Cheat Codes

Six best-in-class swaps for your everyday staples.

Every so often you find an ingredient that does the work for you — one move, and dinner, the grill, the snack board, or the morning cup is instantly better. No technique required, no recipe to memorize. This crate is six of them. Wok 'n' Tadka turns any bowl into something you'll think about later. La Fundidora brings fresh Mexican flavor in a jar. Big Tree Farm bottles a Bali barbecue you didn't have to smoke. Everyday Dose upgrades the same cup of coffee you already reach for. Top Seedz makes five minutes of prep look like a spread. And Rotten proves a cheat code can be pure fun. These are the shortcuts that make everything taste better — keep them in reach.

Chili Crunch // Wok 'n' Tadka // Atlanta, GA

Wok 'n' Tadka's chili crunch is the "put it on everything" cheat code — a crispy chili oil built on tadka, the centuries-old Indian technique of blooming spices in oil to unlock layer after layer of flavor. Founder Joan Chua grew up in the Philippines in a Chinese household, then discovered tadka after marrying into an Indian family — and Wok 'n' Tadka is that collision of traditions on a spoon. The foundation is organic extra-virgin olive oil, slowly steeped with spices, then layered with real garlic and shallots, premium peppers, gluten-free tamari, and a blend of sesame, flax, hemp, and pumpkin seeds for the signature crunch. No seed oils, no MSG, no added sugar. It comes in three heat levels — Mild, Spicy, and Extra Spicy — so everyone finds their crunch. Spoon it over fried eggs, noodles, pizza, dumplings, tacos, roasted vegetables, sandwiches, grilled meats, or grain bowls.

What makes Wok 'n' Tadka a Cheat Code?

Their whole philosophy — Crunch Better™ — is basically a cheat-code manifesto: never choose between incredible flavor and ingredients you feel good about. Like a lot of home cooks, Joan kept turning the chili-crunch jar around to read a label full of cheap seed oils and fillers, so she built the alternative: bold, unforgettable flavor from ingredients chosen with care so everyday meals become memorable.

Salsas & Cooking Sauces // La Fundidora

La Fundidora is two cheat codes from one maker. Created in Brooklyn and made in Mexico, it's fresh, small-batch Mexican cooking with no chemicals, no sweeteners, and nothing that doesn't belong — from founders Vitali and Lorena Meschoulam, both Mexico City natives who started in their Williamsburg apartment. Half the lineup is table salsa for instant flavor: Fresca, a bright tomatillo verde; Fuego, a medium-hot red; Humo, smoky chipotle; plus Luna and Ambar. The other half is cooking sauces (marinades) — Pastor, Annatto, Chipotle, and Spicy Plum — built to be used before the flame, not straight from the jar. The move couldn't be easier: coat your protein, let it sit at least 30 minutes (longer is better), then BBQ, roast, grill, or slow-cook until done. Spoon the salsas over tacos and eggs; marinate with the rest and let the oven do the work.

What makes La Fundidora a Cheat Code?

It covers both ends of the shortcut — instant and hands-off. The salsas bring taqueria-level brightness the second you open the jar; the marinades do all the flavor-building for you while dinner cooks itself. Most jarred salsa trades flavor for shelf life — La Fundidora refuses the trade with real produce and traditional recipes, so whether you're dipping a chip or glazing a pork shoulder, one jar does the heavy lifting.

Bali BBQ Sauce // Big Tree Farm

Big Tree Farm's Bali BBQ is barbecue without the barbecue — and without the tomato. It didn't start in a smokehouse; it started on the street-side grills of Bali, where chicken skewers and caramelizing pork are brushed with garlic, ginger, tamarind, and coconut nectar before they meet coconut-shell charcoal. Instead of tomatoes and molasses, Big Tree Farm built this sauce from Indonesia's pantry: organic Coconut Aminos for deep, naturally fermented umami (no soy), coconut nectar and coconut sugar for balanced sweetness, tamarind for brightness, and garlic, ginger, onion, turmeric, lemongrass, and Balinese chilies for layer after layer of flavor. It's unmistakably barbecue — from an entirely different point of view — with no soy, no gluten, and no refined sugar. Brush it on ribs, chicken, burgers, and vegetables… then start drizzling it over fried rice, noodles, pizza, and eggs, because you will.

What makes Big Tree Farm a Cheat Code?

They call it "Elevated Street Food Sauce," and it's exactly that — centuries of Balinese grill tradition, bottled. Big Tree Farm spent nearly two decades building one of the world's first vertically integrated coconut supply chains alongside 20,000+ Indonesian farmers, all around Nira, the sweet nectar tapped from coconut blossoms. The cheat code: a complex, umami-forward, better-for-you barbecue sauce that makes anything taste like it came off a Bali grill — the kind people buy for ribs, then put on everything.

Coffee+ // Everyday Dose

Everyday Dose's Coffee+ is the cheat code for a sharper morning — the same cup you already reach for, quietly upgraded. It's a functional coffee blend with about half the caffeine of a normal cup, built to give calm, focused energy instead of a jittery spike and crash. The upgrades are stirred right in: Lion's Mane and Chaga mushroom extracts (double-extracted for potency), L-Theanine to smooth the caffeine, and grass-fed collagen protein. It's third-party tested for heavy metals, mold, and mycotoxins, and drinks smoother and less bitter than standard coffee — mellow, lightly chocolatey, easy. Whisk it with hot water, froth it into a latte with your milk of choice, pour it over ice, or blend it into a morning smoothie.

What makes Everyday Dose a Cheat Code?

Five supplements' worth of function in one scoop you were going to drink anyway. Founder Jack Savage built it in his dad's garage, chasing a single daily ritual that could do the work of a cabinet full of pills. That's the shortcut: you don't change your habit, you just upgrade it — same morning coffee, now working a little harder for you.

Grab & Go Seed Crackers // Top Seedz

Top Seedz crackers are the instant snack cheat code — now built for a bag, a desk drawer, or a back pocket. This crate's single-serve Grab & Go packs come in Sea Salt and Black Pepper + Turmeric: thin, toasty, seed-powered crackers (not flour with a few seeds thrown in) designed to slot into a busy day — lunch, the workday, travel, a post-workout snack, a hike, a road trip — or alongside soup, salad, cheese, hummus, or your favorite dip. Every product is made with Certified USDA Organic ingredients and is gluten-free, vegan, Kosher, and nut-free, with a clean, simple label you can actually read. Satisfying crunch, wholesome ingredients, and great taste without compromising on nutrition.

What makes Top Seedz a Cheat Code?

Better-for-you snacking that asks nothing of you. Top Seedz is on a mission to create health and happiness in everyBODY through clean, nutrient-dense food that never sacrifices taste — and the Grab & Go pack is that mission made portable. Rebecca Brady, a New Zealand transplant and mother of three, started selling these at a Buffalo farmers market in 2017; today they're a sofi Award-winning, nationally stocked brand built on real substance, right down to a Buffalo workforce that's largely refugees from 20+ countries. The cheat code: organic, seed-powered crunch that's ready the second you are.

Gummies // Rotten // USA

Rotten is the cheat code for the good kind of trouble — the sweet-and-sour hit that closes out the meal, minus the sugar crash. Wrapped in gleefully gross-out, '90s-slime branding, it's a genuinely better-for-you candy: sour gummy worms with roughly 60% less sugar than the classics, sweetened with low-glycemic allulose, monk fruit, and chicory-root fiber, plus a little prebiotic fiber and plant protein along for the ride. Colors come from turmeric, spirulina, and sweet potato, and it's gluten-free. Flavors like Barfin' Blue Raspberry, Weirdo Watermelon, and Scary Cherry deliver the full tangy, sour-sanded, chewy experience. Keep a bag in the desk drawer, toss them over frozen yogurt, or pour a movie-night bowl without the guilt.

What makes Rotten a Cheat Code?

All the nostalgia, none of the junk. Founder Michael Fisher spent years reformulating a candy that hits exactly like the worms you grew up on, then quietly swapped the sugar bomb for fiber and better sweeteners. That's the shortcut: a treat you can actually reach for on repeat — proof that the last cheat code in the box is allowed to just be fun.