Carvel Ready to Drink Milkshake

[new for 2015, currently in test markets] So we went back to ACME, the local Jersey grocery store, and while the freezer aisle was very much like my Shaws back home, I noticed something interesting on the end cap. They are 4 for $5 and we're about to try....

Carvel Ready to Drink Milkshake

Chocolate, Vanilla flavored, and Strawberry flavored

Since who knows when I will see these again (since Carvel is basically gone from Massachusetts), I decided to try all three. Technically there were also two glacier smoothie flavors, in berry banana and I want to say mango, but these three should keep me busy.

Simple directions: twist the stripes, lift the seal, take a sip (and enjoy). That seems awfully simplistic considering every other time we've seen these they have required you to add milk. I mean, how is this going to work exactly? can I really just pull it out of the freezer and enjoy?

Ummm, no, don't think I'll be just taking a sip.... though you can squeeze it out and with a decent amount of force....

And squeezing the container is a terrible idea.... but seriously Carvel, you think a frustrated person isn't going to be tempted to squeeze this thing? And what if I had been in my car, this would have gone everywhere!

Ok, I've poured it in to the bowl and mixed it up a bit (notice actual strawberry bits in there). There is a weirdness to it all though. It's cold, and there is some strawberry flavor here... but it's almost soapy. It's not terrible, we all tried it and my wife liked it a bit more than me and my daughter a bit less, but we also agree on a weirdness to it. I'm not sure if it's the flavor, the shake itself, or probably a mixture of both.

Yeah, the further away I get from eating it, the weirder the aftertaste gets. I've had worse, and I like that it's self contained, but the weirdness. Let's see if the others are flavors are better.

Alright, the vanilla has been out for several minutes (I got distracted) and it hasn't melted at all. I tip it over a cup, wait a few minutes, and.... we've got a couple of drops now. I am way too impatient for this.....  and I broke the container again. Uggg.

So it's fairly bright white and really needs a bit of mixing to get to the right consistency, otherwise you have to wait for inside part to melt while the outside has liquefied and approaches room temperature. Anyway, mixed up and split in to two small paper cups, let's sample.

Hmmm, it's not bad. It's cold, so that's good (too many chemicals and a "milkshake" never really gets cold). The flavor is that of fake vanilla, and it's quite sweet. It's borderline cake flavor but there is a bit less weirdness here. It's definitely an improvement from the strawberry.

(several hours pass)

Ok, I had to take a sampling break despite the small size of these, but let's dig in to the final flavor, chocolate... and apparently I am an idiot because if you follow the directions rather than trying to pour these things out so you can share them, they do actually come out. I mean, technically, it's take a suck, not take a sip, but you can make it come out to some degree after letting it sit out for several minutes... until you run out of melted part and have to wait again.... oh I hate waiting!

Flavor is ok, and now that I think about it, the chocolate in particular reminds me of this at home soft serve product I test sampled a few years ago. Man my tongue is frozen right now.

Ohhhhhhhh, that's why that bottom plastic piece isn't glued in, it slides up as you drink the shake. Duh! Man, a less honest blogger would cover up his stupidity right now, but hey, learning is an imperfect thing right? At least I figured it out on the third try right? (Side note, I'm still waiting for more to melt... and waiting.... and waiting.)

I'm done now and yeah, the chocolate is easily the best of the bunch and you know what? I'd buy it again. It's just dumb fun. We talk a lot about texture and this one has something different, even if you have to pop out the bottom and eat the second half with a spoon because you're way too impatient to wait any longer for it to melt.

Verdict?  Chocolate the best, vanilla decent, strawberry weird
Buy Again?  for the chocolate, yes