Weekly Pickups: No-bread PB&J and protein jam
+ "the hot girl with a deep voice" in perfume form...
It’s a weird day (to say the least) to be writing a newsletter sharing the silly little snacks we tried this week. It’s been a harrowing week and month to simply exist as a human in the US.
We are a far cry from the capital-J Journalists who are bravely exposing ICE’s blatant violence against our nation’s immigrant communities. But we have a small platform, and we want to use it to acknowledge this moment.
The reality is: Food is political. Being a consumer is political. When all feels hopeless, it’s worth remembering that you have power as a consumer. You can vote with your dollar. You can support immigrant-founded brands. You can support brands donating to immigrant causes. You can also simply share information and resources, call your senators to defund ICE, or donate directly to impacted communities within Minnesota.
In the meantime, we hope this newsletter offers a moment of levity and brief reprieve in the darkness. If you know of any immigrant-led brands—or brands supporting immigrant causes—that we can shoutout or support, please let us know by replying to this email.
Nate’s Pickup:
BamJam (+ Honorary Mentions: Hero Bread & One Trick Pony)
This week I decided to protein-max my lunch. Because it wouldn’t be 2026 if I didn’t. You know? I combined Hero Bread (which I featured last week in Weekly Pickups), One Trick Pony (the best PB on the market, also featured in Weekly Pickups), and this week’s main pickup: BamJam! I’ve been excited to finally try this one since I’m an advisor to the company. I bought some jars at PopUp Grocer and I connected with founder Christian about a year ago before he had finalized products, so it’s pretty cool to see this come to fruition. Oh, and if you’re wondering—each slice clocks in at around 22g of protein. YEAH BABY!
Quick Facts: As it says on the jar, it’s a protein-packed fruit spread (technically “spread” and not “jam” because the FDA requires jams to be at least 55% sugar). Each serving packs 8g of protein from grass-fed bovine collagen, has no added sugar, and gets all its sweetness from real fruit—all for around 70 calories.
Reasons to love:
Protein where you least expect it. It’s another convenient way to sneak protein into your diet that’s very tasty and familiar. We’ve seen protein infiltrate literally everything from soda to ice cream, so spreads and condiments was the natural next step —shout out She’s The Sauce. You’re already reaching for the jar to make breakfast or a snack, so why not get some extra nutrition out of it? Idk I like protein in more things, it’s fun.
Real fruit, real simple. I love how freaking simple it is. The ingredient list is refreshingly short, and you can actually taste the fruit and not just sweetness masking a bunch of additives. And look I don’t mind a long ingredient list at all, but for a jam-type product I like it shorter. It’s sweet but also tart, which gives it that homemade jam quality. The fact that all the sweetness comes from the fruit itself (no added sugar, and a little monk fruit) means you’re getting some flavor complexity.
Family-friendly without trying too hard. Here’s what I really appreciate about Bam Jam: it doesn’t feel like it’s marketed at some beefcake gym bros. The branding is warm and approachable (done by DayJob). It’s giving more “packed lunch for the kids” than “post-workout macro tracking.” I could totally see this being a staple in family kitchens, stirred into yogurt or spread on a PB&J for school. I think Mommy bloggers are going to have a field day with this one.
Where to buy: Online and at select retailers such as PopUp GrocerJenna’s Pickup:
Jenna’s Pickup:
Mid-Day Squares - No Bread PB&J Strawberry
I have been a fan of Mid-Day Squares (affectionately cited hereinafter as MDS) since I got into CPG in 2020. The brand came out of the gates hot with loud, bold content featuring the three co-founders (siblings Jake and Lezlie, plus Lezlie’s husband Nick). Since its inception, they’ve shared every single high and low of their journey building a functional chocolate snack brand—including owning and operating their own manufacturing plant (a rarity in emerging CPG) and expanding from their small Montreal beginnings to nationwide distribution in the US.
In my opinion, MDS basically invented founder-led content in CPG. They were unhinged before “unhinged” became an aspirational description thrown around by corporate social media teams. They effortlessly maintained perceived quality of a premium-priced product while being unabashedly authentic online—pulling stunts like responding to Hershey’s cease-and-desist with a MTV-style-diss-track-turned-NFT. (Side note: I actually wrote about this in 2022 in my magazine for Startup CPG, The Spotlight).
MDS has repeatedly defied and reset the standards for brand marketing throughout its lifetime. So it only makes sense that it would defy its own rules: moving from a “functional chocolate bar” company into a broader snack bar company with the launch of its latest bar: No Bread PB&J.
Quick Facts: The name says it all: a quintessential PB&J, sans bread. A perfectly-sized refrigerated snack bar with a creamy peanut butter base and a slab of strawberry jam spread on top.
Reasons to love:
A brilliant pivot. MDS made its name in chocolate. But when cocoa prices shot up and margins thinned, the team decided it was time to expand into its first chocolate-free bar to become less reliant on a shaky supply chain. This pivot maintained their OG bars’ function, look, and standards—dairy-free, gluten-free, clean ingredients, a boost of protein and fiber—but reimagined it without its core ingredient. MDS built its way up to becoming the functional chocolate snack brand, yet managed to effortlessly pivot out of chocolate without losing a single smidge of differentiation, identity, or ethos. That’s! So! Impressive!!!
Marketing at its finest. PB&J is trending as a flavor—Barebells recently came out with a PB&J protein bar, multiple Uncrustables competitors have made it to market, even Mid-Day Sqaures’ refrigerated-bar-category peer Perfect Bar has a PB&J flavor. And the reality is, other PB&J SKUs of snack brands are also free of bread. But MDS didn’t market this as a PB&J “flavor”; they launched it as a standalone innovation, a culinary feat of PB&J innards without a vehicle.
Nailed the texture. I was admittedly a little concerned about how a bread-free PB&J would hold up, texturally. Both peanut butter and jelly are a—famously—gooey, stuck-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth consistency. And yet, you can open this package without fear of finger residue. The jelly layer is smooth, while the peanut butter layer is compact and chewy with some crunchy peanut bits—almost like a dry fudge or cookie. Just check out that bite mark if ya don’t believe me. 🤷♀️
And it should go without saying, but… taste. Just like its bready counterpart, this bar is a little sweet, a little salty, and freshly fruity with a hint of baked-good goodness.
Where to buy: Target stores nationwide or online!
(and Nate agrees with everything Jenna just said)
✨ Special Guest ✨ Benjamin Chipman
Benjamin Chipman is a New York City-based creative entrepreneur, actor, and marketing strategist who has built a prominent brand around the "creator economy" and the Gen Z workplace experience. Chances are, you know him from his iconic TikTok presence (@benchipman5), where he shares content about life in your 20s and personal growth. And if you don’t know him, you’ll definitely want to follow for glimpses into his self-proclaimed “exceptional” taste (allow us to one-up that with “impeccable.”).
So we obviously had to ask what this tastemaker has been loving lately… →
What is it? I recently got “Lover“ from The Maker, a scent that is described as woody scent that evokes a warm embrace. And let me tell you one thing, this scent is sexy, but not overdoing it. This is the kinda thing that lingers when you leave the room in a way that leaves people wanting more. The brand itself, though, is fascinating as well. They are principally a hotel company that was so interested in the experience of their rooms/hotels that they made scents to match their rooms and create a full-on experience on the senses. The attention to detail is SO apparent in their gorgeous shop in Chelsea and in the complexities of their scents.
What about this product intrigued you? It’s playfully androgynous, with notes like fig and jasmine that lean on the feminine, but then oud and vetiver that ground it in a more masculine scent. I’d say this is the hot girl with the deep voice. In true, Maker-spirit, they did pairings of the scents and the gummy flavors, and so the combo here was just such a delight on the senses, and this was something I could imagine wanting somebody to be wearing if we were stuck in an elevator together. And let’s be honest, that should be the real arbiter whether or not you buy a perfume.
Why do you love it? I love the androgyny behind it. It is flexible to go day-to-night and lets you dress it up or play it off casually. I would tell people that it’ll get them to date two. Or help someone actually ask them out in person, rather than on the apps.
In this week’s episode of The Curious Consumer…
Thanks for reading! Anything you think we should try for an upcoming edition of Express Checkout? Email us at hello@expresscheckout.co