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As Lifehacker’s food editor, I’m proud to be your doorway to interesting cooking tips, useful cookbooks, and fancy-shmancy appliances, but there are some things that don’t fit into those categories that I’m dying to tell you about. There are snacks, kitchen accessories, and even apps that have made my relationship with food better. Here are my favorite food finds from the past year.
Let’s start with the most notable finds that you can actually eat. These products made my list because they topped the charts in flavor.
All store-bought cookies are loved by someone, but let’s be real, some are better than others. Ona cookies are the best bagged cookies I’ve had all year, and they’re gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, and paleo-friendly. I identify as having none of these restrictions or diets and I couldn’t get enough of these tiny bite-sized cookies. I loved the chocolate flavor best for its fudginess, and the oatmeal flavor as a runner up for its warming spice and knobbly oat texture.
Frozen meals can be hit or miss, but Bettr Bowl pretty much knocked it out of the park in my book. Both the Birria Rice Bowl and Chipotle Chicken Bowl were easily revived in the microwave and served up a solid portion for a decent price of $3.99 each. The most notable thing is that the flavors were incredible. You can find Bettr Bowls sold at Aldi, and on Instacart.
When you’ve got big canned brands to compete with, you can’t win everyone over with “just another” soup. True Primal soups definitely give the eater something special to come back for. The flavors are savory and filling, and manage to avoid being bland without relying on a ton of salt. The same folks who make Ona cookies, these soups are also gluten-free, grain-free, and paleo-friendly.
I mentioned these caramels in My Favorite Food Gifts article, and they’re worth mentioning again because the flavor and texture of these caramels is perfect. The flavors, like Maple Cream or Cocoa Latte, aren’t overpowering or artificial tasting, but subtle and authentic. The caramel itself is soft, not the type you need to gnaw through. Plus, this farm in Vermont gives each goat loving credit for the milk they produce to make their signature chocolates and caramels.
These are my favorite helpful tools to make food more accessible and reduce waste—plus a fun appliance I've been enjoying all year for good measure.
Too Good To Go is an app that links you up with restaurants, bakeries, fast food chains, and grocery stores in your area that are selling their excess or soon-to-be-tossed (but not spoiled!) product at a steep discount. It started as a sustainability effort in Copenhagen, and is (fingers crossed) ever-expanding as more businesses sign up. Read more about it here. The app is free, so check it out.
I always make room for coffee in my mornings and while I usually keep it simple, sometimes I want foamed milk. Not just agitated milk from one of those whisk-y things, but heated and foamed. The problem with steamer wands is that they can overcook plant-milk (which is what I use). The Dreo BaristaMaker, however, has presets that make perfect microfoam milk, plant or otherwise. My partner is absolutely smitten with it and uses it nearly every day.
These bread bags from Keeki (pictured above) are made of natural linen fabric with a special moisture-saving feature: the inside is coated with beeswax. If I have a large loaf of bread that I know I’ll be snacking on, I can just pop it into the Keeki bag and pull the drawstring tight. The beeswax lining helps retain the bread’s moisture, extending its life more than a paper bag, and preventing mold, which can happen easily in a plastic bag. Simply knock out the crumbs and wipe out the interior and this environmentally-friendly bread bag is infinitely reusable.
I love cheese all year, but from November to February I end up acquiring quite the collection. I’ve given up using the crumpled up original plastic wrapping as a storage method for these Formaticum reusable cheese storage bags. They’re designed to regulate the moisture in the bag so your cheese keeps fresher longer. Besides all that, they sure look a lot tidier than a drawer full of half-dried out bundles of plastic wrapped cheese.
