Breyers FAT FREE Strawberry Ice Cream Review

2012 Update: Breyer's has ditched the "Smooth & Dreamy" nomeclature. Now there is just a mark that says "Deliciously Rich & Creamy". 

That's right, I purposely bought FAT FREE ice cream. I must be losing my mind! hehehehe. After two and a half years of blogging, I can't tell you how hard it is to just buy something. I think I may have lost the ability to buy something twice. It's a little scary actually, in a freeing your mind kind of way. I basically oppose fat free junk at every turn BUT this is strawberry, and if any flavor can pull this off, it's gonna be strawberry.

Oh, before we start, I will mention that no where on the container does it say "all natural" like pretty much every other Breyers creation. This disappoints me because this is Breyers, I trust them to keep it real, and I already see propylene glycol monesters, but I'm going to give this a shot anyway.

So here is the happy green container. It sure looks like ice cream, and ofcourse they taunt us with chunks of strawberries, but I am afraid. Do you ever wonder when companies went from strawberry ice cream to strawberry FLAVORED ice cream? ok, maybe it's just me.

Breyer's Smooth & Dreamy Vanilla Caramel Chip Bars

Update: These were discontinued first, and then the Strawberry. The only ones left are the Chocolate Ones (my review here).

Three crazy days at work means not a whole lot of energy to review. Actually, I've been polishing off the Oreo Klondikes instead, but now they are gone, so what ever shall I do? Shall I suffer? NAH.

I already took some pictures of the New Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Vanilla Caramel Chip Bars from when we tried them two weekends ago, I just need a quick refresher (as in eat another one) and we'll be good to go. Now let's go eat some "extra creamy vanilla light ice cream with caramel morsels and swirls of caramel sauce half-dipped in a rich milk chocolatey coating"

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Triple Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bars

2013 Update: These are now dead dead.

I'm not sure why, but my chocolate bender continues. It's seems that almost every day I crave chocolate and I'd say atleast 5 out of 7 days a week I have a giant glass of ice cold chocolate milk.

Well, we got home from a very full day, and I desperately needed my chocolate fix... hmmm, the ice cream selection in the house is kinda weird right now, so I'm not sure what to pick... then it hits me!

Breyer's New Smooth & Dreamy Triple Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bars. My unofficial description: It's chocolate chocolate chip light ice cream partially coated in a chocolate shell. Their official description: It's chocolate light ice cream with a fudge swirl, dark chocolate chips and a milk chocolatey coating. Boy, that sure sounds good enough, but will it be double churn appeasement, or will it be low fat disappointment.

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Chocolate Caramel Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich

2012 Update: Well, I said the cookie dough ones were better, and sure enough, these ones got cut from the line up. The the triple chocolate chip bars didn't make it to the 2013 season.

Ever since I tried the new Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich, I've been dieing to try the other two flavors.

So here is flavor #2: Chocolate Caramel Brownie: Chocolate Light Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl and Fudge Brownie Pieces between Brownie Cookies. That makes for 3.5 fluid ounces of potential yumminess.

Breyers 1/2 the fat Dark Chocolate Velvet Formerly Smooth & Dreamy Light Ice Cream

[Born 2010, Retired end of 2012] Have I mentioned how crazy busy things have been around here lately? I really gotta stop buying things that say "NEW!" on them. I want to be on the front lines of the latest and greatest freezer trends but man, there is just so much stuff out there right now. Case in point is one of the two new Smooth & Dreamy flavors from Breyers.

I was pretty excited when I first saw this a few weeks ago, but I was good and waited until it was on sale. Well, sale week finally came so what we have here is the new Dark Chocolate Velvet Smooth & Dreamy ( extra creamy ) dark chocolate light ice cream. No chunks, no bits, no nothing, just ice cream.

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Rocky Road Ice Cream

2012 Update: This may have happened last year, but Smooth & Dreamy Rocky Road is no more. I can't say I am sorry to see it go, but on the other hand, I would have rather seen them fix it.

Ever since I first met smooth & dreamy, there's always been one flavor that's evaded my grasp. I've mentioned that I shop at around 12 different places for this blog, but for some weird reason, none of them had ever ordered Rocky Road....

Success! After 13 long months of searching, I finally found Breyer's Smooth & Dreamy All Natural Extra Creamy Rocky Road Light Ice Cream which is Chocolate light ice cream with marshmallow swirl and chocolatey covered almonds. Hehhehehe, did I get all the descriptions in there? It was just dumb luck that I found this little guy hiding in a Super Stop & Shop at lunchtime. I was tempted to leave it there (I try not to buy cold & frozen things during my lunch break), but I just couldn't resist. This is the most elusive smooth & dreamy flavor there is. It would just be wrong to let it go.

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Ice Cream Sandwiches

[New for 2010, now retired] During my excited rant about all the new Spring products I saw at Shaws the other day, I mentioned that I brought one of the new ice cream sandwiches out of the store with me. Well, here is my fun new friend.

 

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches

Breyers 1/2 the fat Vanilla Chocolate Strawberry Formerly Smooth & Dreamy Light Ice Cream

  [Circa 2009] Wow, I finally cracked open my container of Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Vanilla Chocolate and Strawberry. Unfortunately I think I waited to long because the texture is a bit off: the chocolate is reminiscent of a popsicle texture, the vanilla is part way there, and the strawberry seems least affected by the freezer burner or whatever unfortunate things happened to this particular container.

I'll have to pick up a fresher container, but as it stands, this definitely has my approval. The vanilla is fine, and the strawberry is nice. the chocolate texture through me off, so I'm not positive about the flavor. Overall, you have to love this new line that Breyers has come out with: all natural and low fat, well, and tasty. What's the point of low cal if it's chewy.

2009 Nutrition: 66g: 110cal / 30fcal-2 / 0f / 3p

2012 Update: "Smooth & Dreamy" moniker is gone, but the light ice cream lives on. Notice it's "now even creamier & smoother" which can be translated to "not all natural". The new recipe has also led to the loss of a gram of protein.

2012 Nutrition: 62g: 110cal / 25fcal-2 / 0f / 2p

2013 Update: Retired

Breyer's 1/2 the fat Chocolate Chocolate Chip Formerly Smooth & Dreamy Light Ice Cream

[Circa 2009] After my first run in with Smooth & Dreamy, I had high hopes when I picked up this flavor, and you know what? I'm so glad I did! I like it, I really like it. I guess it just hits that special chocolate and chippy part of my brain and tells me to eat the whole container (not that I did, I was good)

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Light Ice Cream

Now the problem is that I can't really describe the base chocolate ice cream itself. It seems to be a good flavor and texture, but the chocolate chips are so plentiful that they run the whole show here. It's not a bad thing, just be prepared for it. If you just want ice cream (and I will try the plain chocolate at some point), go with the straight chocolate. If you want to crunch chips 'til your heart's content, then go with the Chocolate Chocolate Chip.

I would like to make one comment, just a minor point to keep in mind if you are watching calories. The point of smooth and dreamy is all about 1/2 the fat and less calories, and while most of the S&D varieties clock in at 2 grams of saturated fat, this one has four because of the chips. Nothing major, but just keep it in mind.

Ok, and now for some TV...something to distract me from having another bowl of this stuff right now. Have I mentioned I really like this ice cream? MMMMMMM....really need to think about something else now.

2009 Nutrition: 140 / 50-4 / 1 / 3

2012 Update: This flavor does still exist, but the "Smooth & Dreamy" moniker is dead. It's no longer all natural but should be "even creamier & smoother". This results in slightly different nutrition stats.

2012 Nutrition: 130 / 40-3.5 / 1 / 3

2013 Update: Retired!

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Strawberry Cheesecake

2012 Update: This may have happened last year, but Strawberry Cheesecake has been dropped from the Smooth & Dreamy line. Apparently Breyers doesn't do cake or pie flavors anymore.

!New Product Line Alert!

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Strawberry Cheesecake Light Ice Cream

cheesecake flavored light ice cream with a strawberry flavored swirl

I'm guessing you may have seen the new blue Breyer's containers by now, but if not, it's time to take a look. The big problem we've been having with the light ice creams is that we always seem to lose the ability to keep it all natural. Well, no longer! Breyers comes to the rescue! Now the website says there are 11 smooth & dreamy flavors, but to be honest, up til now I've only scene the vanilla and maybe one other flavor (oh man, they make a rocky road flavor too!!).

I don't mean to be sappy, or biased, or anything like that, but I'm really proud that a mainstream company like Breyers has taken the game up another notch. I'm growing tired of Edy's (Dreyer's) getting lazier. We've had to accept a shrinking package size, but I refuse to accept shrinking quality standards.

Ok, let's get to the ice cream already! Now, the ice cream is very soft and wasted no time before starting to melt. Granted, there's no fun chemicals to hold it together, so this trade is totally acceptable, especially since I have no urge for those chemicals messing with the taste of my ice cream. It also looks really tastey, and the aroma is mild but pleasing (ok, technically I got a "little" too close when sniffing the ice cream...).

So, how does it taste? Well, it varies. I'm no cheesecake lover, so I appreciate the bites that are mildly cheesy and pleasantly strawberry-ish. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, some bites are really cheesy. I don't know what it is, but every time I hit one of those bites I was dieing for a bit of crust to mellow it out. Note: there are no crust bits. This is cheesecake flavored ice cream with a strawberry swirl.

call it truth in advertising, but it really is smooth and"dreamy". It's very soft and goes down real easy. I guess this would be opposed to smooth and creamy, as you might describe B&J or H-D. Granted, you'll probably eat it quicker, but you also don't feel weighed down when you're done. Plus it doesn't have the plastic/rubbery texture you might find in other light ice creams.

Conclusion? I'm just not enough of a cheesecake lover to go back to this, but the quality of this product has me dieing to try some of the more appealing flavors. If Breyers keeps it up, this will become the defacto ice cream in the fridge for the nights I want something a bit lighter.

Product Update: For all you cheesecake lovers, I'm sorry to announce that the Sara Lee Strawberry Cheesecake light ice cream from Breyers has been discontinued. At least we have S&D, but S&D doesn't have a graham cracker swirl.

Nutrition: 71g: 120 / 30-2 / 0 / 3