The Best Things We Ate This Week (September 18-22)

Every week, the Sporked team sidles up to the tasting table and sets out to find the absolute best of the best packaged foods, the gold hidden in the grocery aisles. Each week we’ll bring you five standouts that truly rocked our taste buds and changed our lives—or at least our buying habits. Here are the best things we ate this week.

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Left Hand Pumpkin Spice Latte: This canned pumpkin spice latte beer is delicious. It’s so creamy and there’s actual coffee in it. Because of that, it doesn’t really taste like beer. Sorry, beer lovers! It does, however, taste like a boozy pumpkin spice latte. You’re welcome, pumpkin spice lovers!
Kroger Tater Rounds: Kroger Shredded Potato Tater Rounds are like beautiful hash brown medallions. They get so crispy in the oven (I’ll admit we cooked them longer than the bag suggested) and taste incredible. They remind me of Burger King hash browns fresh out of the fryer. These are great on their own or dunked in a little ketchup, but I also want to layer these into a breakfast sandwich to add some substance and crunch.
Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese: Trader Joe’s makes mean frozen mac and cheese, and the butternut squash version is no exception. In fact, it’s my favorite version of their frozen mac and cheese. I wait all year for it to show up in the freezer section. I tried it this week for the first time in 2023 and, as always, it holds up. The sauce is rich and savory. The pasta is al dente. It tastes like something you’d get a restaurant.
Ace Guava Cider: We love guava and this Ace Guava Cider actually tastes like guava (which lots of guava-flavored products don’t). It is sweet and fruity and has a little bit of that guava funk. This is my ideal canned cocktail. I am absolutely positive you’ll love it.
Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup: The Panera Broccoli Cheddar soup you’ll find in a ready-to-microwave plastic tub in your grocery’s store’s deli section somehow manages to taste even better than the broccoli cheddar soup in an actual Panera restaurant. I don’t know how they do it! It’s so cheesy and creamy and there’s loads of broccoli and little carrot shreds. I could eat this soup every single day for lunch and be perfectly happy.