Both of these are caramel-coated popcorn with peanuts. Cracker Jack was introduced in 1893 and Crunch ‘n Munch came out in the 1960’s. My only experience with either of these was Cracker Jack at a friend’s house once when I was a kid, but that was it. I don’t know why I never really got into the candy-coated popcorn thing, but this blog has got me to try things I don’t usually eat and I was looking forward to finding out why this concept has survived from the Victorian era. Ethan helped me out with this evaluation.
Cracker Jack:
The popcorn was covered with a coating of medium/dark brown caramel that was kind of like shellac, but in a good way that provided a hard shell that crunched nicely against the fluffyness of the popcorn. There was an enjoyable contrast between the caramel and peanuts and it had an overall toasty quality. I thought it was lot better than expected, we both gave this the thumbs up.
Crunch ‘n Munch:
The first thing we noticed was the color, this was much lighter and a shade of yellow. Also, the caramel was considerably thicker. The taste was much different with it’s strong buttery flavor. Another difference is that was popcorn was fluffier and the peanuts were “glued” onto the popcorn pieces with the coating. Ethan liked this and I did at first but found the flavor so strong that it was a little overwhelming after a few handfuls.
Wrap up:
We both liked each of these, but I continued eating the Cracker Jack and Ethan finished the Crunch ‘n Munch. In a related note I’d like to point out those who haven’t had Cracker Jack in a while, that the prizes are lame and just a peice paper. My “prize” was a team fact about the Chicago White Sox. 
I know, what would a 34 year old do with a paper owl whistle or an olympic action card, but at least it’s something more than a “fact” you can just google on a Major League baseball team. I might actually be persuaded to buy another box if there was some sort of trinket or collectable in there, but not a piece of paper – maybe if they upgrade the text to the meaning of life or winning lottery numbers I’d reconsider. But never mind me, what about the children!?!
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These were original flavor although the color was kind of red in color. The smell was really weird to me, something very familiar, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. Ethan described it as smelling like deviled ham, but that wouldn’t be familiar to me so I don’t know how I would describe it.
Mr.Z’s product was considerably darker I wonder if it is because this is grass-fed beef. The pieces were smaller, which were easier to pop in my mouth just the way they were without any caveman pulling and tearing. There were smokier than Jack Links and a little peppery. Ethan thought the smoke was too much and the texture was too dry. I felt the opposite, I thought Z’s was much more enjoyable and not plasticy like Jack’s. The flavor was better even with amount of pepper in them, and I hate pepper.
I’ll just cut to the chase and tell you these were disgusting. How could such a great combination of ingredients go wrong? We felt these were bland and had too much wafer, which had a burnt popcorn taste. Ethan said he got “glob” of peanut butter in one bite, which one might think would be a good thing but even the PB was so bland, the glob wasn’t a treat. Also I think the coating was some sort of “mockolate” that had no chocolate flavor. We only took a bite or two and threw the rest away. 
Although it looks lighter, the chocolate flavor is much more present in this bar. The peanut butter actually smells and tastes like peanut butter and the wafers are sweet, not burnt-tasting. There is a perfect chocolate/wafer/PB balance and light delicate crispiness when bitten into.
An attractive blend of Chex cereal, mini-melba toasts, square grid and round pretzels and little “bread sticks”. We noticed that there seemed to be a hierarchy of these ingredients. The best part is the Chex squares which had a great toasty flavor and a satisfying crunch. Next best were the pretzels, then the bread sticks and last were the melba toasts which we found to be a little too hard. Overall, it had a nice flavor and a good balance of ingredients.
I had high hopes for Cheez-it Snack Mix because Cheez-its are one of my all time favorite foods, but I was really surprised by this. The “seasoning” (flavor powder) was really strong and tart, like maybe the powder used on sour cream and onion chips which totally overpowered and compromised the flavor of the Cheez-it. Ethan said it tasted like they poured vinegar all over it. The mock Chex squares had a flat, dull crunch and were lacking the toasty taste real chex had. The one thing we did like were the mini-melba toast which were light and crisp but that wasn’t enough to reverse the overall disappointment of this product.