Category: Food Items (Page 17 of 27)

Cucina & Amore Arrabbiata Pasta Sauce

July 28, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

I got this pasta sauce at Grocery Outlet ($2 for a 17.6 oz box) because I was looking for a higher-quality pasta sauce to go with a dish I was making for dinner. This sauce, made in Italy, contains all natural ingredients: tomatoes, tomato paste, sweet red peppers, evoo, anchovy paste, salt, parsley, garlic, sugar and chili powder. The results is a very nice and fresh tasting sauce, with a strong (but pleasant) red pepper flavor. My daughter found the sauce too sour, and I have to agree with her though that wasn’t a problem with me. It didn’t go well with the dish I made, the flavor of the sauce is too strong to mix in with other ingredients, but I think it’d be pleasant enough by itself. At $2 for basically 2-cups worth of sauce it’s a pretty expensive for a place like Grocery Outlet, but I think it’s worth it.

Note, because the sauce comes in a box rather than a jar, you can’t actually reseal it so plan to use it quickly.

Hart Orange Beef – Review

July 15, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Orange Beef is the latest product from Hart Food Products, a small mom & pop frozen food company that seems to mostly distribute through Grocery Outlet. I had tried their Orange Chicken before and I had been less that impressed, but it was another kidless night when I didn’t want to cook and, if nothing else, the Hart Orange Beef ($4 for the 2+lb package) seemed like a good value. So I decided to give it a try.

Like the chicken, this product consists of small pieces of beef heavily battered. You sauté them on some oil for about 12 minutes, stirring often, heat up the orange sauce in a different sauce pan, and then mix it in with the beef. It’s not too complicated, but it does use up two cooking pots (not good for those of us without dishwashers).

The results are mediocre. The beef has way too much breading and it was too oily (I’d recommend using a non-stick pan and only minimal oil when cooking them), the sauce wasn’t painfully sweet but I grew sick of it quickly. In all I think I’ll steer clear of Hart products.

Red Baron By The Slice Pepperoni Pizza – Review

July 15, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

With the kids out of town I haven’t been cooking as much as I normally would, which means I’ve been relying on whatever frozen food I find at Grocery Outlet. That’s very much of a hit and miss, but as far as frozen food goes, Red Baron by the Slice Pepperoni Pizza ($2 at GO) is a hit. The pizza slices come in their own baking trays, so all you have to do is take them out of the plastic and put them in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. Unlike most other frozen pizzas, these slices actually crisp up. They have a medium crust, light tomato sauce, enough real cheese and pepperoni. They are pretty tasty, not pizzeria quality, but quite good for frozen pizza. At 360 calories and 15 grams of fat they’re not great for you, but they could be worse. In all, not a bad choice for lunch.

Note: the box offers two ways to cook it, I went for the simple one, it may be even crispier if cooked the other way.

Island Wok Steamed Pork Buns – product review

June 15, 2011 / admin / 4 Comments

Today I found a package of Island Wok brand steamed pork buns at Grocery Outlet and decided to give them a try. I LOVE pork buns, and while these were a bit expensive ($4 for 6 3.5 oz pork buns, about the same price you can get freshly made ones at your local Chinese restaurant), I liked the convenience of having them in my freezer. They also seem to be made with natural ingredients. Unfortunately they weren’t very good.

My main complain is the filling. I like my pork buns at least a little bit sweet and these ones are not. Probably the most notable flavor is that of the soy sauce. Mika thought that there was too much bread for the amount of filling, but I don’t think they’re more unbalanced than most pork buns. In all they weren’t bad, and they microwave very easily (1 minute each), but given their price I think I may just stick with the ones from New Hong Kong.

Island Wok is a brand of Harvest Food Products, a Hayward based Asian frozen food company. One of the things I do like about GO is that they give small producers a chance. While I didn’t love these pork buns, I will try other Island Wok/Harvest Food products.

Harry & David Moose Munch @ Grocery Outlet

June 8, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Grocery Outlet (at least the one in San Leandro) has 4.5 oz packages of Christmas-packaged Harry & David Moose Munch for sale at 99-cents. They expire on 10/28/11, so they’re still perfectly fine to eat. They have several flavor varieties, I tried the milk chocolate and another Christmasy flavor with cinnamon or ginger, which I didn’t enjoy. They also have dark chocolate. The milk chocolate popcorn was very good, though I’d say that about 10% of the popcorn is actually covered with milk chocolate, the rest is just good, but not extraordinary, caramel popcorn. In all, it’s not a bad snack for $1 – though at 630 calories for the whole package, I’m not sure it’s really worth it, even if you share it with someone.

Frozen Banana Leaves

May 31, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Yesterday I made a dish that required cooking in banana leaves, so I looked up exactly how to do it. It was fairly easy.

You can buy frozen banana leaves at Asian and Latin markets in the US. They are usually in the same area where they have other wrappings (eggroll skins, empanada shells, etc.). Each package seems to have one leaf, but these are huge so you probably won’t need more than one. They cost about $1-$1.50. After you buy it, keep the banana leaf frozen until ready to use.

When you’re ready for it, boil water in a wide saute pan or similar. Take the banana leaf out of the package and put it in the pan – if it doesn’t fit (and it won’t, unless you have a HUGE pan, just put one side of it, and keep moving it until the whole thing defrosts. Alternatively, if you have a large enough pan to fit the banana leaf, just pour boiling water on it and keep it there until it defrosts. You want the banana leaf to be flexible.

Cut off the center rib of the leaf with a knife and discard.

Then tear the leaf into sections large enough to roll your packet in. Make it be about 5-6 times as large as the food you put inside it. Then roll it like you would a burrito: roll it once, fold in the top and bottom corners and continue rolling it. Secure it with kitchen string.

Fish cooked in Banana Leaves

Beef Back Ribs

May 30, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Beef back ribs are often on sale at Safeway. I’ve never gotten them before because they are sold “previously frozen” (though not actually defrosted), and I tend to stay away from frozen beef, as freezing interferes with texture. But I finally decided to give them a try. I cooked them by separating them into chunks of 2-3 ribs, rubbing them with a mixture of garlic & onion powder, salt and pepper and baking them, covered with foil, in a 375F oven for 2 hours. I then uncovered them, basted them with BBQ sauce, and meant to cook them for another hour. Well, the BBQ sauce was already burning after I checked on them 1/2 hour into the cooking so I took them out.

The ribs tested fine (despite the BBQ sauce burning), and they were tender enough (not overly so), but there was too little meat and too much fat in the huge bones. Even at $1.70 lb, it wasn’t probably a great deal given how much actual food you got out of them. I don’t think I’d buy them again.

Impra Organic Black Tea – Review

May 13, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

I got a box of Impra Organic Black Tea bags at Grocery Outlet ($1.50 for 25) and I was quite pleased with it. This Ceylon tea has a medium flavor, it stands well to milk and sugar. It was quite tasty, and given the great price I’ll probably buy a few more boxes.

Petite sirloin steak @ Safeway

May 13, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Safeway had value packs of “petite sirloin steak” for sale this week at $3lb (a dollar less than top sirloin), so I figured I’d buy some. I wasn’t too sure what “petite sirloin steak” was, but a google search showed that this cut is also known as “sirloin tips”, “round tips”, “flap steak” or “flap meat”. It’s the part of the round that’s right next to the sirloin. The pieces at Safeway consisted of small, thick steaks, with a layer of fat on one edge.
I used them to make Beef Stroganoff. This required me to cut the petite sirloins into thin strips and then pan fry them on some oil. I was surprised at how tender the results were: perhaps not as tender as a tenderloin, but definitely more tender than a sirloin or similar steak. For this purpose, this was an ideal cut. Flavor-wise I wasn’t too thrilled with it, it wasn’t as gamy as I’d like it, but you don’t need much flavor when you have a sauce like Stroganoff. I’ll definitely buy this cut again when it’s on sale to use in dishes where I want tenderness for cheap.

Green Giant Sliced Fresh Mushrooms + other Grocery Outlet notes

March 10, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

I love sauteed mushrooms, but fresh mushrooms can be pretty expensive when they’re not on sale (and even when they are), which is why I was happy to find an 8oz package of sliced mushrooms at Grocery Outlet for around $1.50. Unfortunately, these Green Giant sliced mushrooms are just not very good. I’ve bought them twice now, a couple of weeks apart, so I know it’s not just one bad batch.
There are three main problems with them: taste, thickness and consistency. Flavorwise, they are just not there. They are not very flavorful, even when sauteed on butter and seasoned with copious amounts of salt and the flavor they do have is slightly off. The mushrooms are pretty big and the slices are quite thick, which makes them take longer to cook but also just overall less appealing. The texture is also a little bit strange, more rubbery than for most mushrooms. We just did not enjoy them – none of us. I think it’s worth the ones at the supermarket are probably worth the extra buck or two.
Now, on other Grocery Outlet news
– GO is now selling 7oz jars of assorted dried herbs and spices for $3, which is an unbelievable price (though who really needs that much spices?). They are packaged by Gel Spice Company. I don’t know much about them other that they had a serious repeat problem with rat infestation in the 70’s and 80’s (I can only hope they’ve cured it by now). The thyme leaves I bought seem fine, but really, I wouldn’t know how to judge dry thyme leaves. I don’t see why they would be worse than the stuff at the supermarket, though. Expire in 2014.
-Got a box of Near East Tabouleh Mix for 34 cents. It expired on 2/10/11 but it’s a dry product so I think it should be fine for a while. I cooked it and didn’t find any problems.