Junk Food Nation, when I first started out this blog, I really didn’t know what to expect.  One of the things I was hoping for, obviously, would be that companies would send me free stuff!  I’d review it, throw up a post, and have lots of extra snacks and goodies to eat.  NOM NOM NOM.

Fast forward over two years later, and now, to be frank, I get a LOT of free goodies offered to me. What once was a trickle is now slow stream. Not quite a flood. And while I am always flattered and grateful that someone wants my opinion, or believes that I am able to move the needle in the slightest, I had to start turning a lot of stuff down.  Why? A variety of reasons – either the product didn’t match my blog’s content, it was something I wasn’t interested in, or, most of the time, I’d forget to email the offeror back.  Like I said earlier this week, sometimes the job that brings home the bacon gets in the way of the method of potentially getting actual free bacon.  Hmmph.

Plus, nothing is worse than actually accepting some promotion, and then STILL falling behind on talking about it.  It’s like forgetting to write your pen pal back – with each day that goes by, the tiny guilt grows.  I think I still have a bunch of products that HAVE been sent to me that have gone un-reviewed.  I SWEAR I’LL GET TO YOU!

So that’s what happened a bit when Big Lots and Hostess contacted me to promo their new marraige – Big Lots now being the Official Hostess Thrift Outlet.  Apparently a while back, there were actual Hostess Thrift Stores? I didn’t know.  And I guess it’s not really that important, since Big Lots has TAKEN OVER.

To help celebrate this, they sent me this box:

OPEN ME.  Anyone else feel like Alice in Wonderland?  If I eat the cake, will I grow as big as a house?  Or, at least, will my pants fit tighter?

Well, alrighty, Hostess.  I’ll do you bidding.

That’s the gamut – almost all the things Hostess makes, big or small, in one concise box. It’s my daily value in calories in small cellophane packages.

To help promo the this new partnership, Hostess and Big Lots released two YouTube vids:

Originally, the offer was for ME to make a similar video. I thought, yeah, I can do that. Then, five plus weeks later, here I am.  No vid. Sad face.

Well, at least I can talk about what they sent me, right?

Man, I haven’t had a Ding Dong in AGES. And can anyone look at this package WITHOUT singing, “Ring Ding Dong….RingadingDing Ding Dong“?

When I was a kid, I ate WAAAAY too many mini donuts.  And by “when I was a kid,” I mean “this morning.”

I’m not as big of fan of Twinkies as others, but Coffee Cakes??? FOR. GET. IT. I need to load up my cheeks with these like I’m a squirrel. A really FAT squirrel.

Hostess makes Mini Muffins? Huh, you learn something every day.  And I am ashamed to say I’ve NEVER had a zinger before!  Let’s rectify that:

Hostess Zingers are Raspberry Iced Cake with Creamy Filling.  Sounds good!  And they are SOOOO PINK/RED.

Apparently this whole package of Zingers is a serving, containing 430 calories.  And 65% of my daily saturated fat content?  Excuse me while I go for a run.

I peeled one of these Hostess Zingers out of the package, and set it on a white napkin just so you could see how red these were.  It’s sort of impressive how red they made this.  I feel like teachers could grade papers with this Zinger.  Mmmmmmmm delicious checkmarks….

I bit into one of these Hostess Zingers, and I have to admit – it basically tasted like a Twinkie.  The outside was coconut covered, and I did get a little fruity flavor from the sugary red coating, but mainly I tasted coconut.  Very sweet, very moist, and creamy on the inside.  There’s not much to describe, because if you’ve had a Twinkie, you know what these taste like.  And if you like Twinkies, you’ll like these!  …unless you hate coconut.  Then you’ll probably wanna avoid these.

Well, anyways, that’s it – just a slight look behind the curtain. Thanks Big Lots and Hostess for sending me these goodies; I shared them with my office and now we’re all a little bit happier.  Or sugar filled. One of the two.

As always, these opinions are my own (how could they NOT be), and I’d love to hear YOUR opinions in the comments below!  Especially those of you calling me out as a corporate shill.  Whatever – I got free Twinkies.

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy