Adam Chandler calls himself a refined sugar traditionalist. He grew up on Reese's cups, M&Ms and gummy bears, and he wasn't looking to change. Then he walked the candy aisle for the Journal's Off Duty section. Today it's full of odd textures, viral imports from overseas and fancy remakes of brand names. He came back with seven swaps for the Halloween bowl, each with a price.
Start with the three we'd put out first. Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups stand in for Reese's at $3.99 for a 3.5-ounce bag. The dark shell cuts the sweetness, and there's no cloying aftertaste. His review runs three words. “They're good, OK?” Béquet Caramels, made in small batches in Montana, replace Cow Tales at $6.25 for a 3.6-ounce pouch. They melt instead of sticking to your teeth, and the sea-salt kind is his favorite. Greyston Blondies replace Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme bars at $2.49 each. He first found them at Whole Foods. After he shared a batch at work, some co-workers came back for seconds, thirds and fourths.
The gelatin question
The other four need a closer look at the label in a lot of homes, ours included. Albanese Gummi Bears replace Haribo at $13.99 for 30 one-ounce bags. Chandler says buy the small packs over Costco's (COST) 5-pound bag, or they'll vanish. Amos Peelerz, $1.79 for a 2.3-ounce bag, are the TikTok candy teens peel in two layers, and the paper says those layers are built on gelatin. Sockerbit Marshmallows, $2.89 for a 1.6-ounce bag, are the viral Swedish kind, and only some varieties are made without gelatin. Gelatin is often pork, so a halal or kosher household reads the label before any gummy goes in the bowl. The last pick is the bargain of the list. Jujube Nougat Candies replace Dots at $1.69 for a 5.5-ounce box, a milky nougat folded with bits of red date.
Our read
This is a Cash Flow · M5 story, kept light. Halloween is a small line in the year, and the aisle is built to make it bigger. The list has a lesson in it. By our math, the 5.5-ounce box at $1.69 is the cheapest per ounce here, and the 30-pack at $13.99 comes next. The 1.6-ounce marshmallow bag at $2.89 costs the most per ounce, about six times the jujube box. The sticker looks tiny. The unit price doesn't. That's the same math as every shelf in the store. The unit price on the tag is the honest number, and the sticker is the pretty one.
The thing in your own plan this story touches is the holiday line in your October and December cash flow. It's small, and it's the line that quietly runs over every year because nobody set a number for it. This week, pull last year's card statement, add up the Halloween candy and costume charges, and write that number into the plan. Then shop the bowl by unit price. On this list, the $1.69 jujube box gives you about six times the candy per dollar of the $2.89 marshmallow bag. If the holiday lines keep running over, bring last year's statements to your next review and we'll set the numbers together.