Wellsley Farms

"BJ's" is a common noun around my parent's house these days.  A regular on the weekend agenda.  "Gotta leave time on Sunday for BJ's!", mom will say with no touch of irony in her voice.  "Dad and I are doing date night at Panera, and then BJ's!", she'll say with glee, as I stifle my lols.  "Gotta make it hasty with BJ's".  It goes on and on, and I giggle like a silly school girl, but, BJ's is a big deal for them.  That is because she's referring of course to BJ's, the wholesale store.  It was a major thing when the town got a BJ's, as previously, folks had to drive about 1.5 hours to the nearest similar establishment (Sam's Club).  This all happened long after I moved out, so I didn't grow up with BJ's products.

In case you are wondering, BJ's refers to the initials of Beverly Jean Weich, the daughter of Mervyn Weich, the company's original president.  In addition to distributing lots of brand name bulk products, BJ's has two private label brands, Berkley-Jensen and Wellsley Farms.  Wellsely Farms is the upscale line.  And strangely, the B and J in Berkley-Jensen have nothing to do with the B and J in the store name.

Anyway, in my time visiting my parents, we sometimes wind up with goodies from BJ's, so I've tried a few assorted product categories over time, from their house brands.

Deli Salads

BJ's carries a range of basic deli salads, not scooped to order like a regular grocery store deli, but, prepackaged.  My mom always makes her own deli salads, so we don't usually get to try these.

Wellsley Farms Macaroni Salad.

One day I was really craving macaroni salad, and I was a captive audience stuck wandering around while we just "popped in for a few quick things".  And thus, a giant thing of BJ's Wellsley Farms brand macaroni salad wound up in the cart.

It was totally classic store bought macaroni salad.  Like you get at basically any deli.  I kinda think it is all made by some manufacturer somewhere and just resold at grocery store delis nationwide.  Base of elbow pasta, cooked decently, not too soft, but not quite as al dente as I'd make it.  Little cubes of red and green peppers.  Lots of creamy mayo sauce, deep inside the noodles that squirts out as you bite in, that brings me childlike glee.

It seems pretty reliable, awful for you, and is somehow loaded with enough preservatives that the expiration date was a month out from when we purchased it, mayo forward and all.  I liked it, in a classic way, but, I don't feel particularly compelled to get more of it. ***.

Ice Cream

Mini Ice Cream Variety Pack.

One day when I visited BJs, the sample station had ice cream.  I was rather thrilled, even though it was 11am, and I felt a *tiny* bit guilty going for an ice cream at that time.

The station featured the mini ice cream variety pack, with 3 choices (sandwiches, almond bars, or cones), all mini, portion-controlled, sizes.  As the server said, "in a sandwich, on a stick, or in a cone.  Something for everyone."

Mini Sandwich:

"Vanilla ice cream between two wafer cookies."

My mom went for the mini sandwich, and offered me a bite.  I'm not one for ice cream sandwiches, but, who am I to turn down a bite of ice cream?

It was exactly as I expected, just generic vanilla ice cream, inside two wafer cookies.   The wafers weren't traditional though, not chocolate, instead, blond.  Even more boring than chocolate.  The texture though was exactly like a normal ice cream sandwich.  Not for me, but fine I guess.  **+.

Mini Cone:

"Wafer cone filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with low-fat cocoa and hazelnuts."

I opted for the mini cone (ruling out the stick option, ice cream coated with chocolate and almonds).

It was adorable, really.  I do appreciate that they make things in sizes like this, although I question if one could really satisfy.

The ice cream was again fairly generic ice cream, not much vanilla flavor, but it was creamy and melted perfectly.  I liked the chocolate and nuts on top.  I give them credit for using hazelnuts instead of peanuts.  The cone was a standard sugar cone, lined with chocolate, plenty in the tip, no seepage.

Overall, very generic, but good enough, and a very cute size. ***+.

Snack Foods

Of course, you know me, and my love of snacks.  Of course I've tried some from BJ's, usually found near the produce section, in clear containers to draw you in.  None were particularly good, and even though they look like the same selections you'd find in any grocery store, I found them slightly worse in taste and quality.

Tavern Blend.

"A blend of honey roasted sesame sticks, butter toffee peanuts, salted peanuts, pretzels, corn chips, and cajun style corn sticks."

My mom picked this one and had it at home as a surprise for me.  There is a little something for everyone in this mix, sweet and salty, crunchy, assorted textures and sizes, but, it isn't one I would have picked myself.  Half the elements are things I don't really care for (corn chips, pretzels, plain salted peanuts).  

Nothing in it was particularly notable.  Overall, it was all fine, but boring, and not my favorite items.  Reviews of each component follow.

Pretzels, Corn Chips.

The pretzel sticks were just that, pretzel sticks, nothing something I ever go for.  **+.

The corn chips were basically just small chunks of regular corn tortilla chips.  I don't really care for tortilla chips.  **+.

Honey Roasted Sesame Sticks, Cajun Style Corn Sticks.

The honey roasted sesame sticks were the item I was most looking forward to, as I do love these sometimes.  These however just weren't great, not much sesame flavor.  Still, one of the better components.  ***.

Same with the cajun style corn sticks, not much of that promised cajun flavor. **+.

Salted Peanuts, Butter Toffee Peanuts.

Plain salted peanuts were as expected. ***.

Finally, the butter toffee peanuts.  Those were ok, well coated, with a crunchy shell, very sweet.  I liked those enough, my favorite of the mix.  ***.

Overall, **+ for my preferences, probably *** for most people.

Veggie Crunch Mix.

"An assortment of crunchy sweet potatoes, squash, carrot, taro, and green beans." 

I'm obsessed with veggie chips.  There are many different brands of this exact assortment of ingredients, sold at every grocery store in town, and I've long suspected that they are all produced by the same company somewhere, and just have different labels slapped on.

So when I saw this mix at BJ's, I gladly grabbed a box, a bigger size than the version I get at the other local grocery stores (Creative Snack Co, which I've reviewed before), and, cheaper.

Except ... I didn't like most of the items in it.  I always have different favorites depending on my mood, but, in general, I like these mixes a lot.  And this time ... not so much.  Specific reviews follow.

Carrot, Taro, Green Bean, Squash, Yellow Sweet Potato, Purple Sweet Potato.

The carrots were not very good.  I didn't dislike them, but I certainly didn't like them as much as I normally do, and they didn't have much flavor.  They were oily.  Carrots are usually my 2nd or 3rd pick, and I often get boxes of just carrots because I like them so much, and these I didn't really want.  **.

The taro I *really* didn't like, and it was always my favorite before.  I was pretty sad about this, but, it just had no flavor whatsoever.  The crunch was still good, but, these offered nothing taste-wise.  **+.

Green beans were the only item with flavor, and, like the carrots, ones I normally opt to just get entire buckets of.  They were crispy, flavorful, and good, except that they too were more oily than they should be. **+.

The squash and both types of potato were awful though.  Really oily, and again, no flavor.  *.

These were basically the sort of veggie chips that give veggie chips a bad name!  This mix really let me down, ** overall.

Plantain Chips.

"Whether you love plantains or you're looking for something new to snack on, try Wellsley Farms 11 Oz. Plantain Chips. Made with palm oil and salt, the chips have that satisfyingly crispy texture and salty taste you know and love, but in a healthier form."

These were pretty decent plantain chips.  Good crunch, nicely starchy, good plantain flavor, nice salt level.

I enjoyed these, and would gladly eat more.  ***+.

Signature Oriental Mix.

 "A spicy blend of rice crackers, roasted salted peanuts, sesame sticks, honey roasted peanuts, wasabi chili crescents, roasted salted almonds, roasted salted cashews, and chili crackers."

Next up, another fairly lackluster snack mix.

The rice crackers, salted peanuts, salted almonds, and salted cashews were exactly as expected, pretty standard, and, in my opinion, just, boring.  ***.

The sesame sticks and honey roasted peanuts were both slightly sweet, but much like the versions in the other mixes, just not particularly flavorful. ***.

The "wasabi chili crescents" were the most exciting sounding item, but, I didn't really pick up on much wasabi to them.  I thought they were just the regular rice crackers.  ***.

I'm not sure which were supposed to be chili crackers, as, well I didn't find any that were particularly spicy.

So, overall, another mix that just wasn't anything special.  Fine, but not great.  ***.

Baked Goods

And then, even though my mom turns her nose up at them, I had to try a few baked goods.  Turns out, in these cases at least, I should have listened to mom.  None of these were good.

Coffee Cake Cheese Bites. $7.99 / 32.

"Wellsley Farms Coffee Cake Cheese Bites are moist bite-sized cakes with cream cheese filling and cinnamon streusel topping that the whole family can enjoy. With their delicious combination of cream cheese and cinnamon, these tasty treats are a an ideal choice for breakfast, coffee hour or snack time."

These little bites sounded, and looked, pretty good.  While coffee cake is kinda boring on its own, these had plenty of streusel on top, and a little puddle of cream cheese.  I liked the two-bite form factor, perfect for just popping one or two for a quick little snack.

The flavor however really feel flat, not really as much cinnamon as I'd like, and the texture was fairly dry.  The streusel didn't really save them, again, not much flavor.  And the cream cheese centers didn't really add any creaminess.  Meh.

*+.

Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies. $8.49/20.

My dad loves whoopie pies.  He loves packaged snack cakes like Ding Dongs, Devil Dogs, and the like.  So when I found these at BJ's, they seemed like the perfect thing for him.  Individual mini whoopie pies that he could pack in his lunches to work?  Perfect!

And when I saw the frosting oozing out ... I had to try them too.

Um ... yeah.  I'm not sure why I tried really.  I mean, I have memories of loving my great aunt's homemade whoopie pies as a kid, but I've never liked packaged snack cakes.  Why would this be any different?  And really, it wasn't any different.  A Devil Dog, but, small and round.  Dry, very processed, not really chocolately cake, and very sweet frosting.  The frosting I did kinda like once I extracted it, but only in that sweet overload cloying sense, not because it was good frosting.

So overall, yeah, not a whoopie pie, just another generic very processed snack cake.

**.

Raspberry Flavored Cream Cheese Cake. $18.99.

"Wellsley Farms raspberry flavored cream cheese cake is a delectable treat and always baked to perfection with fresh raspberries."

I thought this was, um, a cheesecake.  A raspberry flavored cheese cake, per its name.  It is not.  It is actually a 3 layer white cake (!), with raspberry cream between the layers, and white frosting on the outside.  I thought that frosting would be cream cheese flavored (sure didn't seem to be) and I thought it was garnished with slivered almonds (it really looked like it!), but actually, the garnish around the outside was torn cake bits (!) and white chocolate. Um, ok.

So, resetting my expectations, I did not have a cheesecake, I just had a layer cake.  Ok, I can go with that.

But ... it wasn't even a good cake.  The cake was plain and rather dry, the pink frosting between the layers of cake didn't taste particularly fruity (where exactly was all this "fresh raspberries"?  They weren't a garnish, and I guess they are what made the frosting pink?), and neither the pink nor white frosting on the exterior tasted like cream cheese.  The frosting was cloying sweet.

So, virtually no raspberry component, no cream cheese taste ... and yet, it is a "raspberry flavored cream cheese cake"?  I feel duped.

The only positive thing I have to say about this is that it looked good.

It is a huge cake, claiming 24 servings, and clocks in at 8000 calories for the cake, which again, led me to believe it was an actual cheese cake!

*.