Review of Fit & Active Raisin Apple Crisps

 
In trying my best to lose 15 to 20 pounds by June, I have successfully dropped about eight pounds since the beginning of March. The secret has been nothing more than keeping a calorie journal and using calorie calculators to lose weight. I like calorie calculators because even though they require constant monitoring of daily caloric intake, there is an upside. The upside is the ability to cheat or eating more treats during those times when I will be spending part of the day burning excessive calories through doing a lot of physical work or exercise. When I don’t have the time to work out and my calories limits are rigid, I choose to cut back on calories and try snacks such as ALDI’s Fit & Active Raisin Apple Crisps. Just how good is this snack? Read on to get the skinny on this ALDI product.

Taste

Sandwiched between two thin wafer or cookie layers, there exists a spread of raisin apple jam; made with real fruit. I consider it a jam because it doesn’t seem anything like the processed fruit newton filling that I expected. The flavor was actually much better and seemed to resemble a jam or preserve that the nice elderly lady down the street would bring over after a Sunday of canning fresh fruit. The taste exceeded my expectations and does not come across too strong in the apple or raisin flavors.

Appearance

The product consists of a green package containing five mini pouches (each approximately 1.5 ounces).  Each pouch has three little crisps.   The crisp or cookie outside is light vanilla colored with the dark raisin tinted apple jam in the middle. These will hold steady at room temperature and make a great snack to pack in briefcase or kids backpack. The calorie count of the Fit N Active Apple raisin wafers are 170 calories per package.

Price

One box of these wafers sets me back about $1.99. The unit breakdown is $.40 a pack for a mid morning or mid afternoon appetite suppressant. I sometimes even have one for dessert after lunch and keep the remaining two as a mid afternoon snack to carry me over to dinner.

My overall opinion of this item is that these crisps are a solid buy. These crisps are also offered with a wild berry filling which is average in comparison to the apple product. Just my two cents.

Review of Parkview All Beef Vienna Hot Dogs

My last trip to Aldi was focused on getting something fun for the grill as I was in outdoor cooking mood with warmer spring temperatures coming in this past weekend. With yard cleanup going on, I opted for something easy (with little prep), so I bought a package of Italian sausage and a package of Parkview Vienna Beef Hot Dogs. The sausage will be reviewed at another time. For now, here is the skinny on the how the Aldi hot dogs measured up.

Taste

Just to emphasize, these were the all beef Vienna hot dogs. The taste was exactly the same as if I was to go to a Chicago area hot dog stand and purchase one; though I heated the hot dogs via grilling method as opposed to steaming or boiling. The flavor was a home run. This skinny, yet dense hot dog paired up well with the tableside condiments and tater tots. The kids enjoyed them as well.

Appearance

These are not the Ball Park Frank Angus jumbos but the skinny dogs. That’s okay. If I want more hot dogs, I will simply have two. The Parkview Vienna Beef hot dog packaging even includes the authentic Vienna Beef logo so I knew these were legit when I picked them out at the store. Aldi newbies, don’t be put off by the foreign name of “Parkview”; as these are the same dogs as the Vienna Beef.

Price

This package of eight all beef hot dogs set me back $3.99.  I rate it a solid buy because of the exact same package of Vienna Hot dogs at the local Jewel or Meijer will cost around five dollars. Aldi does sell other types of Parkview hot dogs for even a few bucks cheaper, but I am pretty adamant about getting the “all beef” variety and willing to pay the $3.99.

Review of Meijer Steak Sauce

Okay. So I just replaced the outdoor grill’s tank of propane with thoughts of barbecuing, but there was no food (meat) in the fridge. I ran to the store with grilling pork chops fresh on my mind. I usually lather chops with a strong marinade or add some barbecue sauce.  I always keep a bottle of A1 steak sauce on hand for those in the family that do not want bbq sauce on the chops; namely, my wife. For some reason, she loves ribs, but does not to barbecue sauce on chops? Anyway, I was out of A1 so I decided to try the Meijer brand steak sauce as it was part  of the week’s 10 for $10 special being advertised.

The chops were served with baked potato and tomato cucumber relish (courtesy of my garden). The new bottle of Meijer sauce was on the table for testing to see if it could measure up to A1. Verdict? It passed. Not only did my wife find it passable, but I tried a little myself. The sauce while not as bold as A1, but has a very similar taste and consistency in thickness. Placing bottles side by side, the ingredients are identical. While we all enjoy A1, I would not balk at the Meijer brand sauce. It is a pretty decent substitute. The price of the substitute is hard to overlook. The sales special was only a buck, the Meijer normal price of their steak sauce runs at $2.69 for a 10 ounce bottle, while the name brand A1 goes for $2.98.

If I were to sit down to a steak dinner and only one choice of sauce, it would still be A1. However, I use steak sauce in several dishes including marinades and mixing together hamburger patties. For heavy volume use, I would gladly purchase the Meijer brand sauce for value and decent flavor; it will still go well with the occasional chops or sirloin.

Review of Red’s All Natural Chicken Burrito

It feels like it has been forever and a day since I posted here. Well it has been about that same length of time since I have had the impulse to purchase a burrito in the frozen food section. The other evening, my supermarket short list was very short. My list only included a bag of dog food for my golden retriever and an onion. The sweet onion is for making a pasta sauce. While cutting through the freezer section I spied the usual frozen burrito brands as Monterrey and Patio. I then saw a new bold packaged brand known as Red’s. There were three to four varieties (Chicken, Steak, and Black Bean). I chose the chicken variety for my lunch the next day.

The burrito is much bigger than the competing brands and also has a much larger price at $3.49 at the local Meijer. The burrito is approximately eleven ounces and can be cooked via conventional oven, microwave oven, or even a Panini press (if you own one).  My method of cooking defaulted to the microwave as this was a next day lunch at the office. The microwave time is three minutes per side.

Now let’s see how this burrito measured up.  Thumbs up to Red’s for finally providing a decent size burrito that other brands always fall short. The down side of this large burrito is the rubbery hard flour tortilla exterior and the high amount of liquid produced from microwaving from a frozen to ready to eat state. The end of the cooking stage produced stiff yet pliable ends of the burrito and a small burrito soup at the base of my cooking plate. The burrito did contain decent size pieces of chicken and there were additional ingredients such as corn, rice, peppers. The flavor was average. I think it would be above average without the cumin overkill that so many burritos seem guilty of.  I did like the fact that Red’s touted its product as using chicken free of antibiotics and that there are no artificial ingredients. I will give this purchase an average buy grade. I will consider purchasing the steak or black bean variety, but under the pretense of preparing it in the conventional oven at home and also having a small portion of sour cream and shredded cheese on standby.

Review of Lipton Unsweetened Iced Tea

My guilty pleasure used to be sweetened carbonated beverages such as coca cola and fruit flavored sodas. I found these drinks a satisfying and tasty treat, but at the expense of gaining weight. One of the ways to drop pounds quickly was abandoning the sodas. It wasn’t long before I replaced my soda drinking with iced tea.  I prefer the unsweetened tea varieties such as Lipton, Tradewinds, or Snapple brands. I drink all three of these brands, but felt a review of Lipton Unsweetened tea was overdue as this brand is most commonly sold.

Description

The Lipton bottled tea is sold as six or twelve packs containing sixteen ounce glass bottles. The unsweetened selection is recognizable by the dark green wrap around the bottle. The tea has a golden honey brown color and is not too dark or heavy as some house brewed teas tend to get in a sit down restaurant. The tea is unsweetened so there are no carbs, sugars, and calories. The true benefit is the healthy dose of anti-oxidants in each serving.  

 Taste

The tea tastes really good and comparable to a homebrewed Luzianne brew. The trick for a tasty tea is to make sure the bottle is chilled and poured over a glass full of good quality ice. The slice of lemon adds a nice touch. The tea is light enough and refreshing and will pair off nicely with lemonade for a decent Arnie Palmer.  

Price

The cost of a six pack of this beverage is $5.99. That comes out to a buck a bottle. That price is pretty steep considering we are talking about water steeped in black tea leaves, then bottled.  The competition from Snapple does not fare much better. The cheaper routes are the Tradewinds brand which tastes as good as Lipton which runs about $3.29 per gallon.

Overall Satisfaction

I will defer to home brewed iced tea or purchase a gallon of Tradewinds tea instead of opting for Lipton Unsweetened iced tea.  The bottled iced tea market has very little competition as there are only a small group of players. This is especially the case when it comes to shopping for unsweetened teas. Needless to say I rate the Lipton brand and poor buy unless there is a serious discount or sale.