When I turned 30 a few years back, I felt a fundamental shift in my world view on food. For so long, I had categorized things I ate as “good” or “bad.”

Plain celery? Good.

Baconator from Wendy’s? Bad.

Yet, the night of my birthday, I was lying in my bed while propping myself up to discourage the stomach acid from creeping up my esophagus. It is then that I had a revelation: food is food. It cannot be inherently good or bad. Now, should I eat three Bloomin’ Onions a week? Absolutely not!…unless it gets me a free shirt, then there might be some thinking to do. I wasted so much time saying no to food because I categorized it as “bad,” but now? It’s game on.
?I feel like I should actually introduce myself now. Hello dear readers, my name is Holly, and I’m one of the new contributors here at The Impulsive Buy. I share this story of my epiphany as it was the thing that started me down the path of all food things weird, new, or Limited Edition.

I have always looked at stuff in stores or on menus at restaurants with a longing. OF COURSE, I want to try the Limited Edition Pillsbury Corn Elote Funfetti Cake, but it’s “bad.” Now when I shop, I ask myself, “Does it sound good? Does it sound unique? Will it be an experience?” If an item is a “yes” to at least one of those questions, into the basket it goes.

I live in Jacksonville, Florida, where we have the pleasure of 100% humidity at six in the morning, 343 days out of the year. I am currently working as a gig-grocery shopper/delivery gal, but I have a long history when it comes to grocery stores. I worked in big box stores, left to reset/remodel/open grocery stores across the state, and also spent time as a vendor for such brands as Hidden Valley, Soy Vay, and KC Masterpiece. Chances are if you walked through a grocery store in Northeast Florida and saw a display of Hidden Valley Ranch, it was my doing.

When it comes to food, there is very little that I will absolutely refuse to try. Even then, in most cases, I’d at least take a bite. I do tend to favor savory/salty items, but I will never say no to a doughnut, especially if it’s from Voodoo Doughnuts (Yes, Portland readers, I am aware that outside the OG Voodoo, they all pale in comparison. But let me tell you how that Memphis Mafia fritter slaps at 2 am).
?It’s going to be an interesting adventure, and I look forward to sharing it with you all!

We’re looking for reviewers!

If you’d like to apply, here’s what you’ll need to send:

1. A review of a new product.
2. Photos of the product you reviewed. (Full resolution versions, please!)
3. A bio that includes why you want to write reviews for The Impulsive Buy.

A Few Notes:

• While I’m looking for reviewers in general, I’d really like more reviewers to focus on fast food.
• The new product can be something we’ve already covered on the site.
• It’s a paid gig and it’s per review. The pay is not enough for you to quit your day job, but it’s more than enough to cover the coffee you buy to get you through your day job. Well, unless, you order some custom made drink that’s so ridiculous that it causes barista-rage.
• Because sending rejection emails have slowly eaten away at my soul over the years, if you do not hear from me after two weeks from submitting your sample review, consider that as you not being selected. Okay, actually, make it three weeks because I’m probably going to procrastinate.
• We’re only looking for writers located in the United States.

Please send your review, bio, and photos as separate attachments. So do not embed your photos into your review.

To apply, please email everything to [email protected] with “Grimace is so huggable!” in the subject line. We will stop accepting applicants on Sunday, September 20, 2020 at 20:20 Hawaii Standard Time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Thank you.

Marvo
Editor

Starting today (Monday, April 13), TIB will not accept Spotted photos taken in stores, until further notice. If you happen to spot something new, and it’s something you plan on buying, and you’d like to let your fellow TIB readers know about it, please take a photo of it at home.

With this way of doing things, we won’t have photos of a lot of new products, but that’s okay. Safety is the number one concern during these times.

If you’ve sent in photos sometime within the past few days, we’ll be posting them throughout this week and maybe next week.

Stay safe, everyone!

Marvo
Editor

Welcome to The Impulsive Buy’s 2019 Season of Giving!

(I’ll pause here to let you all celebrate)

Now the bad news.

In previous years, we did multiple prize drawings for things like gift cards and mystery boxes. This year, we’re giving away ONE large mystery box to a lucky Impulsive Buy reader. What’s in the mystery box? Well, it wouldn’t be a mystery if I told you.

But I will say this, a number of brands have sent me free samples and swag over the past year, so those are some of the items you’ll find in the mystery box. I also have included extras of products I purchased for review.

Among those extras is a product that made my taste buds hate the rest of me for a few days. But I didn’t write a review about it because it’s not available in stores. Hopefully, it doesn’t come out in stores. What is it? You’ll have to win this box to find out.

So how can you win this mystery box?

RULES:

To enter this prize drawing for this Mystery Box, leave a comment with THIS post that answers the following question:

Out of all the new food products that came out in 2019, what were your favorites?

Don’t forget to fill out the email field because we’ll be emailing the randomly selected winner for his or her mailing address.

We will stop accepting entries on December 31, 2019 at 9:00 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. Only one comment allowed per person, and it’s only open to U.S. residents 18 years old or older.

Just a note: If you post a comment and it doesn’t show up, it ended up in our comment spam folder for some strange reason. There’s no need to attempt to post another comment. I’ll be pulling those out of the comment spam vortex regularly.

Good luck!

FINE PRINT: The Impulsive Buy promises your email address will not be used to send you emails about how you owe us $5.99 via PayPal or else your account will be limited. The Impulsive Buy also promises your mailing address will not be used to send you the tears of a unicorn contained in a crystal bottle that was blown using the fiery breath of a dragon. Bribes will not be accepted. The Impulsive Buy will not be responsible for lost mail or damaged mail.