TASK DEFINITION: You are given a review of Amazon's food products. Your task is to divide them into two classes: negative or positive, depending on the content of the review.
PROBLEM: I wanted to like this item and had seen the generally favorable reviews.  I loaded it with some liver treats and opened our front door to offer it to my dog-- she grabbed the rope and released it...and it fell about two feet onto the step and cracked!  I was pretty surprised it took that little to break it.  The crack was on the screw-in bottom so it spread and basically the bottom broke and it was useless...back to Amazon, sorry!  Maybe a rubber guard for the bottom would make this a better product?

SOLUTION: Negative

PROBLEM: The only other flavored coffee I've used was Nestle Hazelnut. It too was a 5# whole bean.  I really enjoyed that one and thought I pick this one up.  Where the Nestle's shared flavor with the bean this one overpowers.  This one has a burnt note that seems flavoring instead of roast related. I like hazelnuts and this a isn't anything like hazelnut  Now I have 5# of the stuff.  My mistake!  More Info: I am about 3/4 of the way through the bag.  My opinion has not changed.  Also, I would note a very inconsistent flavor.  Today's grind seems almost devoid of the flavoring.  It appears they really don't have the adding of flavoring down.  The intensity of the flavoring is all over the park.

SOLUTION: Negative

PROBLEM: I am thorougly disgusted with Betty Crocker for this product (Gluten-free Bisquick), which is a shame, because I do applaud them for their excellent cake, cookie, and brownie mixes.  I'm not upset with them for for coming out with a gluten-free baking mix, but for:  #1) marketing it as though it's an equivalent to Bisquick and #2) for pricing it so ridiculously high.  Ingredients for regular Bisquick: Enriched flour, Partiallly hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil, leavening, dextrose, salt.  Ingredients for gluten-free Bisquick:  Rice Flour, Sugar, Leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), Modified Potato Starch, Salt, Xanthan Gum  Notice anything missing from the ingredients of gluten-free Bisquick? Yup, that's right--there's no shortening (or oil).  That was the whole point of the original Bisquick--a baking mix that ALREADY HAD THE SHORTENING MIXED IN.  That avoids the longest and messiest step of baking things like biscuits  That is why people buy baking mixes--for that specific convenience.  Betty Crocker has decided to leave out the shortening (or oil) altogether, even though shortening (or oil) is always naturally gluten-free. So they can't pretend it's a safety-for-celiacs factor.  It's a cost-savings to them, pure and simple.  Here's the breakdown of what you're paying $5 a pound for: rice flour (99 cents a pound at my local Asian store), sugar ($2.88 for a 5 pound bag at Walmart) , potato starch (also 99 cents a pound at the Asian store), baking powder ($3.19 a pound at Emergency Essentials), salt ($2 for 26 ounces of Morton's), xanthan gum ($10.45 for 4 ounce on Amazon).  Yes, xanthan gum is expensive--but very, very little is needed; a 16-ounce box of gluten-free Bisquick would contain about a teaspoon of xanthan gum--maybe 20 cents' worth of xanthan gum.  Betty Crocker is charging over 5 times what it would cost you to make their "mix" at home, while eliminating the major convenience factor (and cost to themselves, but not to you) of their regular baking mix.  I don't mind their making a fair profit, especially if the product really WERE the equivalent of regular Bisquick.  But they're gouging us, and being misleading about the product.  MAKE YOUR OWN, EASILY, AND FOR LESS THAN 20% OF WHAT THEY CHARGE!  Since there's no oil in gluten-free Bisquick, you can easily stir up an equivalent, make 5 pounds (or more!) at a time, with very little effort, and it will keep for several months.  Or, if you want a REAL Bisquick substitutes, betterbatter.org has a recipe on the site for a cup-for-cup substitute for Bisquick that DOES use shortening and non-fat dry milk powder.  Or you can use buttermilk powder, or even Vance's dairy-free powder.  It makes 10 cups at a time, stores well, and you don't have to use their gluten-free flour--you can use any gluten-free flour replacement you want (like rice flour and potato starch from your local Asian store, mixed with an appropriate amount of xanthan gum, about 1/2 teaspoon for every two cups).  To find the recipe, do a google search of "betterbatter Bisquick Substitute Master Mix."  Boo on Betty Crocker.

SOLUTION:
Negative