Better? Worse? It depends

By AL SICHERMAN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 8, 2008 - 2:05 PM

Mr. Tidbit had to scratch his head about new Steamfresh rice, in the freezer case, from Birds Eye. Cooking it takes from 31/2 to 41/2 minutes in the microwave, compared with 11/2minutes for Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, which is stored on the shelf instead of the freezer.

The plain white rice versions of each brand differ slightly: The Birds Eye bag contains rice and water. The Uncle Ben's pouch contains rice, water, canola and/or sunflower oil and a collection of vitamins and minerals.

The Uncle Ben's rice has 21/2 grams of fat per serving and 6 percent of daily calcium, 25 percent of thiamin, 15 percent of folate, 10 percent of iron and 20 percent of niacin. The Birds Eye rice has no fat -- nor any vitamins or minerals. Mr. Tidbit must note that (possibly as a result of the additions) the Uncle Ben's rice wasn't as white, and it had a slightly sweet, oily flavor.

At first calculation, the Steamfresh rice looked more expensive: It was $1.69 for 10 ounces -- what the label says are two (3/4-cup) servings ($1.13 per cup) -- while the Uncle Ben's was $1.74 for 8.8 ounces, a reported two (1-cup) servings (87 cents per cup). But when Mr. Tidbit measured the cooked rice, there were two cups of the Steamfresh product (so it's 85 cents per cup) and only 11/2 cups of the Uncle Ben's (so it's $1.16 per cup). What's that about? Your guess is as good as Mr. Tidbit's.

Actual convenience

Here's good news about making caramel apples and caramel-layer brownies: New Kraft Caramel Bits eliminate all that unwrapping. The little bits aren't sticky until you melt them.

They also restore Mr. Tidbit's faith that almost every new product costs at least a little more than the existing one: The $2.29 (11-ounce) bag of Caramel Bits costs 3 cents more per ounce than Kraft's $2.49 (14-ounce) bag of wrapped caramels.

AL SICHERMAN