Paynes Poppets [New] Strawberry Milkshake Flavour (Local Sweet Shop) [By @Cinabar]

These caught my eye tucked away on a busy shelf of an independent sweet shop in Cardiff. When I got them home, I had a bit of a google, and these chocs aren’t even mentioned on the Poppets website (yet).
I always get nostalgic when it comes to Poppets, as they are one of the sweets I associate with childhood, but I will try and put aside any bias a little.
The pink box is very bright, and the flavour is that of strawberry milkshake, not just strawberry, which is a little bit of fun. I just can’t believe we didn’t already have a fruit cream Poppet available!


I bit one in half, and discovered that the filling was very pale in colour, which fits with their ‘no artificial colourings’ spiel on the back of the box. I noticed that the sweets had a strange but pleasant texture, they were quite firm but seemed to melt a little as they were chewed. It was a little like a ball of icing or now I think about it Edinburgh Rock. It was a nice texture, but certainly not the soft cream I expected. The flavour was very sweet and shouted strawberries with a nice milky aftertaste. As with all Poppets the coating is a bit basic, it is glazed too so looks shiny. The coating does add a pleasant chocolate tone to the flavour and its combination with the strawberry makes them an enjoyable treat. You just have to remember the target market isn’t the connoisseur it is a pocket money audience, and these chocs do a good job of filling that spec.
If you like your strawberry creams or your retro sweets then this pack will make you smile as you munch. I don’t know how we’ve gone so long without a strawberry Poppet before, it seems such a natural addition to the range and fits in really well with their other products. I do hope it’s a permanent addition!

By Cinabar

Lifestyle Organic - Organic Thai Rice (Red Kite Healthfoods, Bromsgrove) [by @NLi10]

This is a continuation of the Lifestyle Organic range products that I thought I'd try out.

The Organic Thai Rice option is probably the most normal of all the ones I purchased. It's just rice, but with the added bonus of a few bits and bobs in there to make it more exciting. It's not quite instant rice and requires a few minutes of boiling to get the end product but it's worth it and is much nicer than similar microwave versions. Also I measured out the water and followed all the instructions.

The flavour of the rice is good and reasonably strong. It's also quite fluffy and light. Half a pack for lunch did leave me a bit hungry though so I'd choose to have the whole pack in future. I do like my rice and pasta though so maybe it's suitable for two as light snacks or as part of a proper meal. I could happily eat this again, but it's a little expensive for what it is and I'd probably just mix regular rice with my Schwartz Cook-In spices - I should probably review those as they are a great secret for any person who likes cooking but not faff.

I shall continue to work my way through the range of little gold bags. No disappointments so far.

By NLi10

Piper’s Honey Farm – Honey Fudge (Westmoreland Service Station) [By @SpectreUK]

Honey fudge sounds like every teddy bear’s dream. We’ve already found honey marmalade, which all good teddy’s eat by the bucket load and of course there’s honey beer to wash it down with. Now we’ve found teddy’s pudding.
Piper’s Honey Farm is set in Froxfield, Hampshire. Piper’s makes a range of fudges from vanilla flavour to fruit and nut, rum and raisin, and chocolate fudge. Piper’s also make honey toffee and a range of ceramic animals, honey pots, soaps and bath pearls. Piper’s honey fudge is a good soft biteable fudge that’s not sticky or greasy to the touch. The fudge is not overpoweringly sweet and has a mild honey flavour to it. It’s very moreish and not too sickly, so much so that I found myself with an empty 150g packet pretty quickly, and I was surrounded by some very angry teddy bears!

By Spectre

Choc-o-Lait Chocolate Stick – Coffee [Flavoured Hot Chocolate] (Amazon) [By @Cinabar]

I was browsing the food pages on amazon, as you do, and spotted these hot chocolate sticks. There was a wide range of flavours including caramel, hazelnut and dark chocolate. I chose this coffee one as it sort of appealed, and I do like the mix of those flavours.
I have to be honest and say that I bought these on a bit of a whim, I hadn’t heard of the Choc-o-Lait company before, and didn’t know anything about their products.
A bit of a google shows that they are a popular brand in Europe, and that these hot chocolate sticks are the only thing they make. If it is all they do, they really ought to be good then!



They arrived swiftly from Amazon, and I was keen to try them out. I heated my mug of milk in the microwave, unpacked the stick, and eased it into the hot milk. I gave it a stir, and the chocolate gently melted and oozed off the stick. It dissolved quite quickly and easily, leaving a smooth looking dark drink. It smelt aromatic with a good hint from all the key ingredients. When it cooled a little I gave it a sip and was totally amazed by the flavour. It was absolutely spot on. It somehow managed to be both creamy, yet dark with both the chocolate and coffee flavours working well together. It wasn’t too sweet, but the tastes were strong but balanced by the smooth creamy aftertaste.
The drink was truly indulgent, and the coffee and chocolate flavours were fantastic together. It is a strong drink which happens to combine two of my favourite tastes, and is one of the nicest flavoured hot chocolates I have tried. The drink is also really fun to make, watching it melt is a total pleasure and does add to the experience. I am making a confident second order so that I can try a few more of their flavours, if they are half as good as this one they will be more than worth it.

By Cinabar

Dreamies (Cheese, Chicken, Salmon, Beef) - Bearwood Indoor Market [by @NLi10]

First thing to note about Dreamies is that they are a snack food, but one intended for cats. This may be a Food Stuff Finds first - food for other species - I'm really not sure, but in no way do I recommend humans eating these.

We've had the original chicken flavour of these floating around in the house for a while, and I picked up the salmon one about six weeks ago. I thought these were pretty small time things but then I saw them advertised on TV - these are big time! The recent packs are slightly redone and there are maybe around 6 flavours now.

I figured that this was enough of an incentive to get Duchess the review cat to do a comparison.



Based on the packs alone there was notable excitement. I use these as an incentive to get her to go into the room where she sleeps. This is usually pretty successful as they are certainly her favourite treat. The packs suggest that you can give quite a few in one go, but I find usually 4 or 5 is plenty. Always make sure your cat has access to fresh water folks!

To see which she fancied first I lined them all up (with 2 of each) and placed her in the centre. Naturally being a cat she wandered back to where the bags were originally and then to the end of the line and proceeded to eat them all.


In short then - the flavour that Duchess the cat likes best is whichever is closest. To humans the coloured bags are the only real difference. If you want some reasonably priced cat bribes then you should consider these Food Stuff Finds approved, but just buy whichever bag is your favourite colour as if your cat likes one then they will probably like them all.

By NLi10 and his cat Duchess