I used to be addicted to Blue Bell and considered everything else a distant second. In the past few years I guess Listeria and the licking incident has done a number on them and they had to cut costs to stay afloat.

Had some Chocolate Chip tonight. Bleah, this is sawdust, with very few chips. Nothing like it used to be.

What a waste of caloric intake. Wish I spent my sugar (or should I say HFCS) limit elsewhere. This stuff was just plain nasty.

Then I came across this:

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/07/28/no-9-blue-bell-ranks-among-ice-cream-brands-with-lowest-quality-ingredients/

I'm done with Blue Bell.

Thanks, more for me.

But the cows think Brenham is heaven.

HEB's Creamy Creations is pretty darn good. Their 1905 Vanilla is just as good if not better than Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla. I also tried the chocolate chip cookie dough recently and was very happy with it.

I love Ben & Jerry's for their higher quality ingredients, not a fan of their politics. I hate all the artificial ingredients in Bluebell these days! These artificial ingredients hurt my stomach. I even contacted them about this to say that I believe there's no way these artificial ingredients were in their original formula. I want to eat food- not chemicals. It's no longer homemade ice cream when you add a laundry list of ingredients that none of us can pronounce and none of us use at our homes. Sad.

phillytex24 said:

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I love Ben & Jerry's for their higher quality ingredients, not a fan of their politics. I hate all the artificial ingredients in Bluebell these days! These artificial ingredients hurt my stomach. I even contacted them about this to say that I believe there's no way these artificial ingredients were in their original formula. I want to eat food- not chemicals. It's no longer homemade ice cream when you add a laundry list of ingredients that none of us can pronounce and none of us use at our homes. Sad.

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What was their response?

maroon barchetta said:

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phillytex24 said:

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I love Ben & Jerry's for their higher quality ingredients, not a fan of their politics. I hate all the artificial ingredients in Bluebell these days! These artificial ingredients hurt my stomach. I even contacted them about this to say that I believe there's no way these artificial ingredients were in their original formula. I want to eat food- not chemicals. It's no longer homemade ice cream when you add a laundry list of ingredients that none of us can pronounce and none of us use at our homes. Sad.

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What was their response?

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Curious about this as well but I doubt they'll give a satisfying response. I grew up outside of Texas and my mom LOVES Breyer's ice cream so that's what I grew up on. Mom's favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip and she always pointed out that it's the only brand of that flavor that doesn't have green food coloring.

Fast forward to my sophomore year and I'm at Blue Bell on a tour with a student group and our guide had one of those AMA's to wrap up the tour so I asked why a company that talks about quality ingredients would add food coloring to their mint chocolate chip and she couldn't really respond. I'd not been a fan of BB prior to that and never really became one. It's not the worst ice cream and they have some flavors I like but in general there are brands I like more.

These days with the kids gone we tend to get very little ice cream anyway so I'm going straight for Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream.

I still remember opening my last 1/2 gallon of Fudge Brownie Nut many years ago. They had achieved perfection but apparently couldn't stand the prosperity.

Blue Bell's new oatmeal creme pie ice cream is legit! Maybe my second favorite to cookies and cream!

I do think Blue Bell has lost some quality over the years.

I think they still do the best vanilla and cookies n cream but every other flavor is mediocre at best. The mocha almond fudge was really good pre listeria but they changed the ingredients for some reason on that and now it's tasteless.

Oatmeal cream pie is one of the best ice creams I've ever had

Blue Bell has been living off its reputation of being an iconic Texas brand for a while now without actually being that good. Still some good flavors, but we usually end up getting one of the HEB brands now.

Wishing Braum's was this far south...

The cost of a 1/2 gallon at like $7.50 is a huge turn off for me alone.

bobinator said:

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Blue Bell has been living off its reputation of being an iconic Texas brand for a while now without actually being that good. Still some good flavors, but we usually end up getting one of the HEB brands now.

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Unless there's a specific Blue Bell flavor we want, it's usually HEB for us as well.

Tillamook Ice Cream is the bomb. It's expensive but soooo worth it.

Blue Bell regularly places near the bottom of national ice cream taste tests. I like the vanilla OK. All other flavors I've tasted are way too sweet. Good for kids, I guess.

I'll always crave Moolenium Crunch

Thrifty was the absolute best!!!

I used to get a double scoop of rocky road and pistachio!!!

https://www.lamag.com/digestblog/thrifty-ice-cream-history/

Blue Bell hasn't been Blue Bell for many years now. When they went national, they chose quantity over quality, and nothing was ever the same. They've been coasting for years now on the goodwill of their classic PR campaigns of old, as well as the blind loyalty of their customers (I myself never fully understood the religious devotion to the brand).

There are better options out there if you look (the HEB Creamy Creations line is good stuff).

AggieAces06 said:

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HEB's Creamy Creations is pretty darn good. Their 1905 Vanilla is just as good if not better than Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla. I also tried the chocolate chip cookie dough recently and was very happy with it.

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Have you tried the Cookies Over Texas? If you like chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies and cream, there's no way you won't love Cookies Over Texas.

I mean, when they "eat all they can and sell the rest", you're probably getting the crap level stuff they don't want to eat.

HEB house brand is much better

Anybody supporting Blue Bell after the listeria debacle is only okay with that because it did not kill one of their own loved ones.
Anybody eating Blue Bell after reading the 50 plus ingredients, no words for you!

chiwowwow said:

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Anybody supporting Blue Bell after the listeria debacle is only okay with that because it did not kill one of their own loved ones.
Anybody eating Blue Bell after reading the 50 plus ingredients, no words for you!

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Only 3 deaths, 99.9% of people eating it dont know those people. I don't care what's in it, it's delicious. Cookies and cream, cookie 2 step, and the new oatmeal cream pie can't be beat.

chiwowwow said:

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Anybody supporting Blue Bell after the listeria debacle is only okay with that because it did not kill one of their own loved ones.
Anybody eating Blue Bell after reading the 50 plus ingredients, no words for you!

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It's the price more than anything, for me.

chiwowwow said:

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Anybody supporting Blue Bell after the listeria debacle is only okay with that because it did not kill one of their own loved ones.

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Do you have proof of that statement? That not a single person that knew or loved one of the people that died has had Blue Bell since it happened? Nobody?

Quote:

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Anybody eating Blue Bell after reading the 50 plus ingredients, no words for you!

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Thirty-seven words and one number.

This thread title

Quote:

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ad some Chocolate Chip tonight. Bleah, this is sawdust, with very few chips. Nothing like it used to be.

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I've noticed the chip thing. I've stopped buying that flavor because of it.

Literally everything is chemicals

Looks like I am going to have to change my handle!

This was about 3 years ago, and I only remember it being the typical response that companies would give for anything. Clearly the product is far from homemade these days.

AggieAces06 said:

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HEB's Creamy Creations is pretty darn good. Their 1905 Vanilla is just as good if not better than Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla. I also tried the chocolate chip cookie dough recently and was very happy with it.

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I agree but "Olsen Field at Creamy Creations Park" sounds a little awkward.

Creamy Creations has been mentioned but If you want some ice cream with stuff in it and you haven't tried any of the "Swoon" line from HEB you're doing yourself a disservice. I think the Salted Caramel Truffle is elite.

I'm not always in the mood for that sort of ice cream, but that line has some really good options when I am.