Growing up as a kid in my parents’ house, we knew we hit it big if Dreyer’s ice cream was in our freezer. Now, to be fair, it wasn’t a rare occasion when we had ice cream in the house but when we did it was usually of the generic, store-brand variety. Not that us kids cared too much—ice cream was ice cream. However, we were aware enough to know (and taste) that Dreyer’s was a step up from Albertson’s ice cream and that if it was in our freezer, it meant my mom probably scored a deal.

As I grew older, moved out, and started a family, I maintained my high regard for Dreyer’s (or Edy’s when I lived on the east coast). I considered it premium ice cream and would buy it occasionally on special occasions.

Sloan scooping out some dessert courtesy of Dreyer’s last week. As you will learn as you read on, Dreyer’s is no longer technically ice cream.

However, over the past several months something started to happen that I didn’t put totally together until recently. When I would go to the grocery store, Dreyer’s ice cream was marked down. And it wasn’t like the ice cream containers looked damaged or out of date. Quite the contrary actually. New flavors had been introduced and the packaging looked as fresh as ever.

Funny enough, the discounted Dreyer’s wasn’t an anomaly at a specific grocery store. Instead, it seemed like everywhere from Safeway to WinCo to Rosauers was offering “sales” on Dreyer’s ice cream. Containers were running under $3 at all these stores and were less expensive than their own in-house brands.

Over the weekend I took a photo of the Dreyer’s ice cream at WinCo. As the case has been over the past several months, all the containers were under $3.

The cheaper ice cream registered in my brain but nothing too jarring that made me want to do research or write a blog post (😉) about it. That was until a couple weeks ago when I took our latest supply of Dreyer’s ice cream out of the freezer and noticed something on the packaging. What caught my eye was actually something that negates a term I have been using this entire blog post.

Dreyer’s is no longer ice cream. Rather, it is a frozen dairy dessert.

As you can tell from the packaging (look down at the bottom), Dreyer’s is now a “frozen dairy dessert.”

The FDD designation wasn’t entirely new to me. I have seen it on other ice cream-imitators (and knew what it meant) but I was shocked that Dreyer’s, a once-prestigious ice cream giant, would resort to such a change.

The difference between ice cream and a frozen dairy dessert is straight-forward and objective: the former must contain at least 10% milkfat with limited air while the latter can fall below the milkfat threshold and whip in more air.

Here is another angle of our Dreyer;s “frozen dairy dessert” container that clearly shows the designation.

Yes friends, ice cream uses a higher quantity of quality ingredients and packs in the good stuff while a frozen dairy dessert cuts costs by substituting milkfat with vegetable oils.

Thus, the results are obvious—frozen dairy desserts are less expensive and the reason why a once proud company’s signature product is now coming in at a lower price than its generic competition.

So does my “shock” at the Dreyer’s decision translate to disappointment? To be honest, from a consumer standpoint, my answer is no. I actually appreciate the lower price and really can’t tell that much of a difference in the taste. Don’t Blink.