I’m not going to launch into another long-winded intro about why I was shopping at Walmart, and why I rarely shop there, despite their reputation as providers of budget-minded products, much like the ones I review for a living (“Living”? Ha! I wish). I already did that in a previous post, so let’s just jump right into it for once, shall we?

I really didn’t know what to expect when I grabbed a carton of Walmart’s cookies and cream ice cream, which is released under their “Great Value” brand name; this is because I don’t recall ever having Walmart ice cream of any kind before. I have to admit I was expecting something “cheapy”…maybe harder ice cream with only occasional cookie pieces throughout. To say that I didn’t have high hopes would be…well, accurate. I mean, who has high hopes for anything from Walmart? Usually when you go there you just want something cheap and passable.

I have to say that it’s good at making first impressions: this looks like a quality cookies and cream ice cream, with a good color, and loads of cookies evident just from a quick glance. However, as we all know, looks aren’t quite everything. There have been many instances of products being “top-heavy” to fool consumers – that is, items that put forth extra effort to mislead consumers by appearing to be full of something at first glance, only to quickly taper off. It’s very common in cheap candles, where the scent is overloaded so that when customers take a sniff in store, it smells strong, but when they actually go to burn it, the scent gets weaker and weaker.

Well, thankfully I can report that Great Value’s ice cream isn’t guilty of false promises: there are rather large cookie chunks all the way throughout, virtually guaranteeing that you won’t go more than a bite without sinking your teeth into delicious chocolate cookie morsels. They taste as you would expect: like the same kind found in chocolate sandwich cookies. Meanwhile, the ice cream itself is surprisingly rich and creamy, two qualities I wasn’t expecting to describe anything from Walmart.

It’s almost in the “churned” style, with a very soft cream that melts rather quickly. The positive side to this is that it can be eaten directly out of the freezer using a plastic spoon; that’s a claim not even many expensive brands can lay claim to. And speaking of price: a 48 oz. container comes in at just $1.97…that’s roughly on price with what you can expect to pay for Aldi’s “standard” ice creams, and, quite frankly, this flavor blows away their cookies and cream. I mean, it’s not even close. If that’s not the very definition of value, then I don’t know what is!

When all is said and done, this is one of the best cookies and cream ice creams I’ve ever had: factor in the price and that just makes it an almost required purchase for fans of this flavor. Pick it up: you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 10/10. I feel wrong giving anything a perfect score, let alone something from Walmart, but in this case it’s well-deserved: this ice cream is damn near flawless. It’s rich, creamy, and so delectably soft that you can eat it straight out of the freezer with a plastic spoon…that’s not a claim even many expensive brands can live up to. And speaking of price, a half gallon tub is just $1.97, making it one of the cheaper store brands for ice cream. There are plenty of cookies spread throughout too, ensuring you rarely (if ever) go a bite without a mouthful of them. Maybe I just got lucky with a great batch, but it’s almost good enough of a reason to go there more frequently. Almost.