Phil Lempert's SupermarketGuru
 

Ratings Criteria

With over 50,000 products in the average supermarket, people don't have the time, or the money, to test every product on the shelves and with 15,000 new products every year consumers need to know what's out there!

So Phil does the testing and the tasting for you and gives the product a rating out of 100 so you know what you can expect when you try something new!

SupermarketGuru does not sell the foods we review, nor receive any compensation from the manufacturers for reviewing or rating them.

Phil taste-tests and judges each product based on the following 8 criteria:

  1. (30 points) Taste: The most important attribute of any food
  2. (20 points) Value: Is it worth it?
  3. (15 points) Health: Based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?
  4. (15 points) Ingredients: What's in it, how natural is it?
  5. (5 points) Preparation: When applicable, how accurate or good are the directions *
  6. (5 points) Appearance: Is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description
  7. (5 points) Packaging: Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as resealability, added freshness, better storage, etc.
  8. (5 Points) Sustainability: Is the packaging biodegradable, is it wasteful, is the company endeavoring to offset their carbon footprint?

* products that do not have any preparation will have the full value of these points included in their total score

Sonoma Gourmet Marinara Pasta Sauce

[Image of: Pasta Sauce]
85
This product is a HIT! I don't know why but we probably taste more pasta sauces than any other category - and frankly there is so much difference between them I'm glad that we do. Sonoma Gourmet makes a very nice Marinara sauce with the first two ingredients being tomatoes and tomato puree, and they're not using any high fructose corn syrup. Unlike so many other sauces where sugars are in the top three or four ingredients - here it is third to last. I do find the sauce to be a little more watery than I like, but it does have a fabulous aroma and a nice clean taste and mouth-feel. Retails for $5.49 for 25 oz.

Sonoma Gourmet
707 939 3700
http://www.sonomagourmet.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Odwalla Protein Monster Strawberry Flavor

[Image of: Protein Beverage]
88
This product is a HIT! If you're looking for delicious protein drink this could be it - Protein Monster has 25 g of soy and dairy protein per bottle. The protein is a combination of soy milk protein concentrate and soy protein, the flavoring, which is strawberry, actually comes from strawberry purée, what a concept. And the flavor is delicious! What I really like is that on the label they're showing you a dual panel for nutritional facts - the first panel is a standard serving at 8 ounces, but right adjacent to it is what is contained in the entire package. So with just a quick glance you can see that if you drink the whole bottle you would get 300 calories, 25 g of protein, and 33 g of sugars. Retails for $3.69 for 15.2 oz.

Odwalla Inc
800 639 2552
http://www.odwalla.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Emerald Forest Xylitol Sweetener

[Image of: Alternative Sweetener]
92
This product is a HIT! Long before the buzz about Stevia, there was Xylitol. Xylitol is actually a low glycemic sweetener that comes from trees, berries, almond hulls and corn cobs. It is one of the tastiest sweeteners and you use it just as you would sugar. The interesting thing about Xylitol is it's also safe for diabetics - is this the Stevia killer that finally comes back to the shelf to conquer all? Only time will tell. Retails for $8.99 for 100 packets.

Emerald Forest Sugar, Inc
866 948 1999
http://www.emeraldforestsugar.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Ice Rok Natural Artesian Water

[Image of: Water]
92
This product is a HIT! If you're looking for the latest in bottled, or should I say pouched water, Ice Rock might just be it. This is Natural Artisan Water from a Deep Mountain Glacier, and according to the package contains antioxidants - the antioxidants come from the higher than average pH in the water itself. Would I suggest that someone who's looking to raise their cancer fighting, heart disease fighting properties switch to this water? That you would have to talk to your doctor about. The package is interesting where it’s a pouch and actually you could freeze the water in this pouch and use it to keep you lunch cool, or bring it on a bicycle or hiking trip. It does take some getting use to - it dribbled when I opened it and drank from the spout. Retails for $1.19 – 1.39 for 18 fl oz.

Ice Rok LLC
801 254 3428
http://www.icerokwater.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Full Bloom Kuko Bites

[Image of: Cookies]
94
This product is a HIT! Kuko Bites are one of those cookies that you could put on a plate and serve as homemade. They are delicious you can actually taste all the tasty and wonderful fruits and nuts that are inside. To top it all off they are wheat free and dairy free, and contain no trans fats. And by the way if you like a little hint of chocolate, they also contain cacao nibs. Retails for $3.99 for 6oz.

Full Bloom Baking Company
800 201 9909
http://www.fullbloom.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Thank You

We hope you enjoyed this edition of

New Product
Hits and Misses

If you would like Phil to consider your new product for review, please send 4 samples of each flavor you to submit for review, with the suggested retail price and other product information. We regret that we can not review all products submitted. Please send to:

New Product Review
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Santa Monica, CA 90405

Product reviews are conducted by randomly selecting one flavor of a product and taking into consideration the information available on the package itself as it would appear in the retail environment. Information contained in advertisements or on websites is not taken into account for evaluation or ratings.

Email danielle@supermarketguru.com with any questions and whenever possible please be environmentally friendly when packaging your products.