One of the most challenging things, if you are playing for the first time, is not being able to see what the items do. Incidentally, I was playing on a small device and I wasn't able to see the description in the top left about what the items did so I ended up on my first few runs having my game basically thrown when I picked items like "Skull". I think you should add a mode (or something in the next game) where you can't see the items you're taking nor what value they have.
For example, instead of specifying Omelette, Apple, Carrot, or Rotten Meat, it would just say "Food." This means that a) your whole strategy could get blown apart by one item and b) you could get a potentially negative item - so you have to weigh it carefully.
Other ideas:
"Ring" - Protection, Vitality, Courage, Greed
"Shield" - Don't know the value, or it could be things like Cursed Shield, Rusty Shield, or Shiny Shield.
"Health Potion" - Don't know the value, and it could be things like Rotten Meat
"Monster Parts" - Monster Eye, Monster Scales, Skull
So yeah, all in all I think this would be a great mechanic.
