With temperatures in the 90s, I’ve sought solace in my favorite refuge: ice cream. And the grocery store has been supportive of my efforts by putting ice cream on sale just about every week.
As a child, my favorite ice cream was Rocky Road. It was delivered to the house in a big tin that was at least a gallon. I don’t recall eating any other flavor but it’s possible I just don’t recall.
Of course, like so many other things, ice cream has come a long way in 40 years. All sorts of new flavors.
My current favorite is Coconut Road, a specialty flavor of my grocery’s (Publix) own brand. This ice cream reminds me of the Mounds candy bar, which along with Almond Joy is my favorite candy bar. (If it has chocolate and coconut, I’m in…!) Ingredients: coconut ice cream, chocolate coated praline, coconut, swirls of chocolate almond fudge and dulce de leche caramel.
When I want a little variety in my ice cream life, there’s three other favorites I’ll select. And they’re all Publix brand flavors too.
One is “Bear Claw” – a decadent delight of dark chocolate ice cream, chocolate covered cashews, and Denali caramel. Since dark chocolate and cashews are high on my favorites list, this ice cream is a natural for me. I’ve got a half gallon in the freezer right now!
Another favorite is Chocolate Trinity. This is dark chocolate ice cream (seeing a pattern here?) with Mackinac fudge swirls and chocolate chunks. At 200 calories per half cup (and who eats just half a cup at one sitting?), this qualifies for the warning of “a moment on the lips, forever on the hips.”
When discretion asserts itself and I look for a non-chocolate ice cream, I choose New Orleans Praline. This features buttery and rich brown sugar ice cream with thick ribbons of caramel and crunchy praline pieces.
One thing I like is that Publix regularly brings out new flavors, sometimes in a “limited edition.” This week, I saw a new flavor obviously timed to coincide with the annual Girl Scout cookie sales: Girl Scouts Samoas, my favorite Girl Scout cookie. So of course I bought this coconut-caramel ice cream with Samoas pieces, coconut and fudge swirl.
Publix has succeeded very well in keeping me with their brand of ice cream. I can’t recall the last time I bought what used to be my favorite brand: Breyer’s. Before they discontinued it, I regularly bought their Cherry Chocolate Chip – cherry ice cream with chocolate chips. (Every now and then, I do pick up some Mint Chocolate Chip for nostalgia’s sake.)
By now, you are probably screaming for ice cream. Indulge…!
The Sunday Blog at Spencer Court 
We’ve had this conversation before…I won’t eat anything but Haagen Dazs (I have to look in the refrigerator every time I want to spell this). Recently I saw the results of a vanilla ice cream taste test. Number one was Ben & Jerry’s, Trader Joe’s brand was second, and Haagen Dazs was third. I’m going to check out Ben & Jerry’s, but if it has guar gum in it, I’m not eating it.
Haagen Dazs, huh? You elitist…! LOL
As for taste tests…vanilla should not be the measure. It is such a…plain…. flavor.
My experience with Ice Cream is that different brands have varying levels of good to average tasting flavors. i.e. Bule Bell has fantastic Vanilla, Baskin and Robbins the best Rocky Road, and Pet the best Butter Pecan. Unfortunately there are many highly rated labels that are not available in Tampa or Tallahassee markets so my expertise is limited to what I can get. I am not a big fan of Publix Ice Cream or any other Publix brand product. Even their shelled peanuts suck. But I still favor their approach and give them at least 50% of my grocery business.
BUT BUT BUT homemade Ice Cream is often better than any “storebought” I don’t make it anymore as there are only 2 eaters and it leads to overindulgence.
I had an ice cream maker but I’m not sure what happened to it. And for those exotic flavors, it’s easier to buy on sale.
Who gets the other 50% of your grocery business? Not much competiton in Tally. Winn Dixie is the only other “normal” store. There are two the “upper end” stores, one of which is Whole Foods. Trader Joe’s is coming…
Who gets the other 50% of your grocery business?
Target gets the lion’s share. I save a lot of money on paper products, household goods, and health/beauty products there. Also visit walmart for certain specific products like perdue chicken breasts and peanut oil. And sweetbay for things that Publix doesn’t carry (blue collar stuff). And also roadside veggie stands whenever possible, produce is always cheaper and often fresher. I order some fringe items over the net such as whipped butter, tea and coffee.