Yogurt for drinking
New from Yoplait is Yogurt & Juice, in four flavors — strawberry, pineapple mango, berry pomegranate and strawberry banana (all are flavored blends of several juices from concentrate) — in 59-ounce cartons. Each of these nonfat beverages has 6 grams of protein per 8-ounce serving. Mr. Tidbit found them at one store for $3.50 for a 59-ounce carton (about seven servings). A similar carton of name-brand juice blends is typically around $3, so going with the yogurty version costs something like 7 cents more per serving.
Mr. Tidbit has two observations: This new product immediately reminded him of Kemps Yo-J, which, now that he thinks of it, he hasn’t seen in a while. A call to Kemps verified that Yo-J is no longer with us.
The other thing Mr. Tidbit can’t help saying is that if General Mills had sought his advice, he would have asked why they weren’t calling this Yoplait product Greek Yogurt & Juice. True, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to drain some liquid out of yogurt (that’s what makes it Greek yogurt) before adding juice to it, but the whole Greek yogurt phenomenon isn’t hugely sensible: Consider that the “Greek yogurt” in such items as Hostess Greek Yogurt Cakes and Post’s Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch is the highly peculiar “Greek yogurt powder.” (How is dried-out Greek yogurt different from dried-out regular yogurt?)
(Mr. Tidbit would surely have rushed to make fun of something called Greek Yogurt & Juice, so maybe it’s just as well that General Mills didn’t seek his advice.)
Dippable yogurt
As long as we’re sort of in the yogurt aisle (actually, Yoplait Yogurt & Juice is in the beverage aisle), here’s another entry in the great Greek yogurt takeover: dips. New Oikos Greek Yogurt Dips come in four flavors: French onion, cucumber dill, roasted red pepper, and vegetable and herb. At one store, where Old Home snack dips were $1.25 for 8 ounces (15.6 cents an ounce), the Oikos dips were $2.74 for 12 ounces (22.8 cents an ounce) — that’s 46 percent more per ounce.
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