Grocery Outlet Ethical Bargains

I was So Impressed with the So Delicious chocolate chip mousse that I bought at the Grocery Outlet that I picked up two varieties of ice cream on my next visit. Here’s what I purchased:

1. So Delicious Peanut Butter and Raspberry ice cream (made with oat milk)

2. So Delicious Coconut Macaroon ice cream (made with cashew milk)

Like the chocolate chip mousse that I wrote about last time, I really liked raspberry ripple ice cream growing up. So I liked the raspberry aspect of the Peanut Butter and Raspberry ice cream was really good for me. The peanut butter was a bit heavy, so I had to eat this ice cream in fairly small doses – but that’s actually a good thing ; ). The two flavors did work well together, though and it was only after eating it that I got the message that it was basically PB&J!

The Coconut Macaroon was basically as-advertised. The best thing about it was the little pieces of actual coconut macaroon mixed into it – giving it some texture and variety. It would be a nice alternative to vanilla for serving with pie.

So Delicious Peanut Butter and Raspberry ice cream – ingredients

Oatmilk (Filtered Water, Whole Oat Flour), Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Peanuts, Peanut Oil, Black Raspberries, Sugar, Pea Protein, Rice Starch, Natural Flavor, Salt, Black Currant Juice Concentrate, Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Citric Acid.

So Delicious Coconut Macaroon ice cream – ingredients

Organic Coconutmilk (Filtered Water, Organic Coconut), Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Cane Sugar, Organic Rice Starch, Organic Coconut, Palm Oil, Filtered Water, Pea Protein, Organic Sunflower Oil, Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor.

As mentioned in the post on So Delicious mousse, I was surprised that conventional ice cream (e.g., Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs) still contain trans fats (1 gram per serving for vanilla ice cream from both brands). Trans fats, as you probably know, have been strongly linked to heart disease as well as cancer and diabetes. These So Delicious ice creams contain quite a bit more sugar and fat than their mousse and other light desserts, but are still an improvement over dairy ice cream in that they contain some fiber, less total fat, zero cholesterol, and zero trans fat.

Ethical rating for So Delicious ice creams

Here’s a summary of how I feel about the social and environmental impact of So Delicious ice cream, which I’m scoring 4/5 Green Stars: 

• These ice creams are vegan, as are all So Delicious products.
• The top ingredients for both products (except for the oats) are certified organic.
• The So Delicious website provides a decent amount of info about packaging, including their use of plant-based plastic (from sugarcane) and post-consumer recycled or FSC-certified paperboard for some products. The ice cream pint containers are non-compostable (because of a thin plastic lining) and also non-recyclable in most places.
• So Delicious is part of Whitewave Foods, which is now owned by the French multinational food company, Danone Group. Danone Group, like many multinationals, is a mix of good and bad. The negatives are similar to those of Nestlé – bottled water and pushing infant formula in developing countries. But, overall, Danone looks better than Nestlé to me.
• Danone North America is a certified B-corporation, just about qualifying with a modest score of 84.9.
• Neither So Delicious nor Danone North America report on ingredient sourcing or corporate sustainability.
• The coconut macaroon flavor does contain a very small amount of palm oil, but the PB & Raspberry flavor doesn’t and, in general, So Delicious products don’t contain palm oil. The WWF gives Danone a pretty good score on its palm oil scorecard.

Summary scores (out of 5) for So Delicious Chocolate Chip Mousse:

• 4.5 gold stars for quality and value.
• 4 green stars for social and environmental impact

If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )