When I woke up this morning, during my normal Sportscenter marathons, I pulled up the weather report on my iPhone.  DC’s forecast: only a high of 98, “feels like 106.”  After two days of over 110, this is a reprieve. I’ve lost ten pounds of water weight enduring the past two days of sauna-like conditions.  Can someone pass a towel please?

There’s a yard sale going on near my apartment building today, which is insane because its sweltering out. I enjoy yard sales, even though all you’re really doing is buying other people’s garbage.  Half eaten jar of mustard?  50 cents!  That’s a good deal, right?

The safest bet at yard sales is to avoid things which could come tainted.  Coffee machine that costs $5? It probably spits out gasoline.  Kiddie toys with weird stains on them?  I can contract Hep-C somewhere else, thanks.  Set of rusty knives? I don’t need to be an accomplice to your murder, sir.

At the last yard sale I went to, I stuck to basics – a set of ten wooden hangers for a dollar, and a few picture frames at a dime a piece.  Safe purchases.  Then I happened upon a BIG ziplock bag STUFFED with semi-individually wrapped plastic silverware, all different sorts and colors, selling in its entirety for 50 cents.  And I have to be honest, it gave me pause.

More on the plastic silverware after the jump.  Today’s snack is a good one: Chex Mix Muddy Buddies!

The Money Shot

Let’s review my previous Chex Mix observations.  1) Only the Chex are worth eating in packaged Chex Mix.  2) Pretzels are a waste as they don’t retain ANY seasoning (or flavor).  3) Any other add-ins like peanuts, crackers, etc. often just detract from the tasty tasty Chex.

So when I saw Muddy Buddies, I knew I was in.  ONLY CHEX!  YES!  This was also my first exploration into sweet-themed Chex, normally preferring the savory version.

Best. Description. Ever.

Muddy Buddies had some of my favorite things right away – peanut butter, chocolate, powdered sugar, and Chex.  Right away, I knew this was going to be good.  I knew there could be no way this wasn’t delicious. The only question was just HOW delicious were these sugary pieces?  If the pictures were accurate, then there would be plenty of flavor to go around.

Wait, families make this?

Wait, this is a family-favorite recipe?  Since when? My family didn’t make Muddy Buddies anytime; then again, my family growing up wasn’t a dessert-centric family.

I do like that General Mills chose to roll with Corn Chex – good crunch and consistency over Wheat or Rice Chex.

Powdered goodness

HOLY EFF.  They’re just as I hoped!  Tons of individual sugar coated pieces!  A snowhill of sugar, a wintery mound of powdered confection, and some other poor descriptions.  Most importantly, you could tell that the Chex weren’t just lightly dusted – they had been blasted with powdered sugar.  Which is the only way to deploy powdered sugar.  Yum.

Crunchy pillows of sugar

I shook a few pieces out, and delightfully, none of the sugar came tumbling off the individual pieces.  No, each piece held the sugar like a vice, keeping every tasty sweet bit intact.

Perfect coating

As I popped the first few pieces into my mouth, it was an explosion of perfectly balanced sweet flavor. The Chex Mix was not TOO sweet, but rather gave an excellent blend of chocolate and peanut butter flavor immediately.  Light and airy, crunching an entire mouthful of this treat didn’t feel overwhelming, sticky, or heavy.

The Chex, having an almost wafer-like crunch to them, combined with the flavor reminded me of Little Debbie Nutty Bars, which I loved growing up. Kudos, General Mills, for giving me great taste and helping me recall a childhood memory.

The Cross Section

Each piece appeared coated in chocolate peanut butter, baked, and dusted heavily with sugar.  Honestly, it’s a wonder I didn’t eat the entire bag.  I truthfully could NOT STOP eating these pieces; I actually had to push the bag away and say aloud, “Stop.  STOP STOP… good lord.”  I almost lost control.  Be warned, this snack is so good, it borders on being highly addictive.

General Mills may have positioned itself to take over the world with this junk food.  Too good, GM.  You’re scaring me.

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I use plastic silverware all the time in my office for lunch.  And if you’re lucky, you can find boxes of plastic forks/spoons on sale at the store for one to two bucks.  But this was a whole BAG of random plastic silverware for 50 cents!  A few thoughts went through my head:

a) How and why did this family amass close to 200 pieces of plastic silverware without use?  Did they hit a bunch of chinese restaurants, and never throw this crap away?  And why did they never throw it away?

b) Some pieces were individually wrapped, some weren’t, some where random colors, some were off-white. Had the off-white pieces once been white?

c) Some were wrapped in those packs that include a napkin and a packet of salt and pepper.  Was that a bonus?

d) And finally (and definitely most importantly), was I so cheap that I was willing to use someone else’s random disposable flatware in order to save a dollar over the course of the next year?

Yeah, I walked away.

We’ll see if there are similar gems in today’s sale.  Follow me on Twitter @junkfoodguy to see what I find! Have a great Saturday!

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy