Review - Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups

In these budget conscious days, we turn more and more to less expensive store brands. Many are as good or better than their brand name competitors. My husband spotted "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" at Hy-Vee (Where else would you expect?) and thought they sounded like something my daughter and I would enjoy.

"Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" come in a four pack, in a package with a wispy blend of blues. The front of the package is adorned with a spoon piled high with pink pudding. Each individual cup has a foil cover with happy little spoons on it. The bright pink color and friendly packaging seem to indicate that this product is probably geared towards children. (Not that I, as an adult, am offended by pink pudding or happy spoons.)

The texture of "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" is nice and smooth, similar to other puddings I've had that don't require refrigeration. The flavor of "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" is very candy like. I can pick out the banana flavor, and can find a hint of strawberry, but the first bite I took tasted more like bubble gum. Now maybe it's psychological, and I tasted bubble gum because the bright pink color made me expect that flavor, but there is a certain aftertaste that still makes me think of bubblegum. Whether that is a positive or negative aspect of "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" is probably up to your personal taste.

"Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" are one of those foods that is really not very good or bad for you. Each cup has 110 calories and eight percent of your saturated fat and sixteen grams of sugar. But each cup also has four percent of your calcium and four percent of your dietary fiber. Not really a health food, but not as bad as, say, a candy bar. The one major drawback is that "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" is also full of preservatives (How could you keep a milk product in the cupboard otherwise?) and artificial colors (That pink is not natural.)

So if you are looking for a healthy snack, keep looking. It you are looking for something that tastes like fresh strawberries or bananas, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a sweet tooth fix that won't blow your diet, or want something inexpensive that the kids might enjoy as a dessert or an infrequent treat, you might want to give "Hy-Vee Strawberry Banana Pudding Cups" a try.