Cardinal Sin No. 1: I went grocery shopping without a list.
Cardinal Sin No. 2: I went grocery shopping hungry.
Cardinal Sin No. 3: I went grocery shopping while Miles was at daycare thus giving me the freedom to cruise up and down the aisles at the slowest pace possible, looking at anything and everything my heart desired.
While I'm proud to say that I did manage to stick within the budget (sort of) and I passed up the Diet Coke (Fanta Orange Zero and Diet Barq's instead), I failed to resist the temptation of something new to my Kroger and old in the blog world.
Arctic Zero "ice cream"
Called a "protein shake in ice cream form," the company website says, "Arctic Zero is a high quality frozen dessert that is all natural, gluten free, suitable for lactose intolerants, and low glycemic. Like 'super foods,' we like to call it a 'super dessert' since it feeds the muscle and starves the fat due to the high quality whey protein concentrate and low calorie/low carb formula."
Of course, that's not what they put on the label. The packaging touts that its a frozen dessert with 150 calories per pint. Yes, the entire carton has the same amount of calories that one serving of low-fat ice cream does.
Coming off my "I'm on vacation" sugar buzz, I found myself reaching for a container of Mint Chocolate Cookie and putting it in the cart - despite its $5+ price tag.
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"Hmm," I thought. "Not very creamy. More icy than anything but it does taste minty."
I struggled to get several more bites to put on a graham cracker, which turned out to be an epic fail. Arctic Zero is not meant to be the middle of an ice cream sandwich. I sort of just ate the graham crackers and licked the zero. It was a "meh" experience.
The next day I decided to try Arctic Zero the way it was meant to be enjoyed - pint in one hand, spoon in the other. I did defrost it a bit in the microwave to make it more scoopable. First bite, OK. Second bite, ick - whey. Third bite, I guess I can keep eating it. I ate about half - or 75 calories worth - before offering Mark a taste.
He sat there for a moment. Then wrinkled his nose. Then he stuck out his tongue as if to spit out the taste.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"It tastes like (insert very crude statement about bodily functions)," he replied.
Final verdict: OK but not worth the price. If you need a frozen treat lower in calories, pick up a box of sugar free fudge pops. If you feel the need to eat an entire pint of ice cream, it's possible that you might have portion-control issues that need more than just Arctic Zero. (Note: Previous comment made with all sincerity.)
I see that you tried the Mint Chocolate flavor first. As an avid Arctic Zero fan myself. I suggest that you skip the chocolate flavors all togethers and try the Vanilla Maple or Cookies & Cream. I even posted on my blog 13 Going on Crazy an "ice cream" sandwich recipe and a cookie crumble pie which I served to friends & they had no idea that they were eating a low calorie dessert!
ReplyDeleteyeah unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a real ice cream substitute that tastes as good as the real thing. Sigh, maybe one day
ReplyDeleteWe have been making homemade fruit sorbet. Super easy, delicious, refreshing and you get to control the ingredients (100% fruit!). Take about 1-1.5 lb of fresh or thawed frozen fruit (peaches, berries, mangoes, probably other stuff too) and puree in blender or food processor. If you want to, add a little simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water), agave or honey -- probably no more than 1/2 c sugar per pound. Add a splash of orange, lemon or lime juice if you like (we usually don't). Pour into an ice-cream maker, churn till it's starting to freeze, then pack and freeze till it's hard but still scoopable. YUM. Sounds WAY better than that stuff :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd all this time I thought this Arctic thing everyone was talking about was to cool tired muscles.
ReplyDeleteIf you make it into a milkshake it's not bad.
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