Thank you to those who recommended the Detour Bars at Costco, they taste really good! Less than $1 a bar too so you can't go wrong!

Hey all... I'm going to copy and paste from my blog (that I never update lol) with my reviews for what I've tried so far.


My IP Alternative Product Reviews

Note: As of September, I have ordered from Lindora, Netrition, Nashua Nutrition, and Pure Protein (supplements).

Walden Farms
These are not technically alternative products but I did try them, so...

I ordered these products from netrition.com (best shipping price around, flat $4.95). I really really wanted to like them… but overall… OY.

Balsamic Vinaigrette: 1/10. Disgusting. Right in the trash.

Thousand Island: 5/10. Disgusting alone, but delicious in Big Mac in a Bowl. Apparently the chemical taste is hidden by the fatty meat- imagine that.

Blue Cheese Dip: 1/10. Tried dunking celery sticks in it and it might as well have been hair gel. Also straight in the garbage.

Caramel syrup: 8/10: actually, this was pretty much the bomb. Obviously not the same thing as real caramel and kind of watery, but still tasted quite good- I like it in coffee and shakes.

Chocolate syrup: 7/10- liked it for the same reasons as caramel, but not quite as much.

Bacon Ranch: Haven’t tried yet… but don’t have high hopes.

For shame, WF… I really wanted to like you.

Chocolate Premier Nutrition Shake (Costco)

OMG, I bow to you. I was not expecting much but my expectations were far exceeded! I give you a 9/10 because you’re still a protein drink so you have a little bit of a chalky thing going on, but what else can I ask for… 30g of protein in 11 little ounces!! I am so thankful for your existence. I have also recently discovered that you are an awesome coffee creamer. Coming from the person who likes 'a little coffee with her cream' this is a huge development.

Proti-Diet and Proti-Thin

Chocolate Soy Snacks: OMG. OMG. LOVE. 10/10.

Bacon and cheese omelet: Meh. Edible. Not terrible but probably won’t reorder. Would rather just have some egg whites. 6/10.

Proti-Thin Cream of Celery Soup: I almost liked this, but not quite. There was some kind of strange grainy thing and I like the other soups a lot better. 6/10

ProtiDiet Chicken Soup: 9/10 yup. This one's a reorder. My favorite soup so far.

ProtiDiet Pizza w Tomato sauce: 7/10. Okay, so don't expect real pizza- but this will help a craving. I added a pinch of veggie shreds and it really improved it.

ProtiDiet Cool Raspberry Drink: 6/10. Here's the thing with the drinks: they smell terrible. I can't sip them but they seem to be a bit better if you have a covered cup and a straw. I realize I sound like a prima donna here, but I have no idea why the smell turns me off so much.

ProtiDiet Grape Drink- 7/10- drink it with a straw and ice and it's not so bad. Don't love it but need some more unrestricteds so will probably reorder.

ProtiDiet Peach Mango Drink- 8/10 this one is my favorite ProtiDiet drink, but it has the same issues as the others.

ProtiDiet Vanilla Protein Wafer Bar: 10/10. My favorite snack, hands down. I pine for this thing.

Lindora

Cream of Mushroom Soup: 8/10- liked it

Cream of Chicken Soup: 8/10- liked it

Cheesy PROtato Krinkles: 10/10- loved these- generous portion, nice when having a chip craving.

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe: 9/10- enjoyed this a lot in a salad

Hey, anyone have any input on:

Premier Protein Vanilla shake from costco in comparison to the chocolate? I love the chocolate and haven't tried the vanilla yet... so I'm trying to figure out whether to get two chocolates or one of each.

Any alternatives for IP potato puree or southwest cheese curls?

EAS Chocolate Fudge and Rich Dark Choco are the best! Costco's Premiere Nutrition's Choco and Vanilla shakes are just as good.

The EAS Cafe Caramel, I think that's it..is the same way, watered down. Love the chocolate one but now I'm stuck on the Premier ones from Costco.

The Premier Vanilla one has a great vanilla taste to it.

last year when I tried Walden Farms, I couldn't stomach any of them, they taste like chemicals. I told my coach that I threw them all out and she almost died of a heart attack, she said "I would have used them" YUCK

Am about to finish up my third week of alternatives. Here is what I've ordered/had so far (Bought the sampler pack for Healthsmart from Nashua Nutrtion, plus the 3 boxes of soup, 1 box smoothie, 1 box oatmeal, and chips & puffs). I didn't take notes, so can't remember exactly what I thought about everything so sorry for the mediocre description/reviews:
Fruit Drinks
Lemonade: Had a very protein drink taste to it
Peach Mango: This was disgusting!!! It literally tasted like bug spray to me
Pineapple Orange: Most drinkable of all the fruit drinks (although that's not saying much, I wouldn't order any of them again)
Strawberry Kiwi: This was another really bad tasting one
Wildberry: Can't remember how this one was
Hot Chocolate (I actually used all of these in my frappe maker to make frappes instead of hot drinks)
Original Hot Chocolate: Really good, didn't notice a protein taste
Raspberry Hot Chocolate: Was really good for most of the drink, but the sweetness got to be too much by the end
Mocha Hot Chocolate: Good
Mint Hot Chocolate: Really good, just ordered a full box of this
Cinnamon Hot Chocolate: Strong enough cinnamon taste to recognize it, but not overpowering
Amaretto Hot Chocolate: Haven't ever had actual Amaretto so don't know how the flavor compares
Oatmeal
Peaches & Cream Oatmeal: Not too bad, I'd order again. Does have a weird texture to it. Does NOT taste like Quaker peach like I've read in the Nashua reviews
Protein Bars All of the crispy ones were delicious and I'd order any of them again. I didn't like any of the chewy ones very much, but I've learned that I don't like chewy protein bars in general, so can't comment as to their taste
Crispy-Chocolate Peanut Dream, Crispy-Double Chocolate, Crispy-Peanut Butter & Jelly, Crispy-Peanut Butter,Crispy-Cinnamon Raisin, Crispy-Lemon Meringue, Chewy-Caramel Brownie, Chewy-Caramel Crunch, Chewy-Double Peanut Butter, Chewy-Oatmeal, Chewy-Peanut Butter, Chewy-Rocky Road,
Chewy-Strawberry Cheesecake
Pudding & Shake
Chocolate Pudding & Shake: Made this into cookies, really good
Vanilla Pudding & Shake: Haven't had yet
Strawberry Pudding & Shake: Haven't had yet
Cheesecake Pudding & Shake: A little gritty but pretty good. Much better if you let get cold in the fridge first
Banana Pudding & Shake: Haven't had yet
Smoothie
Aloha Mango Smoothie: Bought a whole box of this because of rave Nashua reviews. I had to choke this one down. Only used 1 of the 7, DISGUSTING!
Chips & Puffs
Protein Chips (all flavors): All delicious, all will be ordered again
Protein Puffs: These tasted like those cheeto white puffs to me, very good!
Soups
Beef w/Pasta: Has a slight protein taste to it
Chicken w/Pasta: Kind of tastes like a mix between Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Chicken flavored ramen
Tomato Soup: Was expecting this to be like Campbell's but it's not thick, it looks like kool-aid. Actually not to bad if you add some seasonings

Just had the Chocolate Peanut Dream Crispy bar (nutriwise on Doctors best and healthsmart on Nashua) and OMG soooo good. My favorite bar ever. It does have 20g carbs so you may want to wait til after P1 but I'll be ordering these forever.

Also wanted to chime in on WF. I never bought any because of the awful reviews, but broke down and got the maple syrup. It's good, great on sausage! (I'm in maintenance)

Angie, they're RTDs, but they're really good. I'm pretty picky about drinks and these are the only ones I've liked so far (besides the ones I accidentally ordered without realizing they had aspartame. Go figure.)

I am not in love with it, but it is pretty good. It kind of has that fake vanilla taste of an old fashioned McD's vanilla milkshake- but not quite as good, natch. Better than most vanilla RTD's- I usually stay away from anything other than chocolate, because even though I usually love vanilla generally, the chocolate does a better job of covering the protein taste.


I think I am going to try to make iced coffee with it tomorrow morning, we'll see how that goes. It's a shame you have to commit to 18 of them- but since you are a coffee person, even if you don't like them straight, I think it would make a good creamer.

They are definitely worth trying!

Thank God for my husband, who is not bothered by them, because I took one taste of the Ranch and ended up eating my salad dry. I guess everyone has different levels of tolerance for those flavors- I would rather eat nothing than eat WF! Only exception is the BBQ sauce- but I don't use much of it.