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.

Aunt Millie's White Hamburger Buns - A Review

This past weekend was a blur with kids’ soccer games and birthday parties to attend to. Little room was left for meal planning so I stuck with one the quickest meals I could think of; burgers on the grill. On the way home from the game on Sunday I stopped at Meijer to pick up my usual ingredients of ground chuck, cheese, ketchup and buns. I decided to go with the Aunt Millie’s brand of hamburger buns. We usually purchase the Meijer brand buns when serving everything from burgers to bbq pulled pork. However, the quality seems to have trended downwards. We have found the Meijer buns to be extremely dry so a change was in order. I considered the Aunt Millie’s brand without question as we have had great luck with some of the other products such as sandwich bread and English muffins.

The buns are eight to a package and we purchased them at the low sale price of $1.25. Upon opening the package, the buns were extremely soft and fluffy which was a real good sign.  The buns even had a glossy golden shine on the tops as one would expect in a quaint little bakery! After I pulled the burgers off the grill we quickly knocked down our dinner and quickly realized how delicious the Aunt Millie’s white hamburger buns tasted. I do not recall what the regular price of the buns is, but I will certainly consider purchasing them again. I would rate this purchase a very strong buy.