this pie pumpkin and my daughter like befriended it. Like she so at night our thing is that she wants up Big hug and a big squeeze and a big kiss. And she like, glommed onto this pie pumpkin, and was like carrying it around, and she would give it a big hug and a big squeeze and a big kiss. And then I turned it into pumpkin butter. So the pumpkin disappeared for a while, and that I needed to like retest the recipe. And so I bought another one. And she befriended that what do you think she thinks thinks it’s the same one. And she was it was like sitting on the counter, like, where she like likes to hang out and have her snacks and stuff. And she was like pumpkin kiss and she was like eating a snack and she’s like, I share with you pumpkin. Like the stem was its mouth and sure, like because she shares with her like poohbear and her like other babies and stuff. So she was like sharing her snack quote with our pop and I was like, Oh, no. And I would also I’m like, Okay, do I need to get me Do we need to like go to the pumpkin patch and have a pickup? I think we do. But then I’m like what happens when the pumpkin gets old and discussed? That’s my worry.

Megan 11:11
So I mean yes, but then it’s I guess it’s a lesson for life and you’d be like now we’re going to take it out to the compost

Stephie 11:19
becomes hurt I don’t know so I do think a trip to the pumpkin patch is probably in our future I think that she would apparently enjoy this because apparently pumpkins or

Megan 11:32
maybe you can get her like a nice stuffed pumpkin like I have a little stuffed pumpkin

Stephie 11:36
oh I know what I would bet money that jellycat Probably has one because they always have like those like food plushies Oh yeah,

Megan 11:45
I just meant like a decor stuffed pumpkin oh but yeah yeah

Stephie 11:50
hit up yes

Megan 11:51
Michael is are some I’m sure the hills I’m sure

Stephie 11:52
I mean I do have like a green velvet one that she was carrying around but she wasn’t quite

Megan 11:57
it was like an average pumpkin I would rather have the very heavy one that’s hard to carry and we’ll break into 1000 pieces with glue everywhere Exactly.

Stephie 12:05
Yes but they’re all are also there’s definitely like some big like pumpkin pillows recently that have been out because there was like the big Pottery Barn ones and then like there’s been the like the dupes or whatever. Yeah, Pottery Barn pumpkins. Maybe I need to like hit up home goods and see like if I can find the pumpkin pillow because that might that might be better than having to explain to her why your pumpkin rotted. Yeah. Or why mom turned it into pumpkin

Megan 12:34
butter on murdered your mom murdered your pumpkin

Stephie 12:36
I like I specifically wait it’s like cut it up until after she went to bed because I was like, I don’t want to scar my child by like a friend of the pumpkin. So as a segue into what we are doing today, besides yapping about the Little Mermaid we went to the store and because of this fall we had her are all of the fall flavored things things. So we purchased some fall flavored items to taste test for you guys.

Megan 13:09
I will say I realized like looking we have a pile of things so we got one it is like all baked goods. i We did look for like savory things and they didn’t have any at the store. And every single thing is pumpkin except for one.

Stephie 13:26
I was trying to find more apple I thought we would find more Apple stuff and we didn’t which I was really bummed about

Megan 13:32
I think I mean I think it’s not quite close enough for like apple cider II things. Yeah. And I will also Apple is just more of a regular flavor. Yeah,

Stephie 13:42
exactly. Because like you have like the Apple Cheerios or like there’s like more like Apple based like cereals but those are around year round. They’re not like smiley specialty like fall right? Also, so everything we got is like national brands or whatever. You can buy them we bought them at Meijer you could buy them at Target or Walmart or Kroger or wherever because we don’t have a trader like Trader Joe’s I think everyone knows is the Big King of seasonal product Exactly. But we don’t have a Trader Joe’s and we know that also a lot of other people don’t have Trader Joe’s maybe some year we’ll be lucky and get to do like a Trader Joe’s follow seasonal item taste test. But these are things that ever anyone can buy anywhere because also Aldi has a lot of weird stuff. But a lot of places don’t have a lot of we still have all the also some all not all all these have all the things apparently because I found like the fun eyelet all day and I’ll like post about on my Instagram and like, I’ll have a friend like I just went today and they didn’t have that and I was so bummed and I was like I’m sorry. So anyway, all that to say the things that we are taste testing, you could ostensibly buy if you wanted to. So we have like eight things. Although I won’t eat one of them. One of them is some Meghan test She’s got just got chocolate. Yeah, everything else will both eat. So what do you want to start with Megan?

Megan 15:05
Um, I mean, should we start with like a breakfast foods and then move into dessert or to do dessert and then move into breakfast?

Stephie 15:13
I feel like breakfast moving into dessert makes sense. Yeah, I like that. Let’s start so we got the intruments pumpkin doughnut holes which say they’re made with real pumpkin. And they also had the pumpkin doughnuts, but the doughnut holes seemed better for easy tastes. Although apparently opening the box is not

Megan 15:38
we probably should have pre open thing press to release flat.

Unknown Speaker 15:42
What is happening?

Unknown Speaker 15:43
Oh,

Stephie 15:45
no, I think it’s better that everyone just know they’re getting into with me in case they are encounter me in real life. So these are a little glazed at Yeah. And I also think it’s interesting. We’ll note which of the things say their pumpkin spice in which they their pumpkin. And they just smell like Sure they do. They just smell like what it’s worth, like a normal glazed doughnut hole. But they say that they are pumpkin.

Megan 16:06
I’m looking at the instructions. It does say pumpkin puree. Okay, so I don’t how do I send instructions ingredients?

Stephie 16:14
I started your mouth but yes, okay.

Unknown Speaker 16:18
Okay, I have to say. Like, it tastes like a doughnut hole. Yeah.

Megan 16:22
And does not taste that much like pumpkin.

Stephie 16:23
No, I’m not getting I’m not even getting like,

Megan 16:26
I got a little bit of spice once I like swallowed

Stephie 16:29
like a teeny bit of cinnamon. Yeah, maybe a hit of ginger, but like, they it is

Megan 16:34
it is very orange. It’s

Unknown Speaker 16:35
orange.

Megan 16:36
But that’s because there’s food coloring in it.

Stephie 16:39
Most certainly. I mean, they’re good, but I wouldn’t know

Unknown Speaker 16:42
nutmeg oil. Like oil.

Megan 16:45
Must be it just as spices and then nutmeg oil. It’s fine. I mean, I would eat them. Yeah, because I really liked doughnuts.

Stephie 16:55
I like like doughnuts. There. It

Megan 16:57
makes me feel better about the donuts that I made. Oh, yeah, because those don’t tastes like pumpkin either.

Stephie 17:02
We’ll see. There you go. i I’m sure that yours have at least more of a predominant fall flavor. I mean, they’re not bad, but I’m not like oh my god, pumpkin.

Megan 17:12
Yeah, I’m not like I need to buy these all the time. Exactly. So they’re solid doughnut holes. But other than that, yeah, they’re not like oh my god fall. Yeah. Okay, and then let’s go for the frosted Mini Wheats. They are pumpkin pie spice flavor, so I’m not sure there’s actually pumpkin in them. It might just be spiced

Stephie 17:29
it says okay, so they’ve got a blah blah blah blah blah cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, all spice. So no pumpkin just pumpkin. I also am bad at opening this

Megan 17:46
just I don’t not sure why we put you in charge of opening the thing.

Stephie 17:50
Done move on our part. Um, oh, okay. They’ve got so there was a little frosted Mini Wheats and they’ve got like the the frosting. The mini wheat itself looks normal. But the frosting is like modeled white and orange. It says

Megan 18:09
on the back oh it has this like lovely little story with their little creepy anthropomorphize. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. It says each country by packs the cozy warmth of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and polyspace topped with a layer of frosting. And it also suggests try it with whipped cream on top which I never have thought to eat cereal that way or add a teaspoon of instant coffee for a latte treat

Stephie 18:37
to what the milk i Yes. i got questions on the serving suggestions was to do that okay

Megan 18:48
oh no smell like anything

it tastes like a mini wait. I’m not going in spice. Maybe if you eat like a whole bowlful just has like a regular mini Wait, I’m

Stephie 19:04
not going to anything different than

Unknown Speaker 19:06
a normal mini wait. Yeah.

Stephie 19:09
Like I’m really searching because you’re right with the doughnut holes. Once you like swallowed it, you got a little spice and like the back of your throat. Yeah, there’s not a happening here.

Megan 19:19
Which is weird too, because frosted Mini Wheats don’t actually have a lot of ingredients in them.

Stephie 19:24
So you would think that adding something would add flavor.

Megan 19:28
Now I feel like I need to see it and like it was just a fluke.

Stephie 19:32
Did we both get defective ones on our first try?

Megan 19:34
So I just really like many weights. So

Stephie 19:37
I mean, I did kind of figure you in eat those either way. I remember that about you.

Megan 19:43
Yeah. Nope. Nothing. There’s nothing

Stephie 19:46
literally nothing maybe like

Megan 19:48
the faintest, faintest cinnamon flavor. But nothing that makes it stand out as a spiced product,

Stephie 19:56
much less earning the pumpkin spice

Megan 20:00
has a cute little pumpkin on loving. I mean they did a great job with the packaging the

Stephie 20:04
packaging looks great. It looks great branding.

Megan 20:08
I mean I will definitely eat these because I love Preston Mini Wheats and I eat cereal as a snack dry out of the box, so she does. I’m weird. I don’t like milk in my cereal.

Stephie 20:21
Okay, yeah, I don’t eat many weeks with milk because the soggy cereal fresher again, I’m opening the box like what is my problem? Okay, this is I’m actually excited about these. This is the one apple treat that we have. Pop Tarts frosted apple fritter.

Megan 20:39
I love an apple fritter. Yes,

Stephie 20:42
I really love it. I’m hop to your donut and hand you the package. Do you remember this while I look at the ingredients? Okay. It does have let’s see. So noisy. molasses. has dried apples. Apple solid apple juice concentrate cinnamon. So it does have apples in it. Or it does have cinnamon. We are going to try one of them on toasted. And then we’re going to toast the other one and see if they’re different because there’s tuna package so we might as well. Yeah. So they are frosted. But they’re like drizzled drizzle. Yes. Yeah. At least nestled Yes. There’s not like a full layer. I

Megan 21:26
would not say it’s a lot of frosting. No, this

Stephie 21:28
is actually like, probably our preferred amount of frosting because neither of us likes much frosting, shall we? Oh, should

Megan 21:35
we eat the cold one first. So the hot water so cold first versus the hot one would probably be better. Yeah,

Stephie 21:40
I think like okay, so Okay. Oh, it’s

Megan 21:42
it feels. I don’t buy Pop Tarts that often. Seems like there’s less filling than a pop tart used to have.

Stephie 21:51
Did they change Pop Tarts?

Megan 21:54
In my day? Pop Tarts for fat.

Stephie 21:59
The filling is like an apple NutriGrain bar.

Unknown Speaker 22:02
Yes.

Megan 22:05
I really do think there’s less filling than there used to be.

Stephie 22:07
Okay, I will give you that. I don’t mean it. It just it feels like there’s less filling. Like it seems.

Megan 22:13
I think it’s most like it when you first look at it. You’re like, ah, you know, whatever. But then when it’s when you’re eating it and you’re like this is a lot of pastry to filling.

Stephie 22:20
Yes. Not bad

Megan 22:30
not bad, but also not great.

Stephie 22:33
I mean, I’m not like losing my mind over it. I’m also still eating the whole thing. So right i mean nothing. Nothing has stopped us from eating the whole of whatever we have gotten so far. So take that as you will right. Price is more about us than about the items.

Megan 22:50
Okay, so we’re gonna we’re gonna toast this other one. And then we also have another thing that needs to be toasted. It is some pumpkin spice swirl bread for Pepperidge Farm Pepperidge Farm so we’re going to toast the both of those and then we will come back for Yes, yes.

Stephie 23:08
Okay, so now we’re gonna have our toasted Pop Tart which is really just a warmed warmed Yeah, yes, because we didn’t like toast it those days

that is better.

Megan 23:26
I mean, you feel like a toasted popcorn is always better than a cold pump term.

Stephie 23:30
Yes. Just also why as a kid I never liked the like frosted ones because there was too much frosting and it gets weird and toaster.

Unknown Speaker 23:38
Yeah.

Megan 23:41
Do you think the scan drizzle is the right amount of frosting? It is. But do you think there’s like not enough filling to pastry? So agree. There is definitely NutriGrain

Stephie 23:55
bar. It tastes like a NutriGrain bar filling. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you really like Apple NutriGrain bars, then you would really enjoy these Pop Tart. Just make sure to toast them because they are better.

Megan 24:10
Yeah, I do. You have three B vitamins it says three of them. Okay, so we also while we were in the kitchen we also toasted Pepperidge Farm swirl Pumpkin Spice Bread. And I love Pepperidge Farm swirl bread. They do really good at swirl bread and my grandmother always used to get it at like

Stephie 24:33
I always say whenever we would visit she would like buy it to have like, special or whatever. Yeah, so I always associated with my grandmother which is probably why I like it so much but used to get

Megan 24:42
it a lot when I was in high school. But that was what they only had like, at that point. I think they just had cinnamon and maybe the reason why Yeah, um, so it’s like looks like the standard Cinnamon Swirl bread and then has like little pockets of what I assume is more sent a mini flavoring.

Stephie 25:01
Yeah, I think that the pockets are like, I think that’s got the little I think they’re like pockets of like pumpkin almost like if it had like chips of pumpkin puree or something.

Unknown Speaker 25:14
Yeah

Megan 25:23
this one does say it has pumpkin in it.

Stephie 25:25
We also did butter it because that’s how you would eat your toast. Of course. We’re not monsters.

Megan 25:31
But again, no no pumpkin flavor. In my opinion. It just tastes like cinnamon bread

Stephie 25:40
Yeah, I’m not really getting anything like different.

Megan 25:47
And also, I mean it specifically says pumpkin spice and I know pumpkin spice like that concept has been like a hot button issue in general, ever since the latte became big. And so like obviously this is a cinnamon swirl bread so it already would have cinnamon in it. But in even in the description it says every slice of our golden big bread as aroma and delicious tastes of pumpkin spice and cinnamon is rolled right in. First of all, it does not smell anything other than cinnamon. Secondly, in the ingredients while it does say that has pumpkin and obviously it has cinnamon. It also just says spices which could be anything right

Stephie 26:32
whereas like at least with the the doughnut via the doughnut holes. It didn’t say like there’s nutmeg oil.

Megan 26:40
Yeah, it did say like what was in it?

Stephie 26:41
Yeah, it did say that. Like I could taste something besides cinnamon. I could taste nutmeg. Or like whatever ginger or something. Ginger? Yeah, there’s definitely like a not just cinnamon taste. I mean, I mean, the bread is still good because again, the they make a good slice of swirl bread. But right. I don’t think that it’s anything different really than the regular cinnamon?

Unknown Speaker 27:04
Yeah, yeah. That’s a bummer.

Megan 27:06
Okay, so now we just have cookies left. I mean, we’ve got four different cookies, which cookie do we start with?

Stephie 27:15
We’ll start with the goldfish, but I’m gonna make you open them this time.

Megan 27:18
So we have a special edition goldfish. Brought to you by Dunkin Donuts, apparently, pumpkin spice grand marriage. So if you’re not a goldfish aficionado, I would say aka you don’t have small children. Goldfish are the cheddar crackers. But also they have a whole line of graham crackers. Yes. So those are shaped like the goldfish. Yes, they are not cheddar and pumpkin spice. That would be disgusting. It’s a graham cracker one. Yes. And it looks like a Dunkin Donuts coffee bag. Basically, yes.

Stephie 27:59
I mean, the brand needs to do but I’m not really I don’t really understand the whole Dunkin

Megan 28:04
marriage here but um, I don’t

Stephie 28:07
know every farm and Dunkin have like a relationship.

Unknown Speaker 28:13
I don’t think so.

Megan 28:16
And let’s see. Oh yeah, these are Pepperidge Farm to yeah, forgot. But they’re the same. Contains bioengineered food ingredients. Well, that’s interesting disclaimer that I have never seen before. is an interesting disclaimer. I’m I’m looking for what spices are listed. In this also. Oh no, this is spices but then in parentheses, it says cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. And then also it has maple syrup and dehydrated pumpkin. Okay, but it’s dehydrated pumpkin is like the limos the last. So

Stephie 28:51
take that we shall see as you will. Oopsies Okay, so they have they are

Unknown Speaker 29:00
good. People like orange

Megan 29:02
dust on them? Yes. And I was I thought maybe it was just broken records but I grabbed a bunch and I think it’s literally an orangey dust it

Stephie 29:10
is like an orangey does so it’s like a grand cracker with some sort of like orange spice dust situation. Okay,

Megan 29:18
that definitely, I definitely get like a maybe not. Pumpkin pumpkin. It has definitely taste more like pumpkin then like the last few things.

Stephie 29:30
Yes. There’s much more of a distinct flavor.

Megan 29:33
Yes.

Stephie 29:35
Versus like,

Megan 29:36
we don’t have a control group of regular Irish grams.

Stephie 29:41
Well, but I do eat regular graham crackers on the regular because I have

Megan 29:45
a two year old Yeah, I mean they do taste different from

Stephie 29:48
different from regular graham crackers for sure they are they taste different than just regular like cinnamon graham crackers,

Unknown Speaker 29:53
so I can’t tell.

Megan 29:55
Now see, now that we see that they have this dust on them. I can’t tell if that That is literally the flavoring like they just tossed regular graham crackers in this like pumpkin spice dust.

Stephie 30:08
Oh please take a drink of water. I just liked one. Everyone was wondering what I just did

the dust doesn’t really have a lot of flavor.

Megan 30:24
It’s just for coloring perhaps.

Stephie 30:27
So you know that it’s pumpkin has kind of a little flavor to it but it’s not like I think there’s something in the ground cracker to graham cracker itself has more flavor. I mean, those are good. Yeah. I would say that they have a more of a distinct flavor than most of the other things that we’ve tried so far.

Megan 30:48
Yeah. Yes, we haven’t had anything yet. That’s like super pumpkiny. No. Okay, so then I’ll do the next one. stuff he’s not going to eat because I was chocolate and she’s offended by chocolate. I am. These are also Pepperidge Farm. I didn’t realize the Pepperidge Farm has like a market on pumpkin flavor. Um, these are a pumpkin spice Milano cookies. which I had never seen before but I do love millennial cookies.

Stephie 31:17
I know that the people that love mulatto cookies really love them a lot okay,

Megan 31:20
I mean I don’t say a little Milan oh moment

Stephie 31:23
when stuff goes and as they used to do

Megan 31:27
Yeah, I remember when I was a kid whenever we would get if we were by Pepperidge Farm like Pepperidge Farm cookies are expensive they are they were a treat. So it was like a big deal and we would get these sometimes we would get the Sausalito which

Stephie 31:40
is like the chunky chocolate chip ones I remember sometimes we would get them if we were like taking a road trip and we had to like like, if we were going to stop because we would my mom would always like pack a lunch or whatever and then we’d stop at like a rest stop and eat our lunch and sometimes she would get a pack of like Pepperidge Farm cookies is like a special treat. Yeah, but they were like a road trip snack like that was they weren’t like a regular thing in our house. So I always think of Milanos as mom cookies and I think because because I think that the as am I making this up that the ads going up the commercials were always like a mom having like sneaking away and eating a Milan no cookie like

Megan 32:19
anything related to chocolate. It was probably gendered with a mom trying to have her chocolate and enjoy life and be sensual. I’m sure many of mom have enjoyed Mallanna along with her Cafe Vienna International Yes. Okay, so I tried to think of like how you would describe a Mallanna like it’s a like a butter cookie not like but so I just went out it is a lot like flatter and like misshapen than I remember to be honest. So there’s like a layer of the standard chocolate and a layer of I guess orange pumpkin cream is very orange it’s very very bright orange so you know that they want you to know that it is pumpkin flavored it uses a natto so not Oh natto natto I think for the color instead of food coloring and the sea I’m looking at the ingredients

Unknown Speaker 33:27
blah blah blah

Megan 33:29
I am not seeing pumpkin in here at all.

Stephie 33:33
I guess it does just say the flavor of pumpkin spice although the fact that it is so fucking orange

Megan 33:38
is very very orange also, it just says natural flavors it does not even say spices interesting. So this will be a fully engineered cookie apparently

there is definitely like a spice in there of some sort. But it’s I think it’s like a gender but it’s weird because it doesn’t I mean again also it doesn’t taste like pumpkin like it does say pumpkin spice there’s no pumpkin in it but it’s weird that that doesn’t say what it is in the ingredients that it just says spices so I guess it’s probably a blend of the standard like ginger cinnamon bowl it just definitely it’s more like like in the ginger all spicy area than the cinnamony area

Stephie 34:46
which I feel like those who go better with chocolate anyway. Yeah, so

Megan 34:50
I agree. Other than that, it’s mulatto. And Millennials are good, so

Stephie 34:57
I can’t go wrong by buying them but sounds like you shouldn’t expect a whole big bang Have you like,

Megan 35:02
um spice chocolate things? Yeah, it’s pretty good. Yeah, like I used to add chocolate to Chais sometimes, which is weird but also kids can do so.

Unknown Speaker 35:16
Yeah. So you’re probably like us okay.

Stephie 35:19
Next up are the pumpkin spice Oreos, which are the vanilla cookies and then pumpkin spice flavor cream. It says in the ingredients let’s see

paprika OLIO resin for color. natural and artificial flavor in parentheses includes cinnamon. Okay, so that’s what we’re working with here.

Unknown Speaker 35:51
Okay

Megan 35:56
which is interesting to me because I’m in for like an Oreo. The way that an Oreo is. You would think that it would be very easy to add. I don’t like the smell of those. Oh, no, it it’d be very easy to add actual pumpkin to an Oreo.

Stephie 36:15
Yeah. Oh, no. So they smell like a pumpkin spice candle.

Megan 36:21
I just smell vanilla. Oh, wait. Oh, now I get it. Now I’m getting pumpkin spice candle smells

Stephie 36:29
like Bath and Bodyworks in the fall.

Megan 36:33
Yankee Candle. Oh, no. Oh, so it’s like, weirdly is yours double layered? Yeah. weird way.

Stephie 36:40
Yeah, like half of it is a single layer and half of it is a double layer. It’s like a crooked they’re all like that.

Megan 36:47
Hopefully, but couldn’t decide whether it was a regular Oreo or double stuff. So

Stephie 36:50
they went one and a half.

Megan 36:53
Yeah, it is very, very fragrant.

Stephie 36:56
This is the only one I I’m afraid of now. I mean, we have talked before I think they sounded promised.

Megan 37:01
I actually don’t remember if we’ve talked about this on the podcast or if we just talked about it amongst ourselves. But I generally think that all these different flavored Oreos is BS.

Unknown Speaker 37:14
We’ve been

Stephie 37:15
we’ve done okay. Okay. Okay, I’m gonna do it. Oh this Oreo cream usually should wash that much.

Megan 37:25
No, it’s just extra soft for some reason.

It’s definitely spiced.

Stephie 37:34
It’s definitely spice but it tastes pretty artificially spiced.

Megan 37:40
It is weird. So when we get into the cookie, the frilling like oozed out like she pushed out. Which I don’t think is normal for an Oreo. Again, I

Stephie 37:50
don’t eat well. I think the vanilla like the regular vanilla Oreos. And that does not happen. It

Megan 37:56
doesn’t happen with a regular Oreo Oreo.

Stephie 37:59
Yeah, that so I

Megan 38:00
don’t know why this one is extra soft. Especially because it does not say that it has pumpkin in it. Yeah,

Stephie 38:05
it’s not like we’ve had it you had it in like a hot place overnight. No, it was like chilly last night so okay, I’m not finishing that. That’s

Megan 38:13
okay. I’m try just laying by itself.

Stephie 38:20
It tastes better than it smells, but it did not smell appetizing to me.

Unknown Speaker 38:24
I don’t know like a taste.

Stephie 38:29
It’s an artificial cinnamon flavor to me.

Unknown Speaker 38:34
Yeah.

Megan 38:37
Also, after you eat it, like the cinnamon kind of hangs out in your throat for a little while, which is weird. And I love cinnamon. I love cinnamon. This is not it. And I will also say I love pumpkin. Like yes, I love pumpkin things. So first of all to be like, ah, that’s not it. Yeah. And so we’re I mean, you know, teach your own I think there’s a think that they’ve come out with this one. multiple years.

Stephie 39:05
Flavor. No, it’s not. I’m just really put off by the smell of it. smell smell?

Megan 39:11
I guess most people probably don’t smell their Oreos.

Stephie 39:13
Oh good. You’re nice but biker No. Like, oh,

Megan 39:19
man have drinks. While we’re on on this one. Yes. Okay, so our final one is Tate’s Bake Shop crispy cookies if they make like really thin crispy chocolate chip cookies, but this is a pumpkin spice cookie with white chocolate chips. It says happy fall on it. Tastes the back of their thing is just all about tastes which is what all their packaging says. This says it has white chocolate chips obviously. does say pumpkin puree ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. and clothes, okay. So it’s interesting. For some reason the fact that it says eggs like really stood out to me because I’m like, do they all say eggs because I feel like I never really see eggs in like a package product ingredient list anymore. kind of unusual. Oh, I have to like unwrap them again. cookies right there in multiple layers of things.

Stephie 40:20
Oh, wow. Okay, love that journey.

Megan 40:26
Okay, they smell kind of like molasses cookies. I love them. molasses. Kind of you love a molasses cookie. They’re very brown. Ooh.

Stephie 40:35
Yeah, they smell like molasses. But they also I’m getting a lot of ginger. I am getting those other spices. Like when you smell it? Yeah, they smell great.

Megan 40:44
Um, you picked up the first one yours how it looks like it has a lot of chocolate chips in it or white chocolate chips. I picked up the second one that was in the package. I have three. And you can only see them from the bottom. Yeah. So I mean, I guess that kind of speaks to the fact that they’re made in small batches or however they they’re like not, they’re not, you know, uniformly right? They’re

Stephie 41:05
not engineered to have the same amount of chocolate chip, you’re

Megan 41:08
like I’m gonna get I’m gonna get a different one because I need to have the same chocolate chip experience. That one has a lot. How many do you have like a lot of a

Stephie 41:15
fair number on the bottom? There’s like I can see like five on the bottom. And

Megan 41:19
this one has a ton. That’s probably about right. Okay. And they’re crisp. Yeah, they

Stephie 41:24
are crisp, but they’re right. I can I just snapped it. Also one thing I really do sort of ginger snappy.

Megan 41:29
I never buy these cookies, because they’re kind of expensive. But one thing I kind of appreciate about this cookie is that they literally look like someone made them they do.

Stephie 41:39
I snapped it in half. And like the cookie inside it has a slight like orangey it looks like pumpkin cookies that I’ve made. Yeah. So. Huh

Megan 42:04
it smells more flavorful than it tastes.

Unknown Speaker 42:10
Yeah. That’s weird.

Stephie 42:16
But I will also say I think it’s I think this is like the most pumpkiny thing does I’m thinking of like other pumpkin cookies I’ve made.

Megan 42:33
It’s hard to compare, because normally you would make soft bumping cookies and not crispy ones. Yes. And soft ones. I think inherently we have more pumpkin flavor. Yes. No.

Stephie 42:46
I mean, they’re good.

Megan 42:49
They’re good. But I would not buy them again. Right for a price. Yeah. Honestly, it just makes me want to have a molasses cookie.

Stephie 43:01
Kind of how I’m like, Can we skip ahead of Christmas gingersnaps. Like you could ostensibly use this in place of like a crunchy ginger snap. I mean, I am getting a lot of like, Ginger heat on the back end. So I definitely do get the pumpkin spice. And that is what they are like.

Megan 43:24
Pumpkin Spice cookies does not say pumpkin necessarily. Yeah,

Stephie 43:27
so I think the pumpkin puree is mostly to give it that little bit of color because it doesn’t have any. It does not have any, like artificial coloring in it. So I had to guess it’s giving it the little bit of color. But I think it is probably mostly supposed to be pumpkin spice and I will say I think it tastes the most like pumpkin spice of anything that we’ve had. Yeah. So as advertised, I think that the Tate’s is the closest to being what it is advertised.

Megan 44:05
Yes, I agree.

Stephie 44:07
I would say if we were going to rank on I would say it’s a tapes. And then it’s the goldfish and then probably the doughnuts for me. And then the Pop Tarts. And then the swirl bread, the Mini Wheats and then those fucking Oreos

Megan 44:30
are Yeah.

Stephie 44:34
I don’t know where you would put them a lot of us.

Megan 44:35
I mean, they’re fine. I will put them ahead of the Oreos for sure

Stephie 44:40
Oreos are garbage neither of us finished our Oreo to be clear. Oreos are not nice.

Megan 44:46
Yeah, but also like the reason I mean I liked the the doughnut holes because their doughnut holes like it wasn’t anything about them being pumpkin.

Stephie 44:54
Yes. So I thought about putting the Pop Tarts ahead of it because they are at least more flavor to the thing it’s supposed to taste like but also I just liked the doughnut holes. Say doughnut holes were a better dining experience. The great dynamic filling

Megan 45:13
maybe next year we will we’ll try to get like savory things. We’ll try harder to get savory things.

Stephie 45:20
Maybe next year we’ll get lucky and we’ll we’ll score some Trader Joe’s stuff and then we can do a Trader Joe’s one. Yeah, I love to make like a special because I will say we also have we have had friends send us Trader Joe’s fall stuff. And so we are also used to like actually having that stuff which does taste like when it’s advertised

Megan 45:38
yes

Stephie 45:39
it almost always Yeah, that is true. Very rarely have I been into something and been like from from Trader Joe’s that was for flavor would have been like me

Megan 45:48
the problem with like, we could in theory go to Trader Joe’s or like there’s Digital Drive to like Naperville. Yeah, it’s a two hours but um, when Charles gets their fall stuff out, it’s like a free for all you gotta go crazy. The minute they’re stocking the shelves, so it makes it a little bit harder when we live too far. Two hours away. We’ll see. It’ll be hard. We couldn’t really I don’t know if we can do a Christmas one because so much Christmas stuff is also chocolate flavored. You have discussion on peppermint. It’s all like peppermint chocolate. Like even just the plain peppermint stuff.

Stephie 46:20
I love I love peppermint. I’m not big on peppermint baked goods. It’s not my favorite. Yeah, mint cookies, not my fav. Peppermint ice cream, not about it.

Megan 46:34
I kind of like peppermint ice cream just because it’s really cool clean in the mouth.

Stephie 46:37
I just ate another doughnut hole. And maybe it’s because I had so many other things that were so blandly flavored. But I’m definitely getting more of the nutmeg in the cinnamon on the back end of Sedona. Now, the second time around. Yeah, for what it’s worth. Yeah. So I stand by my third. I will say I still don’t think they are pumpkin.

Megan 47:01
But yes, because we I mean, it’s definitely labeled as pumpkin

Stephie 47:07
spice. The only thing we got that was labeled as pumpkin versus pumpkin spice. Yes. And it doesn’t make with real pumpkin. So intimates you got to rethink that a little bit. The the rest. Yeah. So okay, do with this information what you will? I’m not sure I’m not sure like, like, if you were going to buy donut holes, and you were going to buy swirl bread and you were going to buy like the goldfish grams. Like if you were gonna buy those things anyway. Yeah, then like I would say, and they’re all at the same price, then I guess you could buy the pumpkin spice version and feel like you were partaking in a fall thing, but I wouldn’t pay I certainly wouldn’t pay more money than the regular versions for any of these things. And I don’t Oh, definitely. I wouldn’t I don’t know that I would buy any of them again.

Megan 47:56
No, I mean, like I would like maybe if you want the thing and the normal thing is gone. Exactly. Yeah. Because like this this world bread like it just tastes like cinnamon. So it’s the same thing as a cinnamon swirl red basically.

Stephie 48:14
Like I would say none of these except for probably the Oreos will go to waste. My kids

Megan 48:19
might eat the Oreos, but they also might want them into it. I

Unknown Speaker 48:22
don’t know. They also

Megan 48:23
might think that’s disgusting.

Stephie 48:24
So as they should because they are the rest. We will still eat because they are fine. We’ll feed them to the peoples but the children’s but that’s that’s our fall taste test. Yeah. Hey, go. That’s fine. What’s bringing you joy today?

Megan 48:42
I just ate a whole bunch of pumpkin stuff and it’s all making me mad. Probably gonna have a little stomachache though because it was all sugar.

Stephie 48:50
Yeah, that was basically basically lunchtime and we just ate a bunch of sugar.

Megan 48:54
It’s great. It’s fine. I did eat a breakfast taco this morning. So oh, that sounds good. Ah like me joy. To me. It was it was a frozen breakfast tacos. So it was not good. Oh, isn’t that a made by me breakfast taco.

Stephie 49:06
Oh, you made breakfast tacos. What about

Megan 49:09
the other nights I finally watched the movie Belfast. It came out. It’s a couple of years ago, I think. I don’t actually remember because it was like the pandemic and all the things. And also I don’t go to that many movies. So I can’t remember what it actually came out. I can’t remember. But I remember that everyone was raving about it. And then I just, I had I wanted to see it and then I kind of forgot about it. And then I saw I was at the library. Max wanted to rent a movie, but he couldn’t find one. So I just wandered around the movies. And they helpfully put like new release. Oh, which I don’t know that it’s a new release or just new to the library on the boxes. And so I was like, Oh, that stood out and I remembered I wanted to watch it. So I watched it the other night and it It was very good. They filmed it all in black and white.

Stephie 50:07
Oh yes. You know I think maybe we saw trailer for this one we went to see the Princess Diana movie which is

Megan 50:12
oh maybe ironic. Yeah that would make sense. Um so it was made me this about Belfast so but it was made by like the Northern Ireland film blah blah blah whatever policy is to Northern Ireland. So sorry, sorry, I can’t remember the name of your film company. But it was really good It takes place in 1969 will write when a lot of stuff is happening in Belfast and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very beautifully shot for one thing with the black and white. I thought it looks great. And then it was a really good story and heartwarming and obviously like I cried during it and so I liked it a lot. And also, I told you I texted you but the woman we talked about Outlander before got a lot of problems with Outlander. The woman who plays Claire and Outlander is in Belfast and she is actually Irish. And I don’t know if it’s just Outlander. Like the way her character is and Outlander or what her deal is? She was so annoying to me and Alexander, but she was lovely and wonderful in this movie. So it’s not her I feel like it’s just just Outlander. And also the fact that she can’t use her real voice and Outlander so probably. I don’t know. It was good. It’s also a little weird because I watched it like right after the Queen died. I mean, but I enjoyed it a lot I highly recommend two thumbs up

Stephie 51:53
well in a similar vein, so as you mentioned the Queen died recently as we record this the Queen the Queen died

Megan 52:00
I mean it’s still recently

Stephie 52:04
and that which is not the thing that’s bringing me joy the thing that actually brings me joy is just to be clear. The thing that’s bringing me joy is our friend our days Instagram stories surrounding all of the hullabaloo because she she like does such a good job of like explaining things and breaking things down and talking about like, Okay, why is there hullabaloo around like titles and what people can wear to the funeral and like stuff like that. But then she’s like interspersing it with like, Black Twitter snark, and it is slain me. And like she’s one of her friends said something about like this family’s doing everything they can to hasten a republic. And I just responded, I was like the calls coming from inside. Like, oh my god. So that has been extremely entertaining to watch her stories. So she breaks these things down. So you know, good job all day. We love you.

Well, we will be back next week with another episode. So until then, listen to us on Apple podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow us on social media at IRSIpodcast or send us an email at I’d rather stay in podcast@gmail.com We’d love to hear from you.

bye!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai