Limited Edition Jammie Dodgers Lemon Twist Biscuits (Ocado) By @cinabar

Jammie Dodgers are probably one of the most iconic British biscuits. They have been going a very long time and are a firm favourite on shelves. They consist of two layers of biscuit with jam sandwiched in between. Just occasionally, and it is occasional, we get a limited edition new flavour or variant. As it is summer they have come up with a refreshing sounding Lemon Twist versions of the Jammie Dodgers.
The packet is very bright even by my standards, and I love colour. It would have seriously stood out on the shelves, but to be fair I bought them online and hadn’t really spotted how pretty the pack was until it arrived. Inside are 8 biscuits, with a yellow jam centre showing through the distinctive heart shape on the top side.

I gave one a try and despite hopes of an ultra zingy flavour, based on the seriously bright packaging, it had a mild sweet lemon taste. The lemon flavour worked well enough with the biscuit base, they were sweet and pleasant enough. I would have preferred a stronger sharper lemon flavour, one that stood out a bit more. They were nice, but not something I will pine when the Limited Edition comes to an end. If truth be told and I was in the shop looking at the biscuit shelves staring at these or the original, it would be the original ones I’d be popping into my basket.

Oreo Instant Hot Chocolate (Sainsbury’s) By @cinabar

I know it is August and it might not be everyone’s favourite time for a warming mug of hot chocolate yet. The weather has turned a little though with autumn around the corner, but frankly hot chocolate should just be for whenever you fancy a mug, without justification needed. There are new hot chocolates launching and the first one to catch my eye was this new Oreo Instant Hot Chocolate.

As per the instructions I put the kettle on and added four heaped teaspoons of Oreo hot chocolate powder to two mugs. I looked in the smallish jar and realised I’d used quite a large proportion of the contents. I think it dawned on me it wouldn’t make that many mugs in total, or I had totally overestimated what a heaped teaspoon was. On the bright side the powder dissolved really easily when the hot water was added, and there were no lumps. It was dark in colour though, this was either because Oreo biscuits are dark, or because I had indeed used too much.

I gave the drink a sip and although it was nice, it wasn’t very strong. The drink tasted more like a regular hot chocolate than I had expected, the Oreo was just a subtle hint of biscuit flavour in the background. The drink was pleasant enough but didn't quite have the wow flavour I had hoped for, I wanted more Oreo. The second mug of Oreo hot chocolate was for my mum. She sipped it, said it was nice but not very strong in flavour and that perhaps next time I should add an extra spoon of powder. That may well improve the flavour, but that jar isn’t going to last very long.

Grenade Carb Killer High Protein Shake (Nisa) by @NLi10

Last week I went to Nisa and got some Milkshakes to supplement my lunches.

We looked at the lactose free Ufit then - but here we go for the macho option.

I'm really not sure why this brand has caught my attention so much, but I guess as one of the featured ones in Holland & Barrett I was bound to try it eventually.  All the shakers and supplements are prohibitively expensive (its pretty much the top end of H&B's male supplement range) so I was glad to find this with only an extra 49p compared to the almost identical Ufit shakes.

As you'd expect its a bottle of UHT milk with some stuff added, but it has grenades and killa on the bottle so it must be better than the standard girly shakes.

And in fairness they know their market - that vague substance Protein (that the human body has to break down before it can use) is here in abundance but none of the calories or carbs.  I mean you could just eat vegetables and get the same effect, but you can't pretend to be in a war as easily then.

In fairness though the shake is good, the minty chocolate flavour is good quality and like the UFit I'm 100% sure that joking aside this is better for you than the non science milkshakes are.  The extra niceness may actually justify the extra 49p too, but as there was only one flavour of this I'd be more likely to get a mix if it was to become a regular thing.

I didn't get a picture of the ingredients so I can't compare the fortified vitamins and minerals, but as the focal point here was protein I'll guess it's similar to the UFit ones and check if I still have the bottle at work.

£2.50 for something that is the same size as a 50p can of pop is always a hard sell, but if you find yourself in need of some 'Protein' and the shop has no actual sources of readily available amino acids (that your body will then convert into the proteins it uses) then go for it.  There are a lot worse tasting options out there.

The Purple Panther Porter (Lidl) By @SpectreUK

I've recently re-watched some of the old Peter Seller's Pink Panther films and was pleasantly surprised at how funny they are. I couldn't remember much about them, as I hadn't seem them in so many years, but that kind of slapstick humour does tickle me.

No Pink Panther with this porter, purple is the colour of mystery and this Purple Panther has oodles of that. I picked this bottle up from a Lidl some time ago whilst we were driving back from a holiday somewhere. I know that sounds vague, but I have no idea how long this bottle has been in my beer cooler. Yes, I have a beer cooler in the kitchen. It was left by the last people who lived here, so thank you very much :-) Cinabar tries to fill the beer colour with other stuff, but it generally doesn't last very long in there. I like my beer cold and refreshing, and not too crowded.

At 5% volume and produced by Hatherwood Craft Beer Company, this Purple Panther is an enigma. Why Purple Panther? Why not Black Panther, as they usually are that colour!? Besides the purple looks more black in the bottle. The label describes dominant coffee bitterness in the Purple Panther's rich smooth flavour, with hints of toffee from the speciality sugar the brewer used in their secret ingredients for this "smoky malted porter".

On opening there was that familiar dark fruity porter smell with a hint of coffee and sweetness. I can see where the 'panther' name for this porter came from. It's almost jet black. On taste there is a definite dominance of coffee to the roasted malts mixed with the complementary bitter hops, followed by the smoky toffee sweetness the label describes that flows like a mysterious dark rich river over my tastebuds. This is an expertly crafted porter from a shop I rarely have chance to go into, and it's full of pretty decent stuff too!

Yorkshire Tea - Biscuit Brew (Sainsbury’s) By @Cinabar

I was in the supermarket looking at tea, when I had the realisation that the huge box of Yorkshire Tea Gold was cheaper than buying two of the smaller special offer priced boxes sat next to them, even though it amounted to the same number of bags, and itself wasn’t on offer. Mental arithmetic and the search for a bargain went a little out of the window when I also added to the trolley this strange sounding box of Yorkshire Tea Biscuit Brew, just because I wasn’t sure what it was.
Once home I gave the Biscuit Brew a closer look. I thought it may have been a tea specially designed for the dunking of biscuits, but as it turned out it wasn’t, it is a tea flavoured with biscuit. Really. I immediately checked the ingredients on the back of the box and the saving grace was the the extra flavourings were all natural at least. I put the kettle on.
When brewed this Biscuit Brew tea had a sweet smell, but there was still plenty of proper tea aroma too. The flavour was surprisingly cake like. It reminded me mostly of a vanilla sponge and tea, but all in liquid form. I thought it was sponge like because of the sweet buttery taste, but I guess I could be persuaded it was a shortbread flavour too. My initial sip made me think the Yorkshire Tea Biscuit Brew was a bit weird, but by the end of the mug I decided I liked the tea, and that over all I think the flavour worked. It was a soothing drink, and essentially adding vanilla and cream just gave the drink a luxury feel. It might not be the tea I go to first thing in a morning, I think its place is a warming cup in an afternoon, ideally with a biscuit ready for dunking.

Ufit Lactose Free Vanilla Milkshake (Nisa) by @NLi10 @UfitDrinks

I popped to Nisa for a healthy lunch, and failing to find one picked up some milkshakes.  I mean - I'd have probably got a big tub of olives or something equally marginal from Tesco, but at least there would be more choice.

There were a couple of interesting ones in the bad science section of the fridge, but today lets look at the UFit lactose free.

Essentially they stick some enzymes in the normal milkshake, but it has the added advantage of been a nice vanilla flavour too.

Look at my healthy banana! Ignore the sharing bag of crisps just for me...

Looks and tastes like a decent vanilla milkshake.

It does contain a few of the things I'd be considering supplementing in such as D3 so it's certainly not a terrible waste of time.  I'm not sure that the amounts present will turn your life around though, and certainly eating some green things would be a better idea.

Compared to other milk and water (and oil!) drinks though it's not too shabby.  Not something I'd encourage people to live off, but (as I used to use this brand after swimming) a nice treat that will make you feel a little bit better than the big bag of crisps does.