Mr. Tidbit had noticed Planters' line of Nut-Rition mixed-nut products when there were far fewer varieties, but he just never got around to mentioning them. Suddenly (at least that's how it seems to Mr. Tidbit) there are eight, in cans of 9 to 101/4 ounces, each with a nut mixture emphasizing a different aspect of nutritional health -- and four of those kinds are available as Nut-Rition bars, in boxes of six.

As always, faced with a choice of which nutrition goal he ought to pursue, Mr. Tidbit finds himself paralyzed: Does he want Antioxidant Mix, Digestive Health Mix, Heart-Healthy Mix, Omega-3 Mix, Men's Health Mix (recommended by Men's Health Magazine), the Bone-Health Mix, the Energy Mix or the Wholesome Nut Mix? (Mr. Tidbit assumes all of these are wholesome, so the Wholesome Nut Mix must be unbelievably wholesome.)

Dessert kits There are three new dessert kits from Nestle's Carnation brand -- lemon bread with lemon zest glaze (add eggs, oil and water), chocolate cream pie with crust and topping (add butter and water) and key lime pie with crust and topping (add butter and water). And the Nestle Toll House Cookie-Brownie Delight kit (add butter, eggs and water) is back. (That's a bar cookie mix; you swirl the cookie and brownie batters together.)

Heads up! Mr. Tidbit is always fascinated when a new food product is introduced almost simultaneously by two or more competing firms. One of the more stupefying parts of that phenomenon is that the competitors often choose to offer the product in exactly the same sized package. And, typically, when one of them reduces that package size, they all do so.

Right now, at least, that latter situation is not happening -- or hasn't happened yet -- in cake mixes. Last October Mr. Tidbit noted that Betty Crocker cake mixes had shrunk from 181/4 ounces to 151/4 (and, he noted, still seemed to work fine).

To his great surprise, he must note that, seven months later, Pillsbury mixes have remained 181/4 ounces! (That can't last.)

AL SICHERMAN