Every Thursday Shaw's supermarkets sell big loafs of french bread for just $1. These loafs are baked fresh that day in their store. At first glance it seems like a great deal but a close look at the ingredients delivers the truth.

Value

Getting a big loaf of bread for one measly dollar is a fantastic deal, but there is a downside. The bread contains high fructose corn syrup. Why Shaw's, why?

If you're on a super tight budget then this bread is OK but otherwise I'd send the extra $1.5 and get one of their loaves that does not contain HFCS.

Score: 3 / 5

Half of the loaf

Quality

The bread is baked fresh and is edible, but also contains that tell-tale empty cardboard-esque taste that comes with high fructose corn syrup. The bread is also not very crispy, but rather a bit soft and chewy. It stays well, as it's already not crispy, but it's simply not very tasty. I like my bread crispy on the outside and soft on the inside but this loaf was just soft all around, to the point I could bend it in half to stuff in my backpack without ruining it.

Score: 2 / 5

Innovation

I'd say offering loaves of bread for $1 is a great deal, except Whole Foods did the same thing for half this summer and their loaves were much, much tastier.

Score: 3 / 5

Social Benefit

Cheap bread is great and helps families, college students and others on tight budgets stretch each and every dollar, but at a price of eating high fructose corn syrup. Honestly, high fructose corn syrup is probably not the worst thing for us but it's certainly no better than sugar. For what it's worth I prefer natural foods and see natural as simply better than artificial.

Score: 2 / 5

Looks crispy crunchy...but it's not

Freestyle!

Lots of potential here but in the end Shaw's French Bread falls short.

Score: 8 / 22

Shaw's French Bread can be purchased at Shaw's supermarkets.

Complete Score: 18 / 42 = 43%

I had a craving for some fresh baked bread earlier today but did not want to make the trip all the way to Whole Foods so I decided to stop by Shaw's. After looking at a few loafs they had, I stumbled upon an iggy's bread of the world multi-seed demi-ficelle loaf. It was the last one they had and flexed nicely in my hand indicating it was baked sometime that day. Though the loaf was small and a bit expensive I bought it. Knowing I wouldn't feel super-full if I housed the whole thing (which I was likely to do) swayed me towards the purchase.

Value

Well, it was tasty and nutritious and fresh, but it was also $2.59 for a little itty bitty loaf! Still the bread has a good amount of carbohydrates per 2 ounce serving, with 26 out of 27 grams being from non-sugar sources. This loaf also contains 5 grams of protein and 10% of our daily iron need. So, it's not empty calories but it's still $2.59 for a very small loaf of bread!

Score: 2.5 / 5

Tasty, but small.

Quality

Upon removing the bread from its packaging, it was indeed quite fresh (though not warm). It sliced very nicely and easily. The first bite I took I was instantly smacked with an overwhelming flavor of sesame seeds. Indeed upon looking at the ingredients, sesame and flax were the only seeds listed, though it also contained caraway, which is seed-like. I'm a big fan of sesame seeds so the overpowering sesame flavor was not an issue, but I wish I'd taken a closer gander at the ingredients so I knew this was basically a sesame loaf.

Score: 4 / 5

iggy's bright orange text is hard to miss

Innovation

Bread is bread is bead, except when it's not bread. Have you ever taken a walk down your supermarket's aisle and explicitly tried to purchase a loaf of bread without high fructose corn syrup? Depending on your choice of super market, it can be an overwhelmingly difficult search. I'm not sure how far iggy's is distributed, but it's baked in Cambridge which is probably a big factor in its freshness. They get points for being local and avoiding the high fructose corn syrup but otherwise, it's still just a loaf of bread.

Score: 3 / 5

Social Benefit

Locally produced without high fructose corn syrup gains iggy's a few socially beneficial points, but the high price of this loaf detracts it from feeding the masses on a daily basis. Still, the bread has good ingredients and should be noted as significantly better for you than otherwise empty calories. The web-site for iggy's bread states that they've applied for a grant for a bio diesel generator, which is at least a good step in the right direction.

The site also notes that iggy's donates any bread leftover at their stores at the end of the day to local food pantries and soup kitchens, which is admirable. Less waste plus helping those less fortunate in their community is a positive impact on society. Any other food waste that cannot be donated, iggy's stores and gives to local farmers to use as compost or farm feed.

Score: 3.75 / 5

Freestyle!

Well, I housed the whole loaf in under an hour so I did enjoy it (though I was quite hungry at the time), but it was a very small volume of bread so it's not all that much of an accomplishment. Though I enjoyed this loaf, it's unlikely I'll ever purchase it again due to it's small size and relatively high cost.

Score: 15 / 22

iggy's bread is available at local markets such as Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods and also in iggy's bakeries located in Cambridge and Somerville.

Complete Score: 28.25 / 42 = 67.3%