I was looking in Grocery Outlet for something quick and easy for lunch and came across a Butter Chicken frozen entree by Archer Farms, a generic brand sold by Target stores. Now, I didn’t realize that Archer Farms was Target, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought the thingy, given Target’s anti-gay stands. But as a food item devoid of politics this entree made for a good lunch.
The 10-oz entree is probably 2/3rds rice, and the other cubed chicken and sauce – though there is barely enough sauce for the included rice. The rice microwaved quite well, the chicken was tender and not as dry as it could have been, and the sauce was pleasant: slightly spicy, balanced but not very challenging. This is not a restaurant-quality dish, but you could do much worse for $1.30 (the price at GO) and 370 calories. In all, but for the Target association, I’d buy it again.
Category: Food Items (Page 18 of 27)
Just found these at Grocery Outlet in San Leandro. A 3-pack is $3, normally a single pack is that much at the supermarket.
I found the cheese to be quite good. It’s very, very creamy and easy to spread. It has a milder taste than the regular laughing cow cheese, and no hint of French Onion (whatever that is) at all. That’s a plus for me, as I was afraid the cheese would have an off taste because of the flavoring.
In any case, a good bargain and one I’m sure won’t last.
Grocery Outlet has been carrying Edward’s Singles for several weeks now. The cheap desserts consist of a dessert base which you heat up for a minute in the microwave, and a small cup of ice-cream with chocolate syrup/chips that you put on it. The ice cream melts on the hot dessert providing, working both as a cooling force and an antidote for the sweetness of the dessert.
Edwards Singles come with assorted bases. Grocery Outlet carries the molten chocolate lava cake, the chocolate chip cookie and the apple pie varieties. The apple pie is just OK, but the other two are delicious. I would never have expected such simple and cheap desserts to be so good, but they really are as good as something you’d get from a restaurant. The combination of the hot and cold, sweet and light, really works.
But the best part is that they are super cheap. A package of two desserts (and trust me, each portion is more than enough for a person) is only 50-cents now at Grocery Outlet. OK, that’s because they are a month passed their “best by” date – but I’m betting that there is still nothing wrong with them (I certainly haven’t gotten sick from the many I’ve eaten). Of course, the past-expiration-date issue means that they won’t be on the GO shelves for long, and really, I’m not sure how much past their expiration date I’d be willing to eat them, but for the time being the kids and I are enjoying them.
BTW, Grocery Outlet also carries Edwards Singles pie slices @ $1.50 per package. I haven’t given these a try.
Like everyone else these days, I’m in search of healthy and tasty grains to feed to my family. Quinoa, a “pseudocereal” that originates in the Andes mountains, is high in protein, iron and fiber, and while it’s high on carbs, it’s still better than pasta or white rice. The grain also has the advantage of looking like couscous when cooked, and having the consistency of soft pasta, something that my kids like. Alas, its nutty and earthy flavor is not very pleasant, and my kids were not happy with it.
I’ve made it plain before, but yesterday I followed this epicurious.com recipe for Lemon-Scented Quinoa . OK, I didn’t really follow the recipe – I eyedball the olive oil (and ended up putting too much), just boiled the quinoa without steaming it after (I don’t think that made any difference, the consistency was perfect), I used lime juice instead of lemon and skipped the lemon peel. Still, I doubt that the changes really made that much of a difference. i think quinoa may just not be for us.
I served the quinoa alongside Roast Pork Loin with Garlic and Rosemary. The pork tasted great, the flavor permeated throughout the meat but, despite the fact that I checked on the pork every couple of minutes, I still managed to overcook it and it was dry. So I don’t think I’ll try making pork roasts again either.
Tonight on the menu Barbecued Tri-Tip with Caramelized Red Onions and steamed broccoli. I don’t think I’ll serve a starch. Hope it turns out well – if so, I’ll copy the recipe here as well.
Got it today at Grocery Outlet. It’s probably the worst food item I have ever bought. It’s COMPLETELY inedible, you cannot bite through it, you cannot chew it, you cannot digest it. I don’t even want to guess what it’s made from and what stuff it has in it.
Whoever makes it should be ashamed of the product, and Grocery Outlet should be ashamed to sell it.
Camila and I just made some bon bons from a Betty Crocker Peanut Butter bon bon Mix
Basically all you do is mix some butter with the bon bon mix and peanut butter. You roll them into balls and then dip them into melted chocolate. Well, let me tell you, 5 year-olds find rolling and dipping more fun than you would expect.
These things do not need to be baked and only require fifteen minutes in the fridge for the chocolate to harden – great, given how little patience children have.
More importantly, they are quite delicious. Mika couldn’t believe how good they were and she hugged Camila thanking her for making them.
As for Camila, she decided she wants to own a candy store when she grows up, given how good she is at making candy 🙂
Update – I just saw the bon bon mix at Grocery Outlet for $1.50 for the 14oz, single, package. It’s supposed to make about 20 bon bons.
The other day I made Wine Braised Short Ribs with Mixed Herb Gremolata for dinner (they were delicious, btw, and I plan to copy the recipe to this blog). They were supposed to be served with Gorgonzola polenta, and while I remembered to buy the Gorgonzola, I didn’t realize until the last possible moment that I had forgotten the polenta. AND, I didn’t have any starches at home. I wanted a starch to soak in all the delicious braising liquid (and delicious it was). I was in a bind.
So I hurried to Grocery Outlet, across the street, with the dim hope of finding some polenta, or at least another quick-cooking starch. These boxed mashed potatoes were the best that I could do. And lord, were they bad – so bad even the kids (no gourmets and not very picky) thought they sucked. In reality, they tasted just like the cardboard box. I don’t really understand why – but they really were inedible.
So hearken me, and avoid them at all costs.
My plan for dinner tonight was to make Chicken Cordon Blue, this time with ham (rather than prosciutto), as it’s significantly cheaper. Alas, Mike had forgotten to get the ham at the supermarket, so I decided to get some at Grocery Outlet. It was a mistake.
There were only two packages of ham available, and I got this Plumroase brown sugar ham rather than the other one as it actually had brown sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Still, this one had artificial maple flavor, so it’s not as it was a much healthier alternative. But the real problem with this ham is that it has very little flavor. There is some saltiness to it, and some fake sweetness and even fake smokiness, but no ham flavor at all. It doesn’t taste “bad” just not very hammy.
At about $3 a pound, though, it’s quite cheap. But it has added water, so who knows how much actual ham you are getting.
Once again, I found myself wondering what I was going to make for dinner tonight and decided to see what quick and cheap things I could find at Grocery Outlet. Dinner ended up being an assortment of things rather than one in particular, but it worked out pretty well.
I started with Middle East Baking Co. Pita Bread ($1.40 for 6 pitas, 12 oz) and Sabra Classic Hummus ($3 for 10 oz container). The hummus tasted exactly as what it proclaims itself to be – “classic hummus” and I enjoyed it very much. It doesn’t list any worrisome ingredients (e.g. no trans-fats). The pita bread was just pita.
Mika and I had hot dogs (I got their no-brand hot dog buns, ‘$1.80 for 16!) and Camila an Evergood Chicken Apple Sausage ($4 for 4, not really a bargain). I like these sausages because they are not as sweet as others. – they also don’t seem to have any worrisome ingredients.
I also served the kids peas – a 4lb bag of a no-name brand was $3.30.
Finally, I gave in to temptation and got a bag of frozen pre-cooked onion rings. They came in a transparent plastic bag with a badly attached label and no expiration date I could find. The 3lb bag was $5. I baked them according to instructions and was quite disappointed. The onion rings were limp and chewy, not in the least crispy, and yet quite greasy. They also didn’t have much in the way of flavor. Heed my advise and avoid them.
I also bought a large package of PrĂ©sident Mini Brie cheese. It’s not my favorite brie by far, but at $3 for a 16 oz package, I can’t really complain.
I didn’t have anything to make for dinner, so when I chanced upon frozen/refrigerated boxes of Belafino Take and Bake Pepperoni Pizza at Grocery Outlet, I thought I’d give it a try. Probably I won’t do it again.
The 2lb, 16″ pizzas seemed good enough in the box. They are made with 100% real mozzarella cheese, and at $3 each they looked like a good bargain. They seemed to have a fair amount of cheese and pepperoni – though once I took them out of the box, the pepperoni seemed rather scant. Still, what ultimately matters is the flavor, and these pizzas taste only of sauce.
There was no cheese flavor /at all/, and while the mild pepperoni was nice in itself, it couldn’t stand up to the sauce. I found the sauce to have an unhappy combination of a predominant too-sweet taste, with hints of annoying bitterness. I just didn’t like it.
The crust was OK, though it had a slight refrigerator taste that I didn’t really appreciate, still it was masked by the sauce.
All of this said, the kids *loved* it. I can’t imagine why, but kids are funny.
I did a bit of googling about this pizza and it seems it’s a relatively recent brand from Schwan, the makers of Freschetta, Red Baron and Tony’s frozen pizzas. Belafino is supposed to be a “gourmet” offering, one to be sold on the deli section of the supermarket – giving the impression that it’s fresh (though the box does note that it’s been previously frozen). Supermarkets are supposed to defrost them, put a “sell by” date of 10 days after the pizza was defrosted, and place it in the deli. I find that kind of scary, because nothing on the box says when the pizza was made (it has a 6-month freezer life). It also seems sort of deceptive.
In any case, the pizza doesn’t taste good and that’s what really counts.
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