Best Hot Chocolate Mixes - Nestle's? Swiss Miss? Generic?

Hot chocolate. What's not to like? When the weather turns brisk and gray, there's nothing like a mug of the rich brown brew to sooth a chilly soul. I've even found myself drinking it in July. In Phoenix. I like it that much. Choosing the right hot chocolate, however, can be a tricky matter. Fat-free? Sugar-free? Full strength? Generic? The options multiply each year. Here are my picks and pans:

Kroger Sugar-free Hot Chocolate: I nominate this as the best of the low-cal or sugar-free hot chocolate mixes. At fifty calories a serving, you won't feel like you've negated an otherwise nutritious day. The beverage's chocolate flavor is quite respectable - a little chalky, perhaps, but not in an offensive way - and the powder incorporates with the water leaving few "cocoa clumps" floating on top. When mixed with hot water, I like to add a touch of creamer or milk to enhance the body. I've seen a twenty-serving can go for anywhere from $2.50 - 3.50. This is a good deal.

Nestle Hot Cocoa (no sugar added): I don't find the flavor as deep as that of the Kroger variety, but for a sugar-free mix, this one is decent. You'll only net fifty calories per serving. Nestle does offer some tempting hot cocoas with double the caloric content. Likewise with Hershey's (I admit, this review is somewhat incomplete as I have not tested the American chocolate megastar's products). I am always intrigued, but wonder if the flavor improvement justifies the higher sugar/calories/fat? Like the Kroger mix, this one incorporates effectively with hot water.

Swiss Miss: My earliest hot chocolate memories involve pale blue boxes of Swiss Miss packets. Thus, Swiss Miss set the bar for my hot chocolate expectations. Two decades and a more sophisticated palette later, I'm not so hot on this hot chocolate. It's okay, but I think Nestle and Kroger's flavors beat out the nostalgia factor. And whatever you do, stay away from the twenty-five calorie "Diet" packet variety. It is watery. It is disgusting.

Meijer or Spartan brands: These two Midwestern generic brands offer a better price than their name brand competitors. You end up sacrificing qualifying, however. Those "cocoa clumps" I mentioned earlier? There are lots of 'em with these two mixes, and they float atop a dilute pool of brown water. Spend the extra dollar or so; get the name brand.

Those Individual Packets of Land o Lakes: These are good. I'll admit that when I see something priced at fifty-nine cents, I want to put it in the cart (even if the cumulative price for twelve packets means this is an expensive hot chocolate). For starters, the packets contain a lot of mix. Sometimes it seems like Swiss Miss or Nestle's dry mix is more "hot chocolate cloud" poofing around my mug than actual content when I tear open a packet and pour. Not so with Land o Lakes. The mix is a deep brown, and the taste is much more intensely chocolate. Even when mixed with water, the body has more substance, as well. Worth the price? Yes. But the calories? They're not awful, at about one-fifty per packet. It's the saturated fat - four grams per serving - that raises the red flag. The other hot chocolate brands mentioned in this article range from zero to two grams per serving.

So maybe slip a packet of the Land o' Lakes cocoa into the cart every once in a while, as long as it is not your daily go-to cocoa. And treat yourself to a mug of the good stuff, made with cream and real chocolate and topped with a big dollop of marshmallow fluff, because nothing tops the real thing. But for the habitual hot chocolate drinker, Kroger gets my vote.