Going on the suggestion of my friend who was fed fake pop-tarts by her grandparents, I went out on a search for second rate Pop-Tarts. These were not easy to find. I usually look at grocery stores and mini-marts for second rate snacks and I really don’t feel like store brand is good to compare. I’m not sure why but I’d rather get a “real” fake brand of some sort instead. Although I have to say, I get a kick out of store brand cereals and will do some posts on those at some point.
I found these at Family Dollar, which is not like Dollar Tree where everything really is $1. I don’t know what kind of racket they’re running, but very little in their stores is actually $1.
Aaaanyway, we started with the Pop-tart:
As suggested, we put these in the toaster. I actually did look at the cooking instructions and like Brian Regan says, there are in fact microwave instructions to cook for 3 seconds. These were, of course, very sweet given the jam and frosting, and the pastry part tasted like a sugar cookie. Ethan said they taste like “winter”. We never had these growing up, probably because they weren’t kosher (see Hydrox/Oreo post) I wonder if these are more popular with kids in the winter than the summer? We agreed these were better to have toasted than “raw” out of the package.
Pop-up:
Ethan didn’t like the strawberry filling in this one and said it just doesn’t taste as good in general. The frosting was especially tasteless and dry.
I noticed the pastry got toastier than the pop-tart even though I put them in the toaster together.
Wrap up: I guess Pop-tart is the winner because Ethan thought so but to me they tasted identical. I tried to find differences between them but just couldn’t. Maybe because I’m not a huge strawberry person and they only had the pop-ups in strawberry so that’s what I got. I have had the pop-tarts in the S’mores variety and really liked those.
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Pop-tarts all the way. They’re still a guilty pleasure of mine. All generic ones seem to have an unpleasant density in the actual pastry, like they’re way too heavy and thick compared to the real thing.
I think those were actually the same ones my grandparents had.
Im sure they might have changed their recipe from 20 yrs ago, though who knows!
seems like it’s pretty common for grandparents to have generic pop tarts because I’m pretty sure these are the exact same ones that mine used to have 10-15 years ago as well
I always get Pop-Tarts because they come in boxes of 8. When my 2 kids make claim to the same kind, they each get two pouches.
What fun this blog is! Thanks for the Brian Regan reference–that’s classic. I’ve always preferred Pop-Tarts over any generic brand I’ve tried, but overall these days I find it hard to eat something so sickeningly sweet… though I still force myself every now and again for nostalgic purposes!
All I buy are generic Pop Tarts. I can’t remember the last time I bought a real one. Just so happens, I was at a friend’s house who had the “real thing” and he let me bring one home for my taste experiment. I used strawberry. I put them against “Toaster Tarts” from Save A Lot grocery stores. There was absolutely no difference. I cut one of each in half and gave them to my 16 year old nephew, he thought he was eating two halves of one whole Pop Tart. I couldn’t taste the difference either. My conclusion is, it’s all in your heads if you think there’s a big difference. I’d rather save $2 on a box than try to keep up with the Jones’ and fool myself into thinking there’s something better in a name.
I do sometimes get suckered into the store-brand, but am always sorry. Not only is the “pastry” far inferior, but the filling flavors always make you look back to the front of the box to verify what you thought you were eating.
Real Pop-tarts are fairly amazing in their awesomeness… however, there are now Whole Grain Pop-Tarts, which are just… no.
And I think what “Family Dollar” is trying to tell us is that you’d better bring an entire family of dollars if you expect to purchase something.
What about Pillsbury’s Toaster Pastries? Sold in the frozen section, they’re toasty-warm right out of the toaster, they have a pastry dough that’s flaky on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Filled with warm, gooey fruit-syrup filling of cherry, blueberry, cinnamon-apple, strawberry with cream cheese or liquid chocolate…on top of this all you squeeze a packet of sweet icing on top of each…ahhh….melts in your mouth – one of THE VERY BEST products on the market!!! Thank you Pillsbury for this delicious, Chef’s Award-worthy food! Keep up the great work, Pillsbury!!! ?
Toat ems all the way. They are moister & much better tastier.
Let’s just say that Pillsbury’s Toaster Strudel would kick butt if compared to Pop Tarts or Pop Ups. And besides,Pop Ups sound more like a play in baseball than a breakfest food.
I prefer Pop Tart to Pop Ups, but what you’re missing is that until a few years ago Quaker made a pop tart product that was much better than either you sampled.
Whenever my dad brings home the knock off Pop tarts, regardless of where they’re from, I always get really excited. For some reason, the filling (I usually only eat strawberry) in second rate Pop Tarts has a much better taste. Its not as sweet as it is in the Pop Tart, and it tastes more like real strawberry because of the tang. To me, the filling is what makes the pastry, not the icing.
Walmart brand of Frosted cinnamon beats Pop Tart by a long shot! Try it and you’ll see…
Pop up…why pay more for the same thing?
Toast’em pop ups are not generic . They actually came out in 1964 ,same year pop tarts came out. by Shulze and Burch biscuit co. Kellog is a more popular brand so that’s probably why ppl think these are generic but anyhow. I have a big sweet tooth and personally , I LOVE pop ups ! Cherry and strawberry are my faves. I love the extra fruit filling you get . Pop tarts seem too dry for my liking so I guess it really depends on if you prefer less filling ,dryer pastry or more filling but other than that they pretty much taste the same.