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Wilder Shaw is a staff writer at Cheapism covering food, specializing in taste tests and fast food. He has over a decade of food-writing experience, and his work has appeared in Thrillist, The Washington Post, L.A. Taco, Time Out, and numerous other publications.
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Chill Out
When it's hot, there's nothing on this planet like an ice cold popsicle to cool you down. What an absolutely perfect treat, the popsicle. Fruity, refreshing, and cold.
But what's the move when you're out grocery shopping? What pops are worth a buy? I hit my local grocery store and grabbed every brand I could find for a taste test. Here are eight popular grocery store popsicles, ranked.
Prices and availability are subject to change.
Best: Whole Fruit Frozen Pops
Available on Instacart
Perfection. No notes. These pops tastes like frozen juice, which (to me) is the ideal outcome of this type of treat. As a bonus, they're way fun in their push-up format, though you might need to excuse yourself to another room since the slurp-factor is pretty high.
These are far thicker than the other pops, too, and they don't have any of that weird squeak we all remember from the popsicles of our youth. As soon as the weather gets hot enough (or maybe even before), I'm buying another box of these.
2. 365 Whole Foods Market Fruit Bars
$3.49 from Whole Foods
The good news is, this is exactly where I expect Whole Foods to shine. Since I didn't see a variety pack, I went with lime — because until this very day, Outshine had my favorite lime pop. Not anymore, baby!
Great flavor. Big ol' size. Not too drippy. More affordable than you'd expect. Aces.
3. PhillySwirl Swirl Stix
$3.12 fromWalmart
Remember Big Sticks? Popsicle still makes them, but they don't really hit like they used to. PhillySwirl has sort of revived Big Sticks' essence here, and though I don't love all the flavors, I'm still into this. These have that soft, almost sherbet-like texture that Big Sticks used to have, and I'm here for it. I do need to close my eyes though, cause these things look radioactive.
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4. Minute Maid Juice Sticks
Available on Instacart
When you were a young'un, did you pour juice into ice trays and make little homemade popsicles? I did that all the time, and Minute Maid just stuck me into a time machine. The orange flavor really brings me back. I feel like a kid again, laying some plastic wrap across the top of the ice tray and sticking little toothpicks into them, just like that episode of "Dexter's Lab"taught me to.
Related:Irresistible Ice Cream Flavors You Can Get at the Grocery Store
5. Outshine Fruit Bars
$5.64 fromWalmart
Outshine is reliable as it gets. I used to love them more than anybody else, but they've been dethroned by some recent discoveries; plus, Minute Maid has the nostalgia factor going on. That said, you're getting what you pay for here, and Outshine still retains my full recommendation.
Related:Best Soft Serve Ice Cream Shops in America
6. Goodpop Cherry n' Lemonade
$4.98 from Walmart
I thought Goodpop would taste more like artificial sweetener, buttheseactually aren't horrible. They're weirdly tart, and I'm a big fan of the 3-flavors-in-1 situation. The problem is, if I want a popsicle, this isn't what I want. Real Bomb Popvibes. But in a pinch? Sure. They're fine.
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7. Mayfield Creamery Pop Stix
Available on Instacart
Pop Stix, eh? These are a fractiondifferent than Popsicle's ice pops. The flavors are 5% better, and same for the texture. If your only two choices are between these and Popsicle, you're out of luck. Go to a different store.
8. Popsicle
$5.99 from Target
Can you believe Popsicle locked this name down? The brand has been around for over 100 years, so I guess it makes sense — but still, nice work on that one. Anyways, these ruled when I was a child, but now I'm not a child. I'm an adult, and I don't have to settle for this mediocre flavor and that bone-chilling squeak on my teeth when I bite through it.
Popsicle has tons of other flavors, including collabs with big brands like Sour Patch Kids. Those might be better, but the classics aren't gonna do the trick anymore.
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