Aldi L'Oven Fresh Hot Dog Buns: A Review

It is not an exaggeration to state that our household burns through a package of hot dog buns every week. When it comes to hot dog and hamburger buns, I do not typically maintain brand allegiance as I will usually make purchases based on brand sales. I also keep in mind to purchase based on that is going into the bun. If I am preparing hot dogs that week, I will most likely buy store brand or generic. If I am preparing some quality brats, Polish, or Italian sausages from the butcher, then I am going to purchase some bakery fresh buns, or select well known commercial buns such as those made by Turano or Gonnella.

I don’t pay allegiance to generic  labels either.  My purchase selection includes the Meijer brand, the Walmart Great Value label, the target brand, and now the Aldi label; known as L’Oven Fresh.  The L’Oven Fresh hot dog buns are sold eight to a package.  I have yet to witness a L’Oven Fresh twelve pack  of buns as sold by Meijer and even some of the name brand companies. The buns are a deep brown color with see -through plastic packaging. The total package weight is twelve ounces with each bun containing 110 calories.

A package of these buns is priced at eighty nine cents. That is a tad lower than the Meijer label costing a dollar and Wonder bread buns around two dollars.  Further down the line are the Rosen’s poppy seed buns costing over three bucks; though I am known to buy those on certain occasions.

These ALDI  buns are surprisingly decent tasting and moist throughout.  The absence of dryness actually surprised me as I have purchased L’Oven fresh wheat bread in the past only to realize the bread was like cardboard and suitable only for making croutons or poultry stuffing; yes I have done that! I would rank the flavor and moistness of the L’oven fresh hot dogs buns better than the Meijer brand and as good as the two dollar Wonder bread buns (at half the price!)

Overall, I rank the l’oven fresh hot dog buns a solid buy.

Belmont Peanut Butter S’mores Premium Ice Cream: A Review

This past weekend we had to make a stop at Aldi once again to pick up a few essentials we had missed during the work week. The visit did not go without a stop at the ice cream freezer. We noticed a new flavor at Aldi known as Belmont Premium Ice Cream Peanut Butter S'mores.  S’mores ice cream? Are you kidding me? Our family is an outdoorsy group that enjoys backyard campfires accompanied with playing twenty questions and consuming lots of s’mores. The idea of combining s’more flavors with frozen peanut butter sounded genius, so we picked up a container.

The ice cream is sold in a one and a half quart paper container (like most ice cream).The ice cream had a tan or almost tea or light coffee colored appearance. Throughout the ice cream were chunks of peanut butter and chocolate. I did not spy marshmallows or graham bits in the blend. The sight of this ice  cream upon first  glance had me concerned  about whether this  would represent a true s’more.

First taste was definite confirmation of the essence of s’mores.  I picked up the chocolate and peanut butter flavor immediately. The unknown factor was the marshmallows, not really sure if they were in the ice cream blend or not; then again marshmallows do not have a very distinguishable flavor unless you toast the heck out of them on the end of a camp fire stick. The greatest success of this blend was the graham cracker flavor hidden within the actual ice cream. This concoction was a s ‘more plus pb grand slam. 

The ice cream was purchased for the low price of $2.29 per container. This is a bit lower than the competitive ice creams (Hudsonville, Edy’s, and Breyers) that go for three to four dollars at Meijer.

A half cup serving of this ice cream packs about 160 calories.  My serving portion ended up at about a cup of ice cream on a cone totaling out about 375 calories (adding in “cone” calories). That is a hefty dessert but still much lower than trips I have made to the DQ for a blizzard treat.

For those that love a good fix of peanut butter married with nostalgic flavors of campfire s‘mores, I highly recommend picking up a container of Belmont Peanut Butter S ‘mores ice cream.  Get some now as this is most likely an autumn promotional flavor that will most likely go away in a month or two.

Review of Belmont Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

As we are midway through summer, I have had my fair share of ice cream. I do not discriminate too much on brand labels of ice cream as we shop Meijer, Aldi, and occasionally Costco. Our ice cream brand range includes Hudsonville, Purple Cow (Meijer), Sundae Shoppe (Aldi), and most recently Belmont (Aldi). It was this past weekend I picked up a container of Belmont Mint Chocolate Chip.

As we are getting burned out on the traditional flavors of Vanilla, Chocolate, cookies and cream and a few others, the mint option sounded good. The Belmont mint ice cream is sold in 1.5 quart typical rectangular/”ovalish” shaped container. The green colored container with picture of mint spring is the subtle reminder that this indeed is mint ice cream, yet with healthy amounts of chocolate chips.

After grilling dinner last Saturday evening, we decided to put this dessert to the test. The taste was good. I liked the healthy amount of chocolate chips. I am always fearful some ice cream manufacturers will skimp on the chocolate. The mint flavor within the cream did not come off as too overwhelming. It was also kind of refreshing to purchase a box of mint chocolate chip ice cream that did not have a green colored tint. This 1.5 quart ice cream set us back around $2.50. A solid buy as we made four cones that evening and still had enough to probably make three more cones.

Review of Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Franks

My latest product write up involves a Costco product purchase. We have held a Costco membership for many years since one opened up in our neighborhood about five years ago. Like Sam’s Club, warehouse club memberships are a brilliant concept as the main benefits include competitive gas prices, great bulk purchase items, and a tasty low cost food court that offers delicious pizza, frozen yogurt and quarter pounder hot dogs.

We recently purchased a package of the Kirkland Signature Beef Franks this past week at Costco. These hot dogs or “franks” are sold in the frozen foods section. There are fourteen franks to a large package. These enormous precooked franks are the same hot dogs sold in the food court.

The 3.81 pound of hot dogs cost $12.93.  That comes out to about ninety two cents per hot dog. Not too shabby for a quarter pound dog. Each frank is about the equivalent of two smaller sized Vienna style all beef hot dogs which go for approximately $5.00 for package of eight.  That comparable serving price would be sixty two cents per dog x two Vienna dogs or $1.24 for equivalent meal. The Kirkland dog is thirty two cents cheaper.

Do I consider the taste of a Kirkland frank to be better than Vienna? No. I don’t think any dog is better than a Vienna all beef dog. But the Kirkland frank is all beef and has a nice hint of garlic and other spices that give it a quality finish whether the dog is steamed, boiled, or grilled. This is a great option for outdoor grilling when someone has a taste for a large dog instead of building two separate ones. I like the Kirkland Signature Dinner Frank for my freezer. I would like these even better if Kirkland would come up with a way to package these in reseal able packaging. I rate this product a solid purchase.

Review of Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar Smoked Sausage

A few weeks ago, I was on a quick trip to Meijer to pick up something easy to grill in under ten minutes as my focus was less on dinner prep and more on playing ball in the back with my kids. The original plan was to go with the usual five dollar flat of cheddar brats. I was quickly tripped up when perusing the line of pre-smoked or pre –cooked sausages. I usually go with grilling raw meats, but thought this might be a good  time to try something that cooks a little quicker and was a tad cheaper as this was on sale (most likely due to the forthcoming independence day weekend).

Preparation

No rocket science here. Once the propane grill was preheated, I just placed these links on the top rack and cooked about four to five minutes on each side. They received their customary grill marks. Be cautious when grilling as to timing and heat. One of the sausage links was in the early stages of splitting open and they were a healthy eight inches over heat source.

Taste

Going into this I had to remind myself that these were smoked sausages and not brats or Italian sausages. First bite of this revealed definite hints of smokiness and some spiciness that seemed more akin to a fall or winter’s meal of kielbasa than an outdoor grill experience. The tasteful cheese successfully held its course and did not escape the casing unlike other “cheddarwurst” products I have experienced. I was also a little taken back by the density and fineness of the pork sausage. When cooking raw brats or Italian sausages, I am accustomed to seeing real bits of pork within each bite. The Beddar with Cheddar sausage was of the same grit and texture as a Vienna beef hot dog. A tad disappointing when eating a grilled sausage.

Appearance

I was also probably influenced into purchasing this product by the allure of the patriotic stars and stripes packaging and decent coloring of the sausages. The dark reddish brown color maintained itself from uncooked to cooked stages. It even looked pretty professional on the bun. The downside was the skinniness of the links as these seemed more in line with the diameter of a red hot.

Price

I was baited by the sale price as Meijer held this one out there for a paltry $3.29 for a package of six (14 ounces).  My usual “standby” package of Meijer brand cheddar brats (raw) usually range from $3.99 to $4.99 depending upon sales.  The Johnsonville cheddar brats (raw) are also usually about five bucks. The beddar with cheddar price was far lower in comparison

Overall

I rate this product  as average. If you like smokiness, cheese and a fine ground sausage, then you might like the Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar series. I will go back to my raw cheddar brats and take a little extra time grilling knowing I am getting real bites of pork.