walmart log (not actually a log)

Since I'm stuck at home ordering curbside delivery from Walmart for the foreseeable future, I decided to start a thing where I order at least one new item every time and post mini-reviews. This place has so much more variety than the local grocery, I want to take advantage of it, but it's harder with online ordering where you can't browse the shelves.

I hope the local grocery doesn't go out of business due to not being able to offer delivery. It's the only grocery store in reasonable walking distance. But there's nothing to be done about it now.

Anyway, watch this space for updates. Y/N indicates whether I'd buy the item again.

(Also a shoutout to the best Walmart item that I got completely by accident. I ordered curry paste, but they were out, so they substituted Blue Elephant Thai curry sauce, and it is amazing. 60% coconut milk son, that's how you do it)

1. sweet potato & cauliflower tots (6/18) [Y]: these are SO GOOD
2. P.F. Chang's Mongolian BBQ sauce (6/18) [Y]: A bit too much wine taste for a dipping sauce, but it makes a nice marinade.
3. potato gnocchi (6/18) [N]: ugggh these things are a cross between bland and drywall. They're palatable if you douse them liberally in sauce, but why bother when you could put sauce on good food instead?
4. parmesan garlic wing sauce (7/15) [N]: Basically a creamy salad dressing; it's very tangy/vinegary. Not quite my thing. As a pasta sauce (which is what I bought it for), it's okay. My roommate likes it as a dipping sauce, but it's way more caloric than his usual dipping sauces. Overall, not a bad buy, but probably not worth repeating.
5. basil pesto (7/15) [N]: it has cashews OOPS. (I'm allergic) I guess I'm giving my parents a bottle of pesto
6. "Naked Noodle" noodle cups (7/27)
7. Thai sweet chili [N]: Needs salt badly. With salt added, it's edible. But honestly, I could probably make a pack of instant noodles and add Thai sweet chili sauce and it'd taste way better.
8. Singapore curry [N]: I got this just because it has "Singapore" in the name lmao. Predictably, it also needs salt. Also it's just not that great (and there's nothing remotely Singaporean about it). The Thai coconut curry I made for dinner last night was 10x better.
9. Oreo ice cream cake (7/27) [Y]: Oreos! Ice cream cake! This was obviously gonna be great, and it is, in fact, great. Caveat: The Oreo cookie crust gets crumbs everywhere. Open the box carefully.
10. soup cups (8/19) [maybe]: This is kind of a throwback. I always used to see these in the grocery store, and I would think "these seem like a convenient work lunch, I should try them" and then I never did. Now I'm working from home for the foreseeable future. But I decided that's no reason not to try new things, so here I am. They are very convenient, but a little superfluous at home, when I can just heat up a can of soup on the stovetop; and if I'm at the office I would generally rather take a walk down to the soup & sandwich store. But I can see these soup cups being convenient in the dead of winter when I don't want to venture outside. Or if I need to go into the office while covid is still around.
11. P.F. Chang's Kung Pao sauce (9/8) [Y]: Quality marinade. Also a good dipping sauce for fries. Twilight always swore by P.F. Chang's, and I never paid him much mind, but maybe he was onto something. Wonder how that guy's doing now.
12. mango mochi ice cream (9/8) [Y]: It's mango, it's mochi, it's ice cream; of course it's great. Between this and the King Mochi box Dad got for me, I have so much mochi.
13. Nissin Raoh tonkotsu (9/8) [Y]: Japanese ramen! I thought my roommate might be interested in this too, but he was like "Soup?!" He does not eat ramen with soup. He drains it with a colander just like spaghetti and sprinkles the seasoning packet directly on top. Anyway, this tonkotsu is great; the soup is delicious. That means this shopping trip is three-for-three on great new foods.
14. Great Value Boom Boom Shrimp Sauce (9/20) [N]: I bought this just because it has a funny name. The bottle has a recipe for "Boom Boom Shrimp": Cook shrimp, add sauce. Thanks for that, Luster. Also the sauce is bad, it basically tastes like mayo.
15. Hokkien stir-fry noodles (10/5) [maybe]: Pre-cooked noodles. Technically ready to eat out of the bag, but they're completely characterless and not even vaguely Hokkien. But adding stuff does make for a quick cooked meal. I stir-fried them with garlic, mongolian BBQ sauce, and shrimp, and it was good.
16. Mexican street corn with cotija cheese (10/5) [Y]: Had no idea what to expect from this, but I liked it. Corn was nicely smoky/roasted, sauce was good, cheese was good too (a dry crumbly parmesan-y cheese). A quick skillet dish.
17. "naked" smoothies (10/25) [Y]: I've been craving smoothies, but these really aren't proper smoothies; they're so thin, with no texture/pulp/fruit. They're basically just fruit juice. But it's good juice and a convenient afternoon snack. So, overall thumbs up despite my disappointment.
18. breaded cheddar cheese curds (10/25) [Y]: these are great! they really are squeaky, wow
19. pork loaded poppers (10/25) [N]: These sounded more exciting than they actually are. They're basically just meatballs with trace amounts of egg, cheese, and peppers. Not bad, but not worth repeating.