I ate the McDonald’s Grinch Meal so you don’t have to (except the socks)
The new Grinch Meal from McDonald's is basically a flashy combo meal with a kit to make your own pickle-flavored fries. They're prickly, pickly and a little abrasive. But I can see the appeal — sort of like the Grinch in general.
Overall, the promotion ends up alarmingly faithful to the source material. It starts out as a cold, uncaring jerk that's perniciously sour before redeeming itself right at the very end.
Sure, you get a cool, colorful box. But you also do not get served any new foods in it. Instead, you get a pair of socks and a packet of "Grinch Salt," which is pickle-flavored seasoning.
So if you heard about the "Grinch Fries" and are excited to try them, be prepared. You're going to have to do some work yourself.
The whole thing is like getting a last-minute present from that flaky relative who flew in and forgot to actually buy a present. So they just bought something at the Hudson News.
"Merry Christmas. Here's a pair of socks and some weird salt in a big box. Also, I put a cheeseburger and fries in the same box as the socks. Hope that's not weird or anything."
McDonald's Grinch Meal | Review
So what is McDonald's offering with the Grinch Meal, exactly? It's a combo meal that includes:
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Your choice of a Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets
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An order of fries in a normal container
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A packet of "Grinch Salt"
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An empty paper bag to make "McShaker Fries"
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Your choice of a drink
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A pair of Grinch-themed socks
The gimmick here is that the customer gets to take the fries from the normal red packet, pour them into the "McShaker" bag, pour in the contents of the "Grinch Salt" packet and then shake the bag to season the fries.
The opening of the "McShaker" bag is only slightly larger than the container for a large order of fries. It's like pouring the contents of one water bottle into another water bottle. There's a real chance of a spud spillage.
This can either be a fun activity or a big pain in the butt. It's like my stubborn insistence about Christmas trees. Sure, getting a fake tree is cheaper and easier. Still, you'd better believe I woke up at 7 a.m. on Black Friday to drive out to a farm one town over for the opportunity to lie on the frozen ground with the saw and battle a pine tree.
What does it taste like?
The Big Mac I got was just a normal Big Mac. Meanwhile, I decided eating the socks was probably not a wise decision. I'm trying to get more fiber in my diet, but that might not be the right kind.
Let's talk fries. I managed to transfer my fries with minimal casualties to gravity and shake them up with the salt. Overall, I got a decent coating of the green flavor dust that came in the packet.
Taste-wise, the season fries are a punchy, briny pop of sour flavor. It's an astringent jolt of vinegar on the front end with a relatively mild wave of dill flavor coming in afterward.
The seasoning makes these fries pretty punchy. They reminded me of salt and vinegar potato chips with a little lean into dill at the end.
So is it any good?
People will either love these or hate these. It really depends on how much you like sour pickle flavorings.
I can see the appeal. The sensation of going from sour to salty to savory is weirdly addicting.
I just wish they dialed the vinegar down a little and bumped the dill up a little bit more.
The final word
Like I said earlier, the Grinch Meal is a big jerk at the beginning, but eventually redeems itself.
My initial impression was one of annoyance that I had to shake things up myself. But I found it to be a fun little exercise. I honestly liked having an activity. Plus, I could easily adjust the amount of seasoning in the future and drop it down to half or 3/4 of a packet.
Would I order this again? Probably not. But I'm also not one of those people who watch "A Christmas Story" every year.
In both cases, I don't see the appeal. But don't let that stop you from having fun and enjoying either one.
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"I ate it so you don't have to" is a regular food column about off-beat eats, both good and bad. I picked the name years ago and now we're sort of stuck with it.
You can send any praise/food suggestions to nomalley@masslive.com . Please send all criticisms and complaints about Nick not liking "A Christmas Story" to mgrimala@masslive.com. You can check out the rest of the series here .
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