Review of Meijer Premium Macaroni and Cheese Dinner

On a recent trip to Meijer I picked up a package of dogs and macaroni and cheese for the kids for lunch. I was burned out on potato chips so I opted for a little mac and cheese to accompany the hotdogs. We usually prefer homemade macaroni and cheese as it is the best. Time was short and we had a Sunday afternoon of activities planned so homemade prepared pasta was out of the question. I was feeling nostalgic for the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinner but decided to try out the Meijer premium brand as I have had good luck with most Meijer products measuring up  to the brand name competition. That leap of faith could not have been more misguided.

 

Cooking

Same process as all stove top macaroni and cheese. Bring water to boil, add pasta and cook until tender. Drain, add the powder, butter, and milk. The process flow was simple as it gets.

Appearance

The overall appearance of the macaroni noodle was decent and the orange tone of the sauce seemed to match other brands. Several noodles did seem to tear and flatten upon mixing the ingredients during final stage of cooking process. I took this as a bad sign.

Taste

Upon first taste of this item, I knew it was a miss. The cheesy taste was absent leaving nothing but lifeless, creamy, mushy pasta.  At this point I really desired our homemade oven baked macaroni and cheese. I would have even settled for the Kraft version as this point for which there was even a slight taste of cheese.

Don’t recall the price, though I believe it hovered around one dollar. Next time when I am in search of store bought macaroni and cheese I will opt for the Stouffers microwave variety or even the Kraft. I rate the Meijer Premium Macaroni and cheese a poor buy.

Snyders Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces: A Review

After completing another Sunday dinner and getting the kids ready for bed, it occurred to me that storage pantry was bare for preparing kids lunches for the week. I made a run to Meijer to pick up a few essentials for the school week. Amidst my travels up and down the food aisles, I spotted several sale items in the main aisle displays. One of these displays were various Snyder flavored pretzel combinations. The one that really stuck out was the Hanover Snyders Buffalo Wing flavored pretzel bites. I have a passion for buffalo wings and thought that someone was genius enough to pair up that recognizable zesty flavor with pretzels seemed like a plausible idea. The regular price was $3.69, but the sale knocked the price down to $2.50 for 12 ounce bag. At this price,this venture seemed worth pursuing.

Returning home and putting away recently purchased items, I sat in front of the television and kept thinking about that new bag of pretzels that I had originally intended to save for later in the week. Nope, Iran up stairs to grab a cold beverage and brought with me the new buffalo wing flavored snacks.

Physical Characterics of Snyders Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces

The bag is not very large, nor are the pretzel pieces. These pieces are really just “bits” and not even  “bites”. I would expect these to resemble the shape and size of the “combos” pretzel snacks but these look like someone took a bag of pretzel rods and ran them through the wood chipper several times over. Some pieces were bite size nubs, while most where tiny fragments that were not easy to pick up.

The bits were heavily coated in the flavor dust and coated the fingers quite easily with each bite. My laptop keys still have dust remnants from eating these while browsing on the couch.

Despite being someone put off by the lower quantity per bag as well as the tiny shrapnel size pieces of pretzel, the taste was a saving grace for this Snyders treat. The taste lived up to my expectation and more. First and second bites, I was thinking these are pretty solid; but then I found myself craving more and more of these. My wife joined in on my snack session and the bag was depleted soon thereafter.

Verdict on Snyders Buffalo Wing Flavored Pretzel Pieces

As the sale of this coveted snack is most likely over, I am unsure I could go back and pay $3.69 for a bag. For certain occasions, I will make an exception because these taste so damn good. I really regret not hoarding these when the sale existed. I also wish Hanover Snyders would have made the pieces slightly bigger as they were difficult to pick up. Manufacturers that sell under generic or store brand label might want to take notice that there is room for competition to produce a buffalo wing flavored pretzel at a cheaper price. Those that take on this challenge just better be sure their designed pretzel bit measures up to the excellent flavor produced by Snyders.

Review of Aldi Peanut Delight Creamy Peanut Butter

I have never maintained much brand allegiance to a specific peanut butter label.  They all are pretty similar as they all have the common denominator ingredients of peanuts, oil, and preservatives. Peanut butter is used regularly in our household whether it is prepared for sandwiches, baked in desserts, or simply offered as a dip for celery sticks or crackers. There are purists out there that like the organic or even homemade peanut butter. As this is most likely better for me, I find the lack of smoothness as well as separation of oils to be a bit much. I am okay with factory processed peanut butter. I am on the fence with peanut with and without nuts still in the jar. There are times when I prefer one over the other. For review purposes, this post only discusses my findings with the smooth variety.

Taste

As with all processed nut butters, I don’t expect there to be a great variance in flavor as the ingredients lists is minimal no matter which brand one is sampling. The peanut delight peanut butter is no different than Skippy or Jiff. I find the taste satisfying and it marries well with jam.

Appearance

The peanut butter is sold (like most brands) in the plastic jar. The nut butter carries the usual pb brown color. Label is red and there is a protective foil safety wrap on top when first opening jar. The bright red lid makes this jar an easy find in my densely packed pantry when making sandwiches early in the morning.

Price

This forty ounce (2 pound 8 ounce) jar of this Aldi peanut butter is priced at $5.00. A comparable jar of peanut butter from Jiff or Skippy will run $6.15.  I rate it a solid buy.

Benton’s Fudge Stripe Shortbread Cookies: A Review

Is there a suitable replacement for Keebler Fudge Stripes?

Not sure which country, kitchen, grandmother, or clan invented shortbread. Whoever did create the combination of shortening,flour, sugar, and vanilla made the world a better place. It doesn’t matter if I am sampling Walker’s shortbread, Salerno butter cookies or those incredible Lorna Doone squares (mysteriously shaped like giant pats of butter); they all taste incredible. Just when shortbread couldn’t get any better, the cookie was upgraded with “fudge stripes”. The first fudge stripe cookie I was acquainted with was the Keebler brand introduced to me when I was a young lad. Four decades later they are still tasty, but like all name brand treats be it cookies, ice creams, pastries, etc; current economic trends have only left us with higher prices, lower quantity per package, and flashy advertising to make up for these cutbacks.  The Keebler Elvin magic and whimsical packaging is not enough to maintain brand loyalty as I pursue fudge stripe cookie equivalents elsewhere.

I have tried the Meijer label fudge stripe and it is almost as good as Keebler, though at a price lower by fifty cents. While I still pick up a package of Keebler when they go on sale, I considered the Meijer brand to be my mainstay fudge stripe option, until I learned Aldi sells the Benton Fudge Stripe Shortbread cookie.

Price of Cookies

The attention grabber of these cookies was the low price of $1.29 for a thirteen ounce package. The Meijer brand usually hovers around $1.49 and the Keebler holds at $1.99.  Some sales at Aldi will position the Benton fudge stripes as low as ninety five cents a bag.

Physical Characteristics

The cookies are sold in plastic packaging with yellow/orange tones, much like Keebler. No presence of cartoonish elves but simply the picture of the cookies on the label which very much resemble the real thing inside. The actual cookies seemed a tad wider than the Keebler competition and the chocolate (or fudge) carries the dark brown tone that real chocolate is supposed to have. I always worry that a low price fudge treat will have that subpar faux chocolate that comes across as dusty or muted in color. Nope. These look like the real deal.

Taste Test

Now it was time for tasting. The cookie starts and ends with a good crispy bite and a well blended mix of rich fudge and butter cookie undercoat. If caramel was present it would resemble something close to a thin Twix bar. I would put this cookie in blind test up against the Keebler and I think it would win.

Verdict

I give the Benton’s Original Fudge Striped Cookie a passing grade with flying colors. Considering this item is frequently on sale and sometimes half the price of Keebler, this is a no brainer.

Review of Meijer Cheese Balls

Flash back to 1970s, 1980’s or even 1990’s. Grandma and Grandpa had the standard items on the kitchen counter: half completed TV trivia crossword puzzle, the ornate glass candy dish filled with cashews or ribbon candy, and last but not least, the blue cylinder container labeled “Planters Cheez Balls”.  As popular as the Planters nuts were, the cheez balls seemed to be extremely popular in U.S. households.  This snack was so damn good.  Cheetos took a back seat to these. Unfortunately in 2006, this product was discontinued by the manufacturer.

Now as we are well into the 2014 year, I will be on a quest to find a suitable replacement for the Planter’s cheez balls. Notice my focus is on cheez balls, not the puff or crinkle form. Those puffs do have their place on the lunch table. For now, I am on a quest to find a successor to the blue can favorite.

My first attempt was made during my last trip to Meijer. I picked up a nine ounce package of Meijer Cheese Balls. The snack is sold in large purple bag with the transparent window positioned in the middle to display the actual cheese balls. The packaging came across as “meh”.  I did find the price very attractive as it was part of the weekly Meijer’s 10 items for $10 campaign so this large bag of cheese balls set me back one dollar. Normally the Meijer cheese balls retail at $1.99.

These cheese balls made their debut on my table during my Sunday lunch. It was sort of a double cheese whammy of a meal as this snack was served alongside my cheddar Panini (courtesy of my George Foreman grill).  The first test of this snack was the flavor character. The flavor was surprising decent as it was cheesy but not too pungent as you get with those sharp cheddar dusts. I honestly expected flavor to be much less satisfactory given the low price. The product’s best trait was the crunch of the corn puff. I am no food chemist but the manufacturer hit the right formula with corn meal, corn starch or whatever they used to make this cheez ball fun to munch on. My kids emptied two thirds of the bag in one sitting as they enjoyed chomping on these.

The Meijer brand cheese balls are my first attempt at finding a suitable replacement for the discontinued Planter’s product. I would give these snacks a definite passing grade; especially at the low price. I will continue my pursuit of testing other brands whether they are Utz, Target Market Pantry, Wise, or any no name store brand. I will update my findings here on this site.

Review of Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Supreme Muffin Mix

With early Saturday morning soccer games looming, we had to pick up a quick and easy to prepare breakfast. I had quick breads on my mind as I enjoy making them in the fall as they make the kitchen smell awesome; and they also seem heartier than firing up a pop tart or toaster strudel.  In addition, the kids were burned out on cereal and oatmeal from the school week. Our Friday night of shopping at Wal-Mart revealed Krusteaz pumpkin spice muffin mix. I enjoy a good homemade muffin/quick bread mix, but did not want to take the time late on a Friday to look up recipes. I was also uncertain if I would have all the baking essentials to make the old school muffins.  A quick bread boxed mix seemed like the quick and convenient way to satisfy the quick bread craving before the big games commenced on Saturday.

The Krusteaz package directions were pretty simple. I prepared the contents to be baked as a quick bread instead of muffins. I have come to the conclusion that muffins seems to dry out quicker than baking the batter in a small bread pan. The mixing of ingredients only took a few minutes and I placed the batter in a shallow eight inch pan. The baking time was approximately fifty minutes at 350 degrees.

 First and foremost, the baked bread did one heck of a job making my home smell good. The baking did a better job than any pumpkin or apple spice Glade freshener plug in. As far as physical appearance, the finished loaf of quick bread had a lighter color than those pumpkin breads that contained canned or real pumpkin fruit. The density of the bread was also much lighter than traditional pumpkin breads (made from canned pumpkin).

Our breakfast tasting was met with mixed results. The pumpkin quick bread came off tasty but seemed more to look and taste likes a light and airy spongy spice cake. I shouldn’t be overly critical of the flavor as pumpkin really does not maintain its own true taste, but is merely a compilation of a bunch of spices. It would have been much easier to accept the spice cake flavor as “pumpkin” if only the bread had carried forth that dense pumpkin finish that appeared to be lacking.

The price of this fifteen ounce box of Krusteaz pumpkin muffin mix was a mere $2.12, purchased at Wal-Mart. The price seemed somewhat reasonable for a light breakfast for our crew. The eight inch loaf allowed the five of us to have two decent sized slices. No one was overly hungry this early on a Saturday morning so the quantity proved to be enough for our group. I think if we would have had a later breakfast or even one more individual at that table, the quantity would have been insufficient for our group.

Overall, I rank this an average product at best. I will most likely not purchase this muffin mix again. I will actually take the time to make bread or muffins the “old fashioned way” using the Libby’s pumpkin filling and pudding mix and make extra to freeze for later dates. 

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.

Review of Aldi Benita Tortilla Chips

Tortilla chips need to always be on hand in our home. We use them with salsa, dips, hummus, you name it. We eat tortilla chips alongside sandwiches when we run out of potato chips or cheese puffs. We also have various recipes for which the chips are baked right into the dish; so very versatile!  When it comes to shopping for tortilla chips, I usually base the purchase on whatever is on sale at the local Meijer or Jewel. I am not so hung up on brand purchasing. I will buy just about any brand whether it is Tostitos, authentic Mexican brand chips, or even a “no name” or store brand chip (e.g. Meijer brand). Recently we decided to purchase a bag of Benita Tortilla Strips found at the local Aldi store. I shop at Aldi frequently as indicated in other posts here, but it is only until now that I have decided to try their Benita line of tortilla chips.

These chips sold for the super low price of $1.49 for 13 ounce bag. The chip has a unique rectangular shape with a restaurant corn sort of flavor. The chips within the bag were all pretty much intact and had an inviting white corn color. These chips fared as crunchy as most competitor chips whether it be Frito Lays Tostitos, El Milagro, and others. I even dug the cool brown bag with “see through” middle plastic window which allows the buyer to confirm he or  she is  not picking up a bag of broken up chips.

The best part of this chip is the tremendous cost savings without the sacrifice of quality. Tostitos 13 ounce bag will run $3.49 per bag putting it about twice the price of the Benita chips!

These chips are definitely a strong buy.

Review of Meijer Gold Kona Coffee

So my usual preferred choice of house coffee is the Dunkin Donuts original blend/roast coffee. I usually buy the enormous bag at Costco for about eighteen bucks. This is my favorite brand of coffee by far whether I am brewing it at home or hitting the drive through for a quick java.

When I do not have Dunkin Donuts coffee I usually go with a Maxwell house brand or try something different. Recently I decided to go with the Meijer brand Kona blend that was on sale for $4.99 for a twelve ounce package. The coffee was already ground and was packaged neatly in dark blue with the typical Meijer Gold script. My impulse to purchase this was driven by my overall good experiences with many Meijer brand products, so I decided to roll the dice with their Kona coffee.

The pleasant aroma produced by this first batch of coffee was supported by a quality taste. I was impressed by the slight Kona nutty yet refreshing flavor of this brew.  While it is not as good quality as Dunkin Donuts, this coffee fared much better than Maxwell House, Folgers, and the other mainstream coffee companies at a lower price.

Review of Alexia Crispy Seasoned Potato Puffs with Roasted Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper

I fired up the grill a few weeks ago to make burgers. Grilling season is always something to look forward to; especially on the weekends. Picking the meat dish to grill is the easy part. I often struggle to come up with a side dish to prepare that requires minimal work.  When we get great Saturday or Sunday afternoon weather, I want to enjoy family backyard time, and spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. When I am out of ideas for an accompaniment to burgers or chops, I will occasionally defer to a potato item (fries, wedges, tots) that can be easily cooked on a cookie sheet while I am outside grilling.

My side dish at the time ended up being the Alexia Crispy Seasoned Potato Puffs with Roasted Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper. These were on sale at the nearby Jewel and I have tried this brand’s sweet potato fries before and enjoyed the flavor. The bag of tots or “puffs” were on sale for $1.99 and figured this to be an easy sell as I enjoy the flavor of just about any items that includes hints of garlic and pepper.

The preparation of these puffs is easy as I unloaded the full bag onto a foil lined cookie sheet. I use a full bag to feed our hungry group of five. The oven was preheated to 425 F and baked for about twenty seven minutes. If you plan on making half a bag, then bake for about twenty two minutes. Technically you are supposed to turn them midway through baking. I did not perform that extra task as I was busy outside with grill and kids.

The result of skipping the turning step resulted in a more brown finish on one side of the tot which was really no big deal. If I was inside, I would have taken the time to flip them. Skipping this step for with some ovens may cause the one side to burn.

The potato puffs had a pleasingly light crunch and zesty garlic and pepper flavor. Four out of five of us enjoyed the puffs to accompany our burgers. My five year old was not a huge fan as he detected the slight hint of black pepper and wasn’t a big fan. I would definitely prefer this puff over a basic tater tot as it has a great flavor. A recommend the Alexia Crispy Seasoned Potato puffs as a strong buy.

Review of Meijer Frosted Pastry Treats - Blueberry

I have been a long fan of the Kellogg’s brand pop tarts for quite some time. I am guilty of indulging in my fair share of pop tarts during my train commutes to work. For a quick breakfast, it really doesn’t get much simpler than toasting a pop tart for a minute while I prepare my “to go” coffee.  My last trip to Meijer, I spied the store brand alternative to Kellogg’s Pop Tarts; which is the Meijer Frosted Blueberry Pastry Treats. I decided to give them a chance at the $1.79 price which was thirty cents lower than the Kellogg brand.

Description

The packaging is similar to Kellogg’s as the items are sold in a small rectangular box containing five packages for which each package has two pastries or “tarts”. The packaging is a foil wrapper. The toaster pastries consist of a white colored cookie or pie crust covered with a blueberry paste entombed below the white frosting layer speckled with tiny multi colored sprinkles. The physical characteristics are very similar to the Kellogg‘s Blueberry pop tart version, though the sprinkles appear a little different or more sparsely dispersed and much smaller.

Preparation of toaster pastries

As mentioned above, there is not much to preparing these. I know some people eat these at room temperature; I am not one of those people. I like the paste, jam, filling, or whatever you want to call it to be heated warm. I set the toaster settings to a low to medium setting to allow the pastry to obtain a light brown, and then wrap it in aluminum foil to stay warm for my commute.

Taste

Okay, now for the real test. The first munch on the corner of the pastry was nothing more than “meh”. The frosting and filling tasted below average. The blueberry flavor did not come out at all. It could have been any flavor berry for all I know. The real disappointment to me was the flavorless pastry. Not sure what Kellogg’s does to make their tart crust taste good, but Meijer needs to look into creating a similar taste or at least providing taste to the pastry. My suggestion would be adding some vanilla, almond, lemon or some other flavor addition to inject some life into the pastry crust. Maybe add some extra blueberry flavor as well.

Purchase

Okay so the pastries saved me thirty cents;  not very good savings as I see myself struggling to  get through  the rest of the box over the next few weeks. This was a bit of a letdown as I have experience good luck with Meijer brand products over the past few years. These were a clunker. I rate this product a “do not buy”. Spend more and go Kellogg’s pop tarts or get the Kellogg’s brand when they go on sale.

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.