Whether it's a Hot Pocket knock-off or a pot pie that doesn’t take the cake, there are some
frozen foods from Aldi that you don't want anywhere near your freezer — or your tongue.
Starting the morning off with a breakfast sandwich seems like a great idea, right? You get all your
favorite breakfast foods – eggs, cheese, sausage, and bacon – nicely nestled between
two pieces of bread for a handheld vessel with a mission to get you stoked for the day ahead.
"Th-this all sounds great to me!"
But if you're thinking about investing in the Breakfast Best Sausage, Egg,
and Cheese Croissant at Aldi, you'd better think again.
Let's start with taste. First, you expect a croissant to have a delicate texture,
thanks to the butter and lamination, but these are frozen – when they cook,
the bread becomes tough and crumbly. The cheese has a plastic-like quality to it,
and both the egg patty and sausage disc are beyond rubbery. It also warms up unevenly,
so you have these off-putting cold spots peppered throughout. Yeah, we think we’ll pass.
Mornings can prove very stressful for many, so a quick and convenient way to
get energy into your body is essential. This is what might draw your eye to
the Whole & Simple Breakfast Bites in Aldi's frozen breakfast aisle. However,
don't be fooled by the photo on the box and the promise of "13 Grams of Protein"
per serving. These are breakfast bites that are much better left on the shelf.
Starting your day off filling your body with poor nutrition
is a recipe for disaster, plain and simple. Your body always wants to operate at peak
performance, but these breakfast bites will deter you from that. If you opt for the ham,
pepper, and cheddar bites, you're tossing back small bites packed with 240 calories,
9 grams of saturated fat, and 350 milligrams of sodium. And
don't think for one second that the turkey, sausage, and spinach option is much better.
Let's face it, when your appetite is calling for a hot slice of pizza,
there really is no other food you can supply it that'll scratch that itch.
"Not pizza, not pizza, not pizza."
Pizza time is serious, so having a few frozen options in your freezer on hand alleviates all
the traveling you have to do to grab a fresh pie. However, if you're at Aldi and you see
a box of Reggio's Sausage Pizza staring back at you, you pass that box right on by. This is
one frozen pizza that definitely doesn't earn its place anywhere in your freezer.
Now, these pizzas are "dinner size," which means you can pretty much put away a whole
pie if you're really hungry. But, your body definitely doesn't want or need 18 grams of fat,
5 grams of saturated fat, 49 grams of carbs, and over 700 milligrams of sodium. On top of that,
the texture of the sausage is rubbery, and the cheese is rather bland.
After a heavy meal full of rich and hearty dishes,
a sugary blast of dessert can really push dinner over the top. And you better believe
that if you have guests over to eat and you break out a container of Specially Selected
Frozen Cream Puffs, you're gonna get people pretty excited. The little morsels of light,
delicate breading filled with rich cream top off an evening in one of the most delicious
ways possible. As tasty as these might be, you should keep them far away from your mouth.
Since these puffs are bite-sized, it's too easy to toss back several of them,
and that's a big issue in terms of their nutrition. Let's say you scarf down three
cream puffs. You just smacked your body with over 11 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat,
and almost 20% of your daily cholesterol intake. This means anyone who really decides
to go hard on the cream puffs is flooding their system with unnecessary cholesterol.
Are these puffs tasty? Most definitely! But they're simply not worth the poor nutrition.
When hunger strikes, it comes in all kinds of forms. Sometimes it's the kind that only
requires a small snack, but other times the belly beast kicks in with a force akin to what
Harold and Kumar felt when they made their incredibly arduous journey to White Castle.
Well, if you get smacked with Harold-and-Kumar-level hunger that
only White Castle will stave off, you can simply pick yourself up a box of the frozen White Castle
cheese sliders for the sake of convenience. But just because you can doesn't mean that you should.
Now, it's no secret that fast food isn't the pinnacle of healthy eating. In fact,
it's far from it. And that's why these frozen cheese sliders don't belong in your fridge.
Each box comes with three plastic sleeves containing two sliders, making two sliders
a single serving. Along with both of the slider-sized burgers is 18 grams of fat,
8 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, and over ½ a gram of sodium. These things are
miniature vessels of unhealthiness and you would be wise to leave them out of your shopping cart.
Trust us, your waistline and your toilet will thank you!
There are so many questions that pop into your head when you're in the mood
for a burger. What kind of meat are you going to use? What kind of fixings will
you pile on top of the patty? Do you want it rare or well done? All these
pertinent questions loom large because when it's burger time, you want to make
sure your appetite is invested in something worthwhile. Well, if you're wondering whether
or not the Bremer Angus Cheeseburgers will check the right boxes, they won't.
Now, keep in mind these cheeseburgers are
basically Aldi's attempt to recreate everyone's favorite microwavable fare…
"Hot Pockets!"
The cheese-topped patty has a flatbread casing around it,
so the meat and cheese flavors are encased in the bread. Well, sadly, there isn't really
much flavor to seal in. The beef is super bland, and the cheese has a gummy texture.
These things aren't exactly great on the nutrition scale, either. With 340 milligrams of sodium,
4 grams of saturated fat, and 160 calories per flatbread burger. All of this makes the fact
that there are 10 grams of protein in them seem somewhat irrelevant.
While cream cheese and jalapeños might at first seem like an odd combination,
once you actually try it you realize the cream cheese does a great job of coating your mouth
with a cooling sensation to offset the spicy kick of the jalapeño. Now add a deep fryer to the whole
mix and you have yourself a super solid appetizer for parties. However, it might be best to avoid
the Appetitos Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese at Aldi for a couple of different reasons.
Let's start with the nutritional content. Now, once you start combining a heavy cheese
and a deep fryer, you automatically know that you're not dealing with healthy cuisine. So,
it shouldn't come as a huge shock that in only three of these stuffed peppers lies 230 calories,
almost ⅓ of your daily saturated fat intake, and 25 grams of carbs. Even if you can stomach
all that, the flavor here lacks as well. The cream cheese often comes out runny,
which is very unappealing, and the outer breading burns easily. If you're looking
to get your stuffed jalapeños on, this is not the way to do it.
Whether you're having some friends over for a weekend get-together or just cranking through
Netflix shows on your own, having a big ol' pile of freshly baked beef taquitos on a tray nearby
is never a bad idea. So long as the outer corn tortilla is crispy and the meat inside is tender
and savory, you really can't go wrong. Well, the Casa Mamita Beef Taquitos at Aldi certainly
found more than one way to go wrong, which is why they don't deserve a spot on your shopping list.
Even after they are baked in the oven, the corn tortillas that wrap the beef are mostly
chewy as opposed to crispy. Once you bite down, things don't really get any better.
The meat inside tastes super salty and is nowhere as tender as you'd like. You get the sensation of
chewing on dried strips of beef jerky. And the nutrition here is nothing to brag about. Three
small taquitos pack 240 calories, 26 grams of carbs, and 340 milligrams of sodium.
The best part of diving into a freshly made chicken pot pie – other than the delicious flavor,
of course – is that the first time you break open the buttery crust on top,
your nostrils are graced with those rich smells that erupt from within
the flaky pastry. This is what makes the Bremer Chicken Pot Pie such a bummer.
Let's start with the pastry pie itself. Flaky and buttery it certainly isn't.
The edge around the pie comes out hard as a rock and crumbles everywhere when
you try to bite into it. Once you break through to the pie's edible innards,
your nose isn't met with a lovely aroma, and there's a thick off-putting heaviness
that leaves you suspicious about the quality of the ingredients used.
If you're after foods packed with rich, vibrant, and savory flavors, you may look to Asian cuisine
to find dishes with tastes and sensations that render your tongue numb with satisfaction.
Take pot stickers, for example. These bite-sized dumplings are encased in a super delicate wrapper
that allows for the maximum flavors of the meat and vegetable stuffing inside to hit your palate.
However, the Fusia Asian Inspirations Pork Pot Stickers at Aldi manage to do the opposite.
The pork filling in each pot sticker is juicy, but not in a great way.
It feels like you're biting into a juicy, warm loaf of compact sodium.
"Gross!"
The dumpling casings are very delicate, but the pleasant mouthfeel they cause is instantly
canceled out by the off-putting saltiness of the pork. In terms of nutritional value,
there's nothing here to boast about. Tossing back three pot stickers nets
you just under ½ a gram of sodium, 150 calories, as well as some sugar.
When it's time to enjoy Asian food, this isn't the way to do it.
Rice can get a bad rap as being a boring, bland food. However, there are tons of ways to
spruce up a plate of basic rice and turn it into something super savory and packed with delicious
ingredients. Well, if you don't feel like heading out to the nearest Asian restaurant for some great
rice options, Aldi has Fusia Asian Inspirations Chicken Fried Rice available for purchase.
After a few bites of this dish, you may realize you should've just made the trip to a local
restaurant and saved yourself the disappointment. Much of the rice becomes a very tough texture
after cooking. The chunks of chicken are so dry that even the sauce that it comes in can't seep
into the chicken enough to solve the problem. Flavor-wise this dish is a disappointment.
Cheesecake is the kind of dessert that can push you into a food coma in the most delicious way
possible. If you eat a huge dinner but can still fit a bit more before your stomach waves the white
flag, cheesecake is the perfect food to get that flag frantically shaking back and forth. Aldi
sells assorted varieties of Belmont Cheesecake, and even though each slice hits those rich and
creamy notes really well, the nutritional value in them would make any doctor furious.
If you take down one slice – which is super easy to do, because the flavor and texture of each
slice is incredible– you'll be hammered with 320 calories, 100% of your daily sugar intake,
and over ½ of your saturated fat intake. However, it's temptingly easy to brush these facts aside
once you take a bite because each slice erupts with tremendous flavor! But, if you're looking out
for your health or watching your sugar, then leave the Belmont slices far away from your freezer.