Some say the best things in life are free. But that can’t really be true, because food is one of the best things in life and it is rarely ever free. And when you really think about it, is anything really ever free? I mean, maybe it doesn’t cost you money, but it could cost you time, or effort, which are sometimes costlier than actual money. But I digress, this is not a philosophy blog (or IS IT?!), this is a food blog of the highest standards, which is why when Jack in the Box said they were giving away their new sandwiches for free yesterday I took a ride to try them out.

Of course, this wasn’t completely free. To get my sandwich, I had to order a large drink. The cup was about the size of my head and liquid that would fill it could probably also fill the bladders of two adult men. Nevertheless, the $1.99 for the drink was a small-ish price to pay for a sandwich ordinarily priced at $3.99. Of the two sandwiches available, I went with the Turkey, Bacon and Cheddar. This came with those three things, plus a sun-dried tomato sauce. Rather than order without the sauce because of the tomatoey name, I hoped this would be more sauce than tomato so it would meet my unvegan standards.

The sandwich was ready by the time I filled up my giant cup with Strawberry Fanta and I already knew this would be no ordinary sandwich. True to its fast food roots, the grease was already penetrating the wrapper. I tore it open to get a good look at the thing for the first time. The first thing I noticed was the intense, yet saliva-inducing scent. Then I saw that the sun-dried tomato sauce was more of an afterthought and not tomato sauce in the traditional sense. It was hardly even red in color and more like a pink cream sauce. I bit in and was actually surprised. This fast food sandwich reminded me of how I used to make grilled cheese in a pan on the stove. The bread was totally loaded with butter or some buttery substitute, but was still nice and crunchy. The inside had a nice blend of ingredients without shorting any of the elements.

I wouldn’t substitute this sandwich for anything gourmet or unique, but for a fast food place, they actually did a pretty decent job of putting together a sandwich. My main issue was that this sandwich could easily be made at home. Usually when I go out to eat, I try to get food that I couldn’t whip up in my own kitchen, which is quite limited due to my unfortunate cooking skills, yet does include sandwiches of this sort. But hey, they could have done a whole lot worse.

***Congrats to And/Or, the winner of the free T-Shirt, look out for it.***

There are a lot of t-shirt companies out in the world that try to create funny and ironic shirts. Not nearly enough of them make shirts that so hilariously depict the plight of unvegans. The crew at Snorgtees.com has some great unvegan shirts, though, and they were nice enough to send me a couple for myself. In the spirit of community, and as a way to reward my loyal readers, I thought I would throw a bit of contest to win one of the shirts.

Read on to participate!

So here’s the deal. Check out the picture above and see if you can come up with a good caption. Put that caption as your comment and I’ll choose the best one to win* the Meat is Neat shirt. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form so I can contact you after. Good luck!

*Free shipping only in the continental US. Otherwise you’re on your own for shipping.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Country Bob’s, Inc., a little company looking to get the word out on their sauce, Country Bob’s All-Purpose Sauce. They loved my blog (obviously) and wanted to send me some free sauce to write about. Being a shameless sell-out, I jumped at the offer.

I researched the company a bit (ie. checked the website) and found that Country Bob gave a whole lot of credit for his success to God. Hey, if athletes can do it, why not sauce-makers? I also found on the website that Christ himself had risen through the ranks of Country Bob’s to become CEO. I’m not sure if he usurped the title from Country Bob himself, but Bob seemed to have no problem putting “Christ is our CEO” on the website.

After about a week, my package of sauces came in the mail. I decided a Labor Day BBQ would be the perfect chance to test out the sauce and to get a range of opinions, specifically from my Jewish friends. To complete the holy trinity of monotheistic religions present at the meal, I picked up some Halal ground beef to make burger patties.

After a few minutes of grilling, the tasting was ready to begin. I opened up a bottle and poured it onto my plate. It was runnier than the average BBQ sauce, but had a higher viscosity than your typical steak sauce. I dipped my burger in it for the first taste, slightly fearful that the presence of Christ would burn my Jewish mouth. Fortunately for Country Bob, Christ and myself, the sauce did not burn. In fact, it was pretty tasty. I found it to be a bit on the sweet side, to the point where it probably would have been better on some chicken. But I still opened up my burger and dumped it on as my condiment du jour.

As my companions around the table tried out the sauce, I gathered some insightful comments.

Alyson, a 27-year old Jew working in the insurance business said, “I like Bob, it makes me think twice about Christ.”

Danny, a 24-year old Jew working in talent management said, “Tangy. Maybe too tangy.”

Sarah, a 29-year old Jew working in catering was overheard saying, “Can you please pass the Christ sauce? It’s really good.”

Overall, that’s a pretty positive judgment. Usually BBQ sauce is my top condiment for a cook-out, but Country Bob’s is not a shabby substitute if I’m in the mood for something sweeter.I know Country Bob would have been especially proud to know he had been paired up with the friendly monk on the Franziskaner Beer label.

Click on that picture to the left to get a free Pulled Pork Slider coupon from White Castle. The coupon is good through June 30th and looks pretty damn good.

I have a hard time believing you can make a real slider out of pulled pork, but since White Castle burgers are true sliders, maybe they are on to something…

*Update: It looks like they are also offering free regular sliders through July 12th. Check out the coupon here. Thanks to AHT for the info.

(via Gizmodo)

(via Gizmodo)