Hellman’s Buffalo Ranch Sauce (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I have chicken dippers tonight with potato Smily Faces on the side. With plenty of dip to go around, I decided to blog about a sauce today. I have four different sauces in the cavernous Foodstufffinds cupboard to write about, and this Hellman’s Buffalo Ranch was the closest in reach.

I haven’t eaten Buffalo Wings for quite a while. Personally I never knew they flew. They must have quite a large landing zone. Anyway, on opening this deep yellow Hellman’s Buffalo Ranch, there was the description on the back of the bottle, “Spicy Buffalo ranch style mayo with yoghurt and buttermilk.”

This thick Hellman’s Buffalo Ranch sauce can be used as a dip or on a sandwich or burger. There was certainly a spicy chilli heat on first taste. I noticed there were flecks of chilli hiding in the thick yellow mayo and buttermilk. This is certainly a fiery tasty sauce, which went perfectly with my chicken dippers and Smily Faces.

Apparently there is also a Blue Cheese Ranch, which I must pick up when I see it and try it with a good steak.

Skips Salt and Vinegar (Asda) By @Cinabar

I have been eating Skips crisps since I was little. I do love the classic prawn cocktail flavour, and as I got a bit older I also appreciated that they are tasty while still being fairly low in calories. I don’t think I’ve seen many special editions or new flavours from the brand over the years, so when we spotted these new Skips Salt and Vinegar in Asda, we just had to give them a try.

Once home, I poured some out and the first thing that struck me was that the Skips looked wrong. Where were the pink veins on each one? It slowly dawned on me that the pink colouring must come from the prawn cocktail seasoning, and as these are a colourless salt and vinegar flavour, the familiar pink lines aren’t there. I’m not sure why that surprised me so much!

Anyway, on to the taste test. The salt and vinegar flavour packs a lovely punch. They are full of flavour, with a great balance of salt and a proper vinegar kick, making them very moreish. The texture is the usual light, airy crunch, thankfully that hasn’t changed, and the flavour works really well with that classic Skips texture.

I do wonder if they will bring out any other varieties. I’m picturing Roast Chicken (my favourite crisp flavour) Skips. Can we make that happen?

These also still have the lower calorie count per bag, with just 73 calories, so they’re a great option if you’re looking for a lighter treat.

Strawberry and Watermelon Instant Iced Tea (Whittard) By @Cinabar

We had a few days away around the UK and found a branch of Whittard in Stratford Upon Avon. This is dangerous territory for us! I have a hot chocolate problem, and our tea cupboard barely shuts as it is. Inevitably, we bought tea bags, a new hot chocolate (which I’ll be writing about soon), and then I had a sample of this instant tea. I loved it so much that I ended up buying a tub.

I don’t think I’ve tried Whittard’s instant teas before, but a drink that you can make cold feels absolutely perfect for summer. When I got home, I found that the recommended serving is three teaspoons per 200ml of water. My bear cup is huge, so I went for six teaspoons, and the flavour was about right. The tea granules are brown, but they turned a lovely red colour in the cup when mixed with water. They dissolved easily, leaving no lumps, even in my awkward-shaped cup.

The taste was just wonderfully summery. The watermelon is juicy and refreshing, like a proper thirst-quenching summer drink, while the strawberry adds just enough sweetness and berry flavour to balance everything perfectly. You can still taste the tea too, which stops it from feeling like just a fruit drink.

I must try it with ice as suggested on the pack. It does say that it can also be made with hot water for a warm drink, but it feels a little wrong to make Whittard Strawberry and Watermelon Instant Iced Tea with hot water! Some of the other flavours might work better that way, but this one has warm summer days written all over it.

The Coconut Collab - Plant-based Double Cre&m [@NLi10]

 All hail the vegans - for they have made it effortless to reduce the amount of dairy in my diet and still have a great time.  Take this for example - we want summer puddings - I want to not have too much dairy.  Here is a double cream (spelt cre&m) but it's all plants. I can enjoy my Wimbledon strawberries and no cream.

This means that a left over banana fritter from the takeaway can happily bathe in thick coconut goo, and become a proper pudding

Happy as can be.

If anything it's a bit too white and photogenic.  It looks great with red fruit and especially goes well with pineapple as it's like eating a Pina colada.

The coconut isn't strong, but it's present enough to enjoy.  I can see why this won taste awards, it's much more interesting than some of the other brands and begs to be tried with everything - only we finished it so now I need some more.

Milky Bar Crunchy Pops (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I like a snack with my ice cream after dinner. There seems to be so many options these days to try. These new Nestle Milky Bar Crunchy Pops are no exception. They are described as crispy cereal balls with a vanilla flavoured filling, covered with white chocolate. They sound ideal.

On opening the packet these Milky Bar Crunchy Pops looked like white Maltesers. On first crunchy taste, they tasted a little like sweet vanilla Rice Crispy coated in creamy white chocolate. They were super moreish and went very well with my vanilla ice cream topped with squirty cream. Yum.

Information on the bag: The 90g bag contained 145 calories per 14 balls, with 7.3g of fat, 13.6g of sugar, and 0.19g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.