The Good: Inexpensive enough
The Bad: Not very flavorful, Not very good, Poor nutrition
The Basics: After much waiting, I finally try and am utterly disappointed by Better Made Cheese Waffles.
Not long ago, my mother finally came out to Michigan to visit my wife and I. It was an exciting time for all three of us and my mother did a lot of shopping with and for us. My mom picked up a number of snacks and treats for us and I have slowly been working my way through them as I both savor and review what she left us with. One of the things I was quite eager to try was the bag of Better Made Cheese Waffles my mother picked up for me when we were at an awesome bread outlet we went to.
We found the 4 oz. bag on sale for $1.00 a bag, down from the $1.99 stated price on the bag and my wife eagerly encouraged my mom to pick them up. After all, it seemed like the Better Made Cheese Waffles would be a great fit for me; I love cheese and I am a big fan of cheesy salty snacks. Unfortunately, though, now that I have finally opened the bag of Better Made Cheese Waffles and started consuming them, I have discovered they were not at all worth the wait.
Basics
Made here in Michigan, Better Made Cheese Waffles are a salty snack that combines waffle chips with a cheese filling to make little cheese sandwiches. Better Made Cheese Waffles are a flour-based snack and the biggest surprise to me after consuming them was that there is actual cheddar cheese in them. The waffle chips that frame the "sandwich" are simple and floury, as opposed to cheese-infused. The only cheese aspect to the Better Made Cheese Waffles is the orange cheese filling between the waffle chip layers.
The 4 oz. package contained the Cheese Waffles that were approximately 1 7/8” long by 1 3/4” wide and 3/8” thick. Each Cheese Waffle is rounded and had a waffle-like lattice on both sides, much like one would expect from a waffle. The two waffles are connected by the cheese filling layer.
Ease Of Preparation
Better Made Cheese Waffles is a salty snack, so basically, one opens bag and starts eating them; there is no trick to eating these Cheese Waffles.
Taste
Better Made Cheese Waffles smell mildly cheesy. Opening the bag, one is not greeted with the scent of authentic cheddar cheese, though, it is more the scent of an obviouslyt artificial cheese product. The scent that comes from the bag is virtually identical to the smell of spray cheese!
In the mouth, Better Made Cheese Waffles are dominated by the flavor of the waffles. The flavor is dry and wheaty, like a crackers. The Better Made Cheese Waffles are shockingly bland; the dominant flavor is wheat, with a hint of salt. The cheese flavor - which is about as generic as spray cheese from a can - only asserts itself as a salty, slightly sour flavor in the center of the waffles. The Better Made Cheese Waffles are dry and indistinct when they are not salty, bland, and lightly sour. The two flavors do not actually blend, either; the moment the cheese filling's flavor fades, it is sublimated to the indistinct wheaty flavor of the waffle.
The Cheese Waffles do dry out the mouth and leave a fairly dry aftertaste in the mouth.
Nutrition
Better Made Cheese Waffles are a poor choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one ounce and there are four servings per bag. In the recommended serving, there are 140 calories, 60 of which are from fat. This snack has 28% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and 11% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, there are two grams of protein, but there are also 16 grams of carbs. The only other nutrients in the Better Made Cheese Waffles are Calcium and Iron (4% RDA of each).
This salty snack is not Gluten-free, nor are Better Made Cheese Waffles marked as Kosher. The Better Made Cheese Waffles are made primarily of degermed enriched flour, coconut oil, and whey. There is an appropriate allergy warning for wheat and milk on the bag.
Storage/Cleanup
Better Made Cheese Waffles have a decent shelf life; the ones my mom left us two months ago (and I finally opened as part of my binge watching experience just tonight!) had an expiration date of April 13, 2017. I imagine they would have easily stayed fresh at least until then.
Cheese Waffles are a salty snack and these are not particularly greasy. As a result, cleanup is limited to having to wipe up any crumbs one generates when they bites these treats apart.
Overall
Better Made Cheese Waffles are pretty awful - and I was excited about trying them! - and I feel terrible writing that after reading the bag and reading what an apparently decent company Better Made is. A union company that has been around for over eighty-five years, Better Made seems like a cool company. But my first experience with one of their products was just unpleasant!
For other salty snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Andy Capp's Cheddar Fries
Wise Butter Flavored Air Popped Popcorn
Blue Diamond Smokehouse flavor Almonds
1/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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