Twix Crispy Rolls (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Spotted these new Twix Crispy Rolls in Tesco and couldn’t resist picking up a pack. They’re made by Mars and come with a lighter pitch, just 57kcal per stick, so they’re definitely aiming for the lower-calorie treat crowd.

Inside the wrapper are two slim rolls coated in milk chocolate. They look a bit dainty, but curiosity got the better of me and I snapped one open. The filling is pale, almost fondant-like, with no visible caramel layer. It turns out that’s by design, a gooey centre would have made the wafer soggy, and this is all about crunch.

And crunchy they are. The texture is lovely, light, crisp wafer that’s fun to bite into. The filling has a gentle caramel flavour, subtle but enough to remind you this is a Twix spin-off. It’s not quite the full Twix experience, no thick caramel chew, but it still ticks the box if you’re after that familiar taste in a more delicate form.

My only gripe? They’re gone far too quickly. A couple of bites and it’s all over. But for a sweet snack that won’t dent your daily calories too much, these do the job. A lighter Twix fix for when you're trying to be good,  or at least pretending to.

Cadbury Delights Orange and Caramel (Asda) By @cinabar

Last week I tried out the Cadbury Delights Salted Caramel, and today I went for one of the other new flavours, Orange and Caramel. These bars are in a multipack box, with 5 in the pack. They are individually wrapped and have lower calories at just 91 per bar. So they are perfect for a calorie-controlled diet or a lunchbox treat that isn’t too bad for you.

Once the box is opened, you can see the bars are quite thin, so it isn’t just a lower calorie recipe; it is also a smaller product size. I gave one a taste, and they are still a nice treat. There is plenty of zingy orange, and it was well balanced with the chocolate. I did enjoy the flavour. The nougat and caramel are a little sticky on the teeth but still enjoyable to eat. These are a nice sweet treat, and I like the idea of a lower-calorie bar, but they were tasty and I still fancied chocolate, so I may have eaten two, which may have missed the point.

Cadbury Delights - Salted Caramel (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Cadbury has launched new multipack boxes of chocolate bars that have lower calories. I didn’t see them in January, but I do wonder if they were brought out for the people who diet post-Christmas. I’ve only seen them this month, but I thought I would get a box to try and see what these new Cadbury Delights are like. One of the flavours that have been launched is "salted caramel," because, well, of course it is. If in doubt, bring out the caramel.

 

I opened up the box and found five bars inside in shiny wrappers, the bars are quite thin (as in height) when they are out of the pack. They did hit the spot, despite being quite small. 

The nougat is soft, and it has an element that makes your teeth sticky. There are some rice crispy pieces mixed in, which do add to the texture, which was nice, and the caramel is also soft and sticky. There wasn’t much salt, but the flavours mixed nicely with the chocolate coating. I think these bars are lovely as a lower-calorie treat, they come in at 91 calories each, which is pretty decent. They are smaller, but if you are looking for something sweet in the afternoon with a coffee, they make a lovely lighter snack. Cadbury Delights have also launched in hazelnut and orange varieties, and I will pick up some boxes of those too.

Skinny Brand Premium Lager (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I hate counting calories. I have to count calories. I hate counting calories!

I've been counting calories for about two years now. With a great deal of exercise from around 6am every morning, asides the weekends where I generally get a lie in until 10am, and then start exercising. My exercise is a mixture of light weights and yoga, and then also limiting myself to around 2,200 calories a day. I can pretty much lose a little weight, keep my muscle tone, and then keep my weight to a minimum. If I don't do this, I get fatter and heavier and can't walk upstairs due to my sore old knee after it's second rather specialist operation. However I'm now lighter and fitter than I ever have been, which is good for a guy in his mid-forties.

Did I say I hate counting calories? These new Skinny Brand Premium Lagers are 89 calories. So after some serious management I get my tuna sandwich,mpacket of Space Raiders, a tomato, protein yogurt, an apple, and a mini Soreen loaf for lunch. Then for dinner I can have a McDonald's triple cheese burger, small fries, and a McFlurry to finish, and then snack on a whole bag of Orange Maltesers Buttons whilst watching the end of Midnight Run later. Like I said, counting calories is time consuming and tedious, but really worth the effort to eat whatever I like within reason.

Skinny Brands is in Ashton under Lyme in the UK. At 4% in volume this 330ml bottle of Skinny Brand Premium Lager has 35% fewer calories than other premium lagers, and is said to be "Full flavour". On opening the bottle there was a citrus hop smell with barley malt just behind it. This was quite a fizzy and yet very flavoursome lager. It certainly didn't taste like such a low calorie beer. There was a citrus bite to start with and then that sweetness from the malted barley into the aftertaste.

I'll definitely enjoy the other three bottles with other meals in the future. Now with the onset of summer, this flavoursome, refreshing lager will be rather good in the garden with a good book, some sunshine, and a packet of pork scratchings on a lazy afternoon. Ah, counting calories isn't so bad you know, it's just a matter of balancing things out. Oh and there's the working out like a crazy person aspect with it though.

Skinny Crunch - mint & orange (@NLi10)

 I was gifted these light snack bars a short while ago, and had rejected them in favour of more fattening things. They did eventually tempt me…

They are essentially rice crispie bars

This is the minty one. Not too much Choc to keep the calories down - but it’s still pretty small for the calories.

Decent amount hiding on the bottom.

And it’s nice, a very light mint and a nice flavoured snack.

The orange one has the usual strong smell, and a lovely orange taste, but is otherwise similar to the mint one. I think this was my favourite of the two.

They aren’t particularly exciting, but a nice light bite for with my afternoon hot drink.

Mars 95 Cal (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

In case anyone is braving New Year's Resolutions this year, Mars has brought out a single stick to give you the authentic taste of Mars, but in a much slimmer version. This 21g bar is 95 calories, hence the name Mars 95 Cal. This could be perfect for chocolate lovers who just want a quick taste without shouldering the full calories of a traditional Mars Bar. It's slightly reminiscent of the size of a regular stick or finger of Twix.

On peeling back the wrapper and biting in, this Mars 95 Cal was gone in two mouthfuls. I was pretty much humouring it, as I'd usually dump a biscuit or chocolate bar or cake of that size straight in my gob without biting, but I wanted to try to savour it. Alas it was all over so quick that I didn't manage to savour the experience - I know, I know... "Name of your sex tape!"

I have to say though that the little Mars 95 Cal does taste of a regular Mars bar. I'd worked out in my kitchen gym an extreme amount earlier that day and my metabolism was roaring like an open furnace, so I downed the two Mars 95 Cals Cinabar had bought me to blog about, amongst a boat load of mixed chocolates from a grab tin we had over Christmas. My excuse is that I'd had a truck load of protein during the day and I needed plenty of calories to help fix my tired achy muscles overnight. Plus, I am rather partial to quite a bit of chocolate!

Snickers 99Kcal Chocolate Snack Bars (Tesco) By @Cinabar

During the break between Christmas and New Years I realised we had run out of the basics so I popped into our local Tesco Express to top up on bread and milk. On a shelf I spotted these Snickers 99Kcal Chocolate Snack Bars, and I picked some up to give them a try. At the till the man on the counter said “Blimey they are tiny what’s the point?” I said it is calorie counting he pointed out I’d bought multiple bars to eat, “touché I replied”.   :-D

 

I did however just eat one bar with a cup of coffee this afternoon so I think I have the upper hand, so long as nobody counts the calories of the slice of Yule log I had after my dinner. I am not officially calories counting until January as I still have Christmas goodies to eat! The bar was nice, it tasted like a Snickers, there was still a decent amount of nuts and it had all the right flavours. My problem is that is just looked so small and disappointing, all I kept thinking is I’d rather have a couple of Celebrations sweets which I think is about the same calories but is psychologically a nice treat having two wrapped sweets. I can’t explain that but some how this just felt like a weirdly shrunken bar. I bought the Mars version for spectre to try, looking forward to his opinion!

Romance Me - Rocky Road Cereal Bars (Iceland) By @Cinabar

And the prize for the smartest packaging for cereal bars goes to… Romance Me - Rocky Road Cereal Bars. Wow this is a smart box. I was looking for some cereal bars online and browsing the Iceland site and found these and the packaging was just so super and the branding so interesting I couldn’t resist. Yes I know package an item brightly and I’m sold, I’m an advertisers dream! :-D

When they arrived I realised they were part of the Slimming World range and were actually low in calories. Bonus! They are quite small bars but they look lovely too with pink and white marshmallows as the topping. There is plenty of chocolate flavour and the texture is rather nice, firm, not crunchy but mixed because of the marshmallows. They may be slightly over packaged but they are tasty and fun and I’d be happy to buy them again and to see if there are other interesting bars in the range.

Frijj Mango & Passion Fruit (Morrisons) [By @SpectreUK]

This new Frijj Mango & Passion Fruit milkshake has been produced with 40% less sugar. However at over 220 calories per bottle this could still be used as a refreshing pick-me-up after a trip to the gym, especially at the moment with all this unseasonal hot weather. I say ‘unseasonal’, as although it is summer, we kind of expect our summers to be overcast and rainy. We have had plenty of that over the last few weeks, so I guess we’re having a break.

There was a smell of mango and passion fruit on opening the bottle. On tasting the yellowish milky drink there was a mild hint of mango mixed cunningly with a mild hint of passion fruit. In fact this drink was probably the mildest Frijj milkshake I’ve ever tasted. That made sense when I noticed that this drink was 98% fat milk in the ingredients. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing though, as mango and passion fruit can both be quite strong flavours apart, so I had been expecting a sour battle from this milkshake rather than the refreshing light flavours of mango and passion fruit combined in the mildest dances across my tastebuds!

Information on the bottle;

471ml bottle, with 47 calories per 100ml, with 5.5g of sugar, 0.12g of salt, and 1.1g of fat. Ingredients included; 1% fat milk (98%), buttermilk powder, fructose, stabalisers; carrageenan, cellulose gum, colour; carotenes, and flavourings sweeteners; acesulfame K, and sucralose.
By Spectre

Diet Chef Mediterranean Pasta (Tesco) [By @SpectreUK]

Here is a quick five minutes to prepare ready meal for those that are watching their waistlines, or alternatively those that are greedy like me and use it for excuse to eat more crisps and drink more beer. This Diet Chef Mediterranean Pasta just needs 200ml of freshly boiled water and to be left stand for five minutes. On peeling back the lid the contents looked pretty disappointing. No wonder this is for dieters, as the pasta looked tiny.

I was starting to think that I'd need to go out for fish and chips after writing this blog. However, I added freshly boiled water and found a trusty metal fork from the cutlery draw. I could see the bits of black olives, courgettes (Cinabar just had a shiver... Hates them!), red pepper and herbs floating around in the reddish sauce as the powder in the pot liquified. I stirred the concoction a little and began to wait. I wasn't sure what I was waiting for. I was kind of hoping the pasta would grow remarkably in size and fill the kitchen. I had visions of feeling the fool and having to phone the fire brigade to come and cut me out of the house, as huge mutant pasta strips smashed through the windows and popped the roof off the house like a pointy cork off a champagne bottle. Five minutes past, the pasta had grown a little but never passed the water 'fill line'. I have to say though the pasta had absorbed much of the liquid and was fluffy and light, the red sauce was now a thick ooze. Although clearly a diet meal at 192 calories, and been as though it said it everywhere on the plastic pot, and also the portion size seemed quite small, having said that it was very tasty indeed. I could certainly taste the black olives in the rich tomato sauce which had a light herby flavour. If I have another one of these for a dinner meal I'd probably have two pots... Stuff the diet!

By Spectre

Muller Light - Skinny Cappuccino Yogurt (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Just occasionally at Foodstuff Finds we have days when we think we may have over indulged a bit, and want to make ourselves feel better by eating something a bit lower in calories. This was one of the days, and it gave me the opportunity to see what is new in the low fat Muller Light section.
This Skinny Cappuccino seemed like an interest flavour combination, and not a flavour I associate with yoghurt. The packet says that the flavour had been chosen by the public, which means that Muller fans are a little more adventurous than some of the other brands out there… KitKat I’m looking at you.
When I pulled back the lid I found the yoghurt to be a little darker than I expected, and not that appetising in colour. It was, well - dirty looking for want of a better phrase.
The flavour was a total success though, the thick and creamy yoghurt had chocolate bits throughout, and combined with the sweet coffee taste perfectly. You’d have never guessed it was fat free and only 99 calories.
So don’t be put off by the colour, and thank the fans of Muller for coming up with a new flavour that is a bit different but works really well.

By Cinabar

New Special K Cracker Crisps – Sour Cream & Onion (Sainsbury’s) [By @cinabar]

So, to clarify, crisps come in bags. This is the social norm, and the expected format. It seems to work quite well, I’ve never seen the bag aspect as a weakness. Special K though doesn’t usually make crisps, they make cereals and cereal bars which all come in boxes, there ‘norm’ is the cardboard box, and they continue to follow that route when they choose to make crisps. I seem to be struggling with the concept of a box of crisps. When I opened the box and discovered that there was actually a bag of crisps in the box, I did cringe a little at the excess packaging. Perhaps they should sell cereals in bags now that I come to think about it?
The second thing that bugged me, was the portion sizes. According to the back of the packet, a portion of these crisps comes in at just 95 calories, which considering that equates to 21 crisps is really good. What got me though is that the portion of crisps equates to 23g, out of the 100g box. This means that the box contains 4.35 portions, which is slightly odd and not great if you are the fifth person! However if the box was split into the more likely four portions, 25g rings up at 103 calories which isn’t much higher, but isn’t as catchy as “95” or being in the “under 100 calories per portion” category. But who on earth is going to split that box 4.35 ways?
Anyway, the product itself is genuinely low calorie, despite my moaning. January is the national month of dieting so healthy snacks are the in thing. These crisps are a good lower fat alternative to regular crisps.
They are all neatly rounded crisps, but slightly aerated and with a nice texture. They feel light, but easy to eat and quiet moreish. The taste represents Sour Cream & Onion quite well, the oniony hint just not being quite strong enough for my taste buds. I like a blast of flavour, but these are more of a tame gentle affair. To be honest though this probably makes them easier for work as they are milder on the breath than some cheese and onion crisps. All in all these are nice crisps, and considering there healthier attributes well worth picking up if you are watching the calories this January.

By Cinabar

Rocky Rice - gluten free snack bar [@NLi10]

After the excesses of the festive season our monthly snacks at work have taken a somewhat lighter angle.  Instead of the usual haul of biscuits and cakes there was a lot of fruit and seeds and these interesting little bars.  Weighing in at only 16g I scoffed at the idea that this would be a decent snack, and looking like a Snack-a-jack that had a one molecule thick layer of chocolate sprayed on suggested that it may be a challenge to review politely.

Turns out that it's actually quite tasty.  I think strawberry might be pushing it but there is certainly an nice enough flavour and the chocolate is just enough to mitigate the packing foam texture that usually accompanies these rice products.  Admittedly it is a little on the slight side, and I wasn't really that satisfied by the whole thing, but that's not really what this is for.

If you wanted a lighter, low calorie snack then this is a surprisingly edible version.  It's gluten free, and  has no wheat in too which broadens it's appeal.  There were two flavours available but unfortunately I'm not sure who was on 'cake rota' duty so am not sure which of the big UK supermarkets this was bought from.

I wouldn't buy or eat these again (my idea of a healthy snack is peanuts, or the fruit itself as I suspect this lacks any form of nutrition and not just calories!) but I may pick them up for my mother who avoids wheat and likes light snack bites.  A welcome evolution of the Snack-a-jack!