I was looking for trail mixes (perfect work snack!) during an online shopping trip at Meijer, and was rather disappointed with a lot of the options. It mostly has the usual suspects – fruit and nuts; the “typical” chocolate, nuts and raisins; etc. – but none of them really sounded all that good. I wanted something with a little bit of punch, something with at least a small dose of pizzazz. And after searching for about five minutes, I thought I had found it in the form of their Sweet and Tangy trail mix, which offers up a wealth of separate ingredients to form one big mix.

I’m not sure what drew me to it, but I think part of it might have to do with the packaging: it was different from all the rest. The orange colors really stood out to me, and subconsciously suggested that this product was “different” from the other varieties, which have more bland, understated colors. I’m sure there are some psychological studies out there that explain this phenomenon, but whatever it was, it worked. (Or maybe it just looked to be the most appetizing out of all the options and I’m overanalyzing it.)

At any rate, I was excited to give this a go, so I tore in right away…and was promptly disappointed.

First of all, I must have a different definition to what constitutes “sweet”, because I don’t get much in the way of that in here. Sure, it has both white chocolate drops and bittersweet chocolate chunks, but not enough of either to really sway the flavor heavily into “sweet” territory. It might be slightly sweeter than your “typical” chocolate, nut and raisin mix, but not enough to throw it into the title as if it’s a selling point. 

But as “un-sweet” as it is, its self-description as tangy is even more baffling. I don’t understand it one bit. So different was my idea of “tangy” that I even had to double-check the definition to ensure that I was right: I wasn’t. I thought it was something that’s sour, but it just means “something that has a strong flavor or smell”. Like a steaming pile of shit, I guess. 

This has no such characteristic. The flavor is relatively standard for a trail mix, with nothing in particular even coming close to standing out. With other trail mixes I’ve had – ones that literally could be called tangy – there are some unique items, like candied nuts, or spicy crackers. The most exciting thing in this mix are the white chocolate drops, again, something that’s relatively standard in other “sweet” trail mixes. 

Rounding things out are sunflower seeds (boring), raisins (double-boring), roasted and salted peanuts (boring again), semi-sweet chocolate chunks (semi-interesting), and salted and roasted cashews (boring). Outside of maybe the chocolate, how do any of those things interesting on their own? And if they aren’t interesting on their own, how can they be interesting in a group full of their peers? Like scientists: They might be fun with their looser friends, but put them with other scientists and that’s a recipe for dull. 

Overall: 5/10. I guess this mix isn’t really bad, per se, it’s just really…boring. Way moreso than the bright, festive packaging and inclusion of “tangy” in the title description would lead you to believe. This is just a standard mix of salty ingredients, balanced out with some slight sweetness, with nothing that stands out. I mean, where are the spicy crackers? Or candied nuts? Or even honey-roasted peanuts…something to give it some personality. Instead, this is like eating a room full of scientists.