Limited Edition Foods

Earlier this year Tango released Limited Edition Tango Thanks cans. Now they have come out with another limited edition can design as part of their new ad campaign. The new cans are bigger than the normal size, as they are 440ml compared to usual 330ml. These new cans say New Size on top. The can has a black background. In the middle of an orange picture it says Tango With Added Tango. The can lists a number to call for those having unusual side effects from drinking too much Tango. Those that call the helpline will be entered into a contest with prizes that include a PlayStation and a bicycle.

The latest Dreyer’s Limited Edition ice cream flavor is called Red, White, and No More Blues. It has a vanilla ice cream base. Mixed in the base are strawberries and blueberries. The name makes it seem like there should not be any blue, but that is just related to the current economic situation. The red, white, and blue ice cream flavor sounds like a great way to celebrate the 4th of July or just enjoy on any hot summer day. It sounds like a good flavor but then again you could easily make it yourself with some fresh or frozen berries and a cheaper store brand of vanilla, although sometimes Dreyer’s/Edy’s is the cheapest brand on sale.

I am not sure if this flavor is actually in the freezer sections, yet, as I could not find it listed on the Dreyer’s website. I assume it is supposed to be out in time for the 4th of July, though, if it is not already. Also, not sure how long of a release it is getting, but it seems Dreyer’s usually releases their limited editions for four months. I sure hope I can try it, but since I am on the road until August mostly staying at campgrounds I might miss out on this flavor.

Other current Dreyer’s summer limited edition flavors include Summer Peach Pie and Banana Split, both of which I tried back in May. There is also a Root Beer Float flavor out that I saw once after on the road for the summer. Of course, the two really good sounding flavors for the summer had to come out after my summer trip began.

I posted the other day about the limited edition Transformers candy that Mars candy released to promote the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. At a gas station this past weekend I finally found the Limited Edition Transformers Nougabot Snickers Bar. I am not much into Snickers bars, but I got it anyways because they had a coupon on the display to get it free if you got two bags of M&Ms, which happened to even be on buy one get one free sale, so I got the three candies for a pretty good deal.

I tried the Transformers Nougabot Bar, but was kind of disappointed. It is is truly just a Snickers bar with yellow colored nougat. It is not any better than a Snickers or worse, but it is kind of odd with its bright yellow color compared to a the color of a normal Snickers. Sure glad I did got it for free.

Limited Edition Strawberry Milkshake Crème Oreos are packaged with an image of a strawberry milkshake on the package and clearly written that it is limited edition with the words limited edition in a yellow banner on several sides. The cookie part of the Oreos are just like regular Oreos. The creme is colored pink and is meant to taste like a strawberry milkshake. It definitely does taste strawberry like, but the chocolate of the Oreos overpower it unless you are the type to open the Oreo and lick the creme out. The creamy aspect does make it a lot a strawberry milkshake flavor, but really is not the same since it has the chocolatey cookies. They really are not worth it if you ask me since there seems to be less cookies in the package than normal, but for the same price and they are not even all that great tasting anyways.

The other day I found Limited Edition Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Brittle Ice Cream when I was trying to find some Limited Edition Edy’s/Dreyer’s ice cream. I was glad I found this instead, though, as I am a big fan of peanut butter and the Haagen-Dazs was even on sale this week. Sure the pints are expensive in comparison to buying bigger sizes of ice cream and the Haagen-Dazs flavors are not as gourmet as Ben & Jerry’s and thus not usually worth getting in my opinion. However, it is still a great quality brand and sometimes their simple combinations are great, such as their holiday limited edition Peppermint Bark.

The Limited Edition Peanut Butter Brittle Ice Cream has peanut butter flavored ice cream base similar to that often used with Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. It is also full of swirls of actual peanut butter, which help to really enhance the peanut butter flavor of the ice cream and give extra bursts of peanut butter flavor. There are also pieces of peanut butter brittle mixed in with the ice cream. There is not pieces in like every bite, but there is a still a good amount of peanut brittle pieces. The peanut butter brittle is crunchy, which I tend not to like in my ice cream, but the fact that the peanut brittle has a peanut butter coating makes it slightly less crunchy and more enjoyable. Overall this is a great ice cream flavor for peanut butter lovers, although I do not think I will splurge on it more than maybe one more time when it is on sale.

I always seem to have good luck finding new limited edition foods when I am in Chicago. It seems it is much easier to find the stuff, except Edy’s/Dreyer’s flavors, here than back home in Tucson. One of the things I found at the grocery store this weekend was Pillsbury Big Deluxe Special Edition Cinnabon Cookies. Since the cookies were on sale and Mom was buying the groceries anyways I decided to get them to try. Plus they sounded good.

The package describes them as being cinnamon and sugar cookies. They are the big kind, so it is easy to keep them soft and chewy. I find the other pull apart kinds of premade dough are nearly impossible to have chewy besides fresh out of the oven. I like my cookies chewy, so the Big Deluxe aspect is part of why I thought they were worth trying.

The cookies turned out delicious and soft and chewy even after a couple days (of course, I did keep them in plastic bags). They do taste a lot like Cinnabons do, but they are way better. The biggest reason I say they are better is that Cinnabons are so messy to eat despite being great tasting. These cookies are not messy at all except maybe a few crumbs. Also, Cinnabons are also too big for me to eat in one sitting and they often turn hard and microwaving them does not make them soft for long. The cookies on the other hand have stayed nice and soft even after three days, although they have only lasted that long because we left them in the car when we came back from camping one night.

Last summer Coca Cola has the 2008 Beijing Olympics set of limited edition cans. Now for this summer they have a special five set just simply called Summer 2009. The can designs only come on original Coca Cola cans. They are in the 24 and 12 packs for sure. I also have noticed some 20 ounce bottles with the sunglasses design, which seems to still be the current design. The five designs are supposed to be released one at a time with a new one coming every few weeks. Almost everywhere (have been in over 7 states already this summer since I am on a road trip) I have seen just the sunglasses one, but we did find the flag design at one Safeway in California (I think Oakland area).

The five designs for the Summer 2009 set include a beach ball, sunglasses, surfboards, barbecue, and flag. The beach ball design has the Coca Cola logo in one of the red panels of the red and white logo. The sunglasses design has the Coca Cola logo silhouetted in the sunglasses with parts of the words disappearing over the edge of the sunglasses design. The surfboard design has the Coca Cola logo silhouetted in one of the surf boards. The barbecue design has three Coca Cole logos coming out of the barbecue as if they are smoke clouds. The flag design has the normal Coca Cola logo with white stars and stripes to the right to make it look a little like an American flag design. Overall a pretty cool set that I am going to try to get one of each for my Coke can and bottle collection.

A couple months ago I noticed Hannah Montana Limited Edition Eggo waffles. Now there are Limited Edition Star Trek Eggo Waffles out to promote the new Star Trek movie. The waffles come in a package with the Enterprise on it and say Limited Edition on it. The package also shows two of the over 25 edible image designs that are on the waffles. The Limited Edition Star Trek waffles come in packages of 8 and with over 25 designs it certainly could take a lot to find out what they all are. The packages also feature a Starfield Delta Shield Game on the side.

Some of the designs include characters (Kirk, Spock, Kirk & Spock, Kirk sitting in his Captain’s Chair, McCoy, Sulu, Nero, Uhura, Chekov, and Scotty), some include logos (Delta Shield, Klingon, Romulan, Vulcan Greeting), one has the image of a Communicator, some have planets (Earth, Saturn with moon Titan), and some simply have Star Trek phrases (Live Long and Prosper, I’m Giving Her All She’s Got Captain!, Beam Me Up, Highly Illogical). Seem like interesting waffles for fans of Star Trek and those that like Eggo waffles, as despite the image they are supposed to taste the same as regular Eggo waffles.

Recently at the grocery store I noticed some Pokemon Macaroni & Cheese boxes that were labeled as special edition. I also noticed they had Spongebob ones with collectable cards on the back. The whole character shaped Macaroni & Cheese thing is not new and is not always exactly limited or special edition, but the Pokemon ones at least did say Special Edition and I felt the Spongebob ones saying Collectable cards on them makes them almost in the category of limited edition foods.

Pokemon Macaroni & Cheese shapes is definitely not new, as I can remember them being done back when only the first set of games were out (Red, Blue, and Yellow). This variety was the first time I noticed them in a long time, though. The boxes were called Special Edition Collectable Pack Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and there were six different types of boxes to collect with all of the boxes containing Pokemon shaped pasta. I only noticed three of the different designs (one with Dialga and Paliga, one with Turtwig, and one with Turtwig, Piplup, and Chimchar). I also think I saw one with just Piplup and perhaps there is one with just Chimchar. As for the sixth I have no idea what it might be.

The Spongebob Macaroni & Cheese boxes said collect all 4 collectable cards on the back. Each box has one card, but since they are visible on the back before you buy them you can also easily only just buy the ones you need if you want to collect them. The cards are supposed to have Spongy Trivia on the back (i.e. the part on the inside of the box. Again the pasta this comes with is in character shapes (Spongebob this time).

Limited Batch Ben & Jerry’s Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road Ice Cream is a special ice cream flavor that was originally released as a one week flavor in honor of Elton John’s first trip to Vermont and to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF). Due to popular demand the flavor is coming back with the slogan “The Batch is Back,” which is a play on the Elton John song “The Bitch is Back.” The flavor itself, Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road, is also a play on an Elton John song title (”Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”). The limited batch of the flavor is expected to be available mid-May 2009 through the summer 2009, which I assume means August or Labor Day. The flavor is available in Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops and will also be available in pint size in retailers across the country that carry Ben & Jerry’s pints.

Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road ice cream has a chocolate ice cream base. Mixed in the ice cream is peanut butter cookie dough, brickle candy pieces, and white chocolatey chunks. I am not really a fan of chocolate ice cream, although my favorite Ben & Jerry’s is Phish Food, so the mix ins really can make even chocolate ice cream something I will eat. This one does sound like it has some good mix ins, especially the peanut butter cookie dough. I will admit, though, that I had absolutely no idea what the heck brickle candy pieces were until I Googled it and found out they are basically toffee bits, which sounds okay as a mix in, too.