7-Eleven Ice Cream - Birthday Cake and Brookie Dough

Oh my gosh, it's been **6 years** since I've reviewed a pint of 7/11 ice cream! See, the downside of working from home is that you lose a lot of daily diversity in your life. For example, I can't stop at 7/11 on the way to work anymore. However, I was returning from an early morning drive when I passed by one that doesn't usually have a very good selection, but they did have a 2 for $10 sale. They had pints of strawberry banana and banana cream pie (sorry, but no thank you), and they also had...

Seven Select Birthday Cake Ice Cream

Seven Select Brookie Dough Ice Cream

Lemon Blossom Ice Cream Sandwiches

[New for 2025] These bright yellow boxes hanging out on the end cap freezer definitely caught my attention.

Signature Select Lemon Blossom Ice Cream Sandwiches

vanilla flavored ice cream sandwiches with lemon flavored flower cookies

I saw these at Shaw's (owned by Albertsons) while picking up some other new stuff from the freezer aisle. 4 sandwiches for $4.99 on sale ($6.99 regularly). Seems like it's part of a big lemon flavored lineup from Albertsons. You can read their press release here. Wait a minute....

photo courtesy of Albertson Companies

Lemon White Chocolate Waffle Cone Bites? Ooooooo, that sounds fun! I think I need to find those.

I do love competition in the waffle cone bite space since it leads to lots of fun sounding flavors. "Just the fun part" and "Tiny Bites" both have a bunch of flavors on top of what Muddy Bites already has.

So, if you try either of these products, let us know!

Premium Market Basket Ice Cream

[New for 2024? earlier than that?] Market Basket brand ice cream is nothing new, but PREMIUM Market Basket ice cream? And it's not cross contaminated with anything? Ok, let's grab a quart of...

Market Basket Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

vanilla flavored ice cream with chocolate cream cookies

Deluxe Ice Cream

[New for 2024] I was looking for ice cream news back in March when I stumbled upon a Pennsylvania news article that was talking about how Giant (Stop & Shop) had a new ice cream out that they called a duplicate of Ben & Jerry's. The thing is though, the folks who own Giant/S&S also own Hannaford (Food Lion), and since 2021, Hannaford has had their own brand of ice cream that they tout as a cost effective alternate to B&J's.... Big surprise, both come from the same plant in Maine. Let's dig in to....

Deluxe Ice Cream - Brookie Dough

vanilla and chocolate ice cream blended together with cookie dough and brownie bits

Deluxe Ice Cream - Strawberry Cheesecake

cheesecake ice cream with strawberries and graham cracker ribbon

Favorite Day Frackas

[New for 2021] Ok, time to give Target's favorite day pints a real rundown, not that half hearted blueberry cheesecake testing I did a few weeks ago. I have moderate hopes that at least one of these pints will be a winner... well, at least decent!

Target's Favorite Day Gourmet Ice Cream

Favorite Day Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

[New for 2021] I know I'm a year late on finally picking these up, but I just don't hit Target very often, and if I do, it's usually not right before I head home. Well, I had to run out late Thursday for an emergency school supply run, and I figured if I'm out, why not finally give Target's latest inhouse brand/branding a shot. Let's start with...

Favorite Day Gourmet Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

cheesecake-flavored ice cream with blueberry pieces and graham cracker swirl

Hannaford Cinnamon Swirl Apple Pie Ice Cream

[New for 2021?] During a rogue trip to Hannaford, I spotted something that I hadn't seen before. Admittedly, I was a little hesitant to purchase it because I've been disappointed by apple flavors before, I but I decided to give in and buy....

Hannaford Cinnamon Swirl Apple Pie Ice Cream

apple pie ice cream with cinnamon swirl

"Compare to Ben & Jerry's"

So I ran in to Hannaford last week and as I'm scanning for new stuff, I see these eye catching Hannaford pints. I don't remember Hannaford (aka Food Lion) having pints before, but on the edge of the shelf underneath each one it says "Compare to Ben & Jerry's" and then goes on to point out that these are only $2.69 a pint.

Hannaford Ice Cream

Toasted S'mores - Caramel Cone - Brookie Dough

Seal removed, this is what we've got. The brookie dough is not inspiring any confidence in that flavor. Now I can't find a plant number on these pints, so I'm not sure where they came from. Now technically the people that own Hannaford also own Stop & Shop (GIANT), and they had a line of pint flavors too, but that was way back in 2014 and that was a different flavor line up. (you can see the review here)

How do they look? Strangely enough, I inadvertently ate these from best to worst.

Toasted S'mores: It's not a super strong flavor, but it's fun and unique and gets a bit of a kick from the dark chocolate chips. Sure, I personally can always go for more graham flavor, but I like this one. --- As I dig down, we'll see if I hit an actual graham swirl or if the graham bits continue to be spread out everywhere.

Caramel Cone: again, not a lot of flavor coming from the base caramel ice cream (let's be honest, it looks like vanilla ice cream). It's bare minimum flavor really, but there are a ton of chocolate coated waffle cone bits to start, and when is that not fun?

Brookie Dough: you would think this should be fun.... but it's not. In fact, it's down right weird. The chocolate and vanilla ice creams have completely blended together and the end result is not fun. The cookie dough bits are nothing to right home about and I haven't even found the brownie bits yet. This one is disappointing and I can pretty much guarantee that it will get finished last.

On Second Scoop: I already went back to the s'mores and had a hard time not finishing the pint. This is definitely a toasted flavor and not a graham centric flavor, but it works really well. Also, I forgot to mention that these aren't as dense as Ben & Jerry's pints ofcourse (240-ish vs 310-ish in terms of calorie count).... I bet s'mores would taste great in a waffle cone.

Today was time for caramel cone again and maybe they should have just called it waffle cone or chocolate covered cone because the caramel flavoring is barely there. This one could definitely have used a caramel swirl. Also, do those waffle cone pieces look familiar? (maybe like the ones from Target? see them here). This one isn't bad, but it could be better!

Verdict?  s'mores was fun
Buy Again?  the s'mores one

Wegman's Crème Brule Ice Cream

So the selection at Wegman's is respectable, but it's not amazing. It's not like I had a gazillion name brand newer options to choose from. So, I decided to pick up a few Wegman's options as well. I've been having trouble telling what I'm hungry for recently, so let's try...

Wegman's Crème Brule Ice Cream

caramel & custard ice creams with swirls of caramelized sugar

Great Value Hip Chip Ice Cream Sandwich

I don't know why, but I've been dying for chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches recently. So, while I continue to search for new stuff, like chow down on a box of...

Great Value Hip Chip Ice Cream Sandwich

vanilla ice cream with fudge ribbon between two chocolate chip cookies,
edged with mini chocolate flavored chips

Target Caramel Moose Tracks Brownie Ice Cream

Sometimes I worry that you might think that I hate all budget and mainstream ice cream nowadays due to all the food science, additives, and air overrun that can ruin the respectably of a modern ice cream. Thing is, I don't hate all of them, I really don't, I just get mad when they don't remember the secret. What is that secret? Well, you make up for a lighter texture by adding way more flavor. Case in point is this very fun container of....

Target Caramel Moose Tracks Brownie Ice Cream

caramel flavored ice cream with chewy brownie bits,
Denali caramel and famous moose tracks fudge

7-Eleven Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

[New for fall 2018] At this point, I'm guessing that you've seen at least a few fall pumpkin products popping up during your shopping trips. As part of this trend, the latest flavor from 7-11 popped up on Instagram about two weeks ago and guess what, it's pumpkin flavored!

7-Eleven Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Pumpkin ice cream with cinnamon graham ribbon & pie crust pieces

Target's Market Pantry Ice Cream

Breaktime at work is usually my excuse to eat the heavier, fancier ice creams while night time is for more moderate ice creams. That said, I've actually been snacking on Market Pantry ice creams at work recently. Last week was cookie dough and this week is caramel waffle cone. Wait, did I mention that you can pick them up in pint sizes now?

Target's $2 Market Pantry Ice Cream Pints
- I found 7 of their 14 available flavors -

Spotted: Spiked Bananas Foster Ice Cream

[Spotted in January 2018] There will always be things that catch my attention without necessarily earning my hard earned dollars. Case in point is the latest limited edition flavor from an Ahold owned grocery store (Giant, Stop&Shop, Hannaford, Food Lion, etc).

Spiked Bananas Foster Inspired Ice Cream

banana ice cream with banana foster swirl

Price Chopper Double Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

Time for a super quick review of something that's been hanging out in the freezer for the last couple of weeks. I tend to buy the same things when my daughter asks for something fruity or chocolatey but on occasion I will make a random purchase like the one below. "Central Market Classics" is no longer the name of the inhouse brand for Price Chopper. A lot of the current stuff is frozen dairy dessert, but there are some actual ice creams mixed in like...

Price Chopper Double Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

chocolate ice cream with brownie pieces & fudge swirl

Packaging / Branding Alert

Have you ever seen a Giant / Stop&Shop in house flavor and wished you could find it, only to remember that you only live near a Food Lion / Hannaford? Well, fret no more! In the summer of 2016, the owners of all those grocery store chains came together in a big merger and the effects of that are finally popping up in my local Hannaford (Food Lion).

So here's an example from Giant (Stop & Shop)

And here's one from Hannaford (Food Lion).

Notice that it looks like a 2017 Giant flavor but no longer has the 3 leaf logo on it. That now generic look means it can now be plopped down on any freezer shelf. So far I've only reviewed the newer Salted Caramel Toffee flavor and the older Toasted Marshmallow flavor, but with distribution reaching so many people now, I will try to pick up more of their flavors going forward.

Side note: The current limited flavor is often also offered as an ice cream sandwich!

Giant (S&S) Salted Caramel Toffee Ice Cream

[Limited for Summer 2017] If you are a regular shopper at Stop & Shop (aka GIANT), then you've probably noticed they have quite a bit of fun with seasonal flavors. When I say fun, I mean they will mix the current flavor with popcorn and cookie dough and soap water and whatever else floats their boat. It's kind of funny to see a display of a dozen different items all with the same coloring and flavoring. This month is salted caramel which means it's time for....

Stop & Shop (Giant) Salted Caramel Toffee Ice Cream

salted caramel ice cream with a rich salted caramel swirl,
chocolate flavored flakes and toffee pieces

What do you think of Kroger ice cream?

While some mid Atlantic grocery stores are just continuations of my local stores, like their Food Lion is my Hannaford, there are two stores I wanted to check out in particular: Kroger and Harris Teeter. Nick has reviewed several pints from Kroger during his travels southwards, but this was the first time I got to walk their aisles. Here are some of the more interesting things that I found. It's a wide ranging selection as they have options in premium, regular, light, FDD and even gelato.

Kroger Deluxe Ice Cream

Giant Peanut Butter Chocolate Gelato

[New for 2017] I did a post a little while ago about a new Culinary Tours gelato that looked like an in house brand but I forgot to search the pint for who made it. A week later I spied similar flavors popping up at Stop & Shop (Giant) and I now know who makes them. The funny thing is that it's not really a secret because the bottom of plastic pint container is branded with "GS GELATO". Yup, looks like our old pals are keeping themselves busy (Nick really enjoyed several samples from them way back in 2013).

Giant Peanut Butter Chocolate Gelato

peanut butter gelato with a creamy peanut butter swirl
and chocolate peanut butter cups

Walgreen's Cookie Butter Ice Cream

[New for...  late 2016?] I ran in to Walgreen's looking for Nosh Show fodder. Disappointed not to find anything, I took the long way out of the store, past the ice cream, when I saw...

Walgreen's Cookie Butter Ice Cream

vanilla ice cream with cookie butter bits
and graham cracker crumbs with a cookie butter swirl