Chobani Review + Giveaway

Confession: if you were to peek into my refrigerator at any given time, you would find the middle shelf jammed full with a carton of eggs, a 12 pack of assorted sodas/ice tea/lemonade, a jar of olives, spreadable butter, and approximately 13 million containers of yogurt. Yes, 13 million as an exact figure. See, Ben and I are obsessed with yogurt. Literally.  I go through withdrawal if I run out. I can’t tell you how many times Ben has made “emergency” grocery trips after work for yogurt. Or milk or produce, but that’s another story.

In the past, I have always resisted from buying the good stuff. I stocked up on Kroger brand yogurt or snatched up the name brand stuff on sale with coupons, stockpiling a zillion containers on the aforementioned middle shelf for the coming weeks. A few times I had purchased greek yogurt [usually Yoplait or Dannon] on sale with a coupon, and enjoyed it, but couldn’t justify spending the extra $$$ just for yogurt. However, in the back of my mind I always thought about the big enchiladas of the yogurt world, like Chobani, that I had heard so many good things about via blogs and friends.

And then, one day not so long ago, my life changed. Forever. One bite of Chobani 2% Pineapple greek yogurt scored after a 10 for $10 sale at my local grocery store and I knew I couldn’t go back. Each bite was so delicious… so rich and creamy, with the perfect amount of real fruit in each bite. Think pomegranate arils or crushed pineapple. I couldn’t believe what I had been missing all these years. Silly frugality. [Kinda… :)] I drank the Kool-Aid, and I needed more.

Soon after this auspicious event, I emailed Chobani to let them know how happy their yogurt made me, and Emily hooked me up with a sample pack of their three newest varieties: Mango 2%, Black Cherry 0%, and Lemon 0%.

Ben and I promptly had a taste test of all three flavors to decide which was the best.

Mango was the clear winner, followed closely by Black Cherry. We loved the natural sweetness of the Mango, and found the real cherry flavor in the Black Cherry variety to be the best either of us have ever had. And that’s saying alot, since we are yogurt connoisseurs. The Lemon was not my favorite due to the inclusion of the actual lemon pulp, but it wasn’t inedible. I think it will be great to use in baking or in a smoothie. Even though we had clear favorites, all flavors of Chobani are winners due to these fun factoids:

• All natural. No preservatives. No artificial flavors.
• Free of synthetic growth hormones: No rBST-treated milk.
• Includes 5 live & active cultures, including 3 probiotics.
• Made with real fruit.
• Twice the protein of regular yogurts.
• A good source of bone-building calcium.
• Gluten-Free and Kosher-Certified.
• Safe for people with corn, nut and soy allergies.
• 10% of profits donated to charities worldwide.

Now Emiliy, on behalf of the nice folks at Chobani, has graciously offered to provide four (4) of my readers with three (3) free coupons each.  Each coupon is good for a 6 oz cup of Chobani and can be redeemed at your local grocery store.

There are up to two entries possible for this giveaway. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry so it is properly counted.

Here’s how you can enter.

1. Mandatory: Leave a comment telling me what flavor of Chobani is your favorite, or if you haven’t tried it yet, what you think your favorite will be.
2. Optional: Subscribe to my blog in a reader or by email. Links are on the right, underneath the search box. Already a subscriber? That works too! Just let me know how you subscribe in the comments.

Entries will be accepted until Saturday, April 9, 2011 at midnight Eastern time. Winner will be selected randomly through Random.org and will be contacted via email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before an alternate winner will be chosen.

Giveaway open only to residents of the United States.

Thanks and good luck!

Disclosure: I received a sample pack of Chobani for review purposes. I was not compensated to publish positive comments. My opinions are my own.