FOR SOME, INSTANT STUFFED CUPS OF FLAVORED SPUDS ARE DUDS.

Byline: Supermarket Sampler by Carolyn Wyman and Bonnie Tandy Leblang

Fantastic Foods Stuffed Mashed Potato Cups. Cheddar Cheese, Broccoli & Cheddar, Garlic & Herbs, and Sour Cream & Chives; $1.19 to $1.29 per 1.7-ounce cup.

Bonnie: Fantastic Foods has introduced a truly innovative new product: individual servings of instant mashed potatoes in a cup. Too bad it doesn't live up to expectations.

A skin-on potato is basically fat-free, while these potato cups have 3 grams of fat per serving and too many additives and flavorings (even though they are all natural and vegetarian.) In fact, I had a horrible off-taste in my mouth for hours after testing these, most likely from the natural flavor enhancer, yeast extract.

If you're looking for a healthy potato snack, skip these in favor of a baked potato.

Carolyn: The first company to put instant hot cereal into portable cups is now doing the same thing for topped baked potatoes. Fantastic Foods Stuffed Mashed Potato Cups are basically this fast-food treat mashed up and dried for later microwave rehydration.

While the cheese and vegetable toppings and other flavorings aren't as easy to see in this topsy-turvy form, they are easy to taste - so much so that I never once felt the need for butter. These are also much more filling than all the other microwavable lunch-in-a-cup alternatives.

Oh, if only all the healthy and natural foods we tried could be as innovative, tasty and convenient as those made by Fantastic Foods.

Nabisco Pretzel Air Crisps Crispy Baked Snacks; $2.49 per 7.5-ounce box.

Bonnie: Last year, Nabisco introduced chiplike versions of Cheese Nips and Ritz crackers that they named Air Crisps. Now they've given the Air Crisp treatment to my favorite snack food: pretzels. That means that they've flattened them so they're perfect for scooping.

With 22 of these fat-free pretzels providing one satisfying serving of only 110 calories, you can enjoy these almost guilt-free.

What does this mean for Nabisco's other dippable pretzel snack? Goodbye Mr. Phipps.

Carolyn: Smaller, less sinful Air Crisp snack versions of rich crackers such as Ritz and Wheat Thins I can understand, but to make one from a sinless snack like pretzels doesn't make any sense. In fact, pretzels need something ADDED to make them taste better, not something taken away.

These perfectly boring Pretzel Air Crisps - and Rold Gold's perfectly delicious flavored pretzels - are proof positive.

Michele's Syrups. Maple Creme and Butter Pecan; $2.79 per 12-ounce bottle.

Bonnie: The Indians taught the colonists how to tap maple trees for sap and evaporate it until it became maple syrup. Just a little goes a long way to top breakfast pancakes, French toast or waffles.

These new syrups from Michele have nothing to do with the maple syrup the colonists and Indians made, other than the sugar both contain. Real maple syrup is pure and natural; Michele's syrups are corn syrup and other sweeteners that have been thickened with gums, flavored artificially and stabilized with preservatives.

These also contain 70 percent more calories per tablespoon than the real thing.

Is there any question, then, which one I think you should use?

Carolyn: Trying differently flavored pancake syrup is part of the fun and novelty of going to chain breakfast restaurants. But like cheap-flavored coffees, Michele's weirdly fake-tasting Maple Creme and Butter Pecan syrups would wear on you if you ate them every day.

Thanks Michele, but I think I'll stick with Vermont Maid.