Frozen Foods You Should Never Buy From Target

Nothing beats a Target run — one where your cart is filled with the newest home decor, an outfit for your next party, beauty supplies, and packed to the brim with groceries that you can't wait to eat. Target somehow always tricks you into buying more than you need, right? But while the big-box store offers a plethora of options when it comes to fresh and frozen foods, some items should be a hard pass for shoppers. 

Many people love frozen meals because they are quick, easy, and in some cases nutritious or affordable. If you're a frequent visitor to the frozen foods aisle, you know that you can get anything from appetizers to full blown meals, and everything in between. Not all frozen foods are great, however, and we dove in to find out which products you shouldn't spend your money on during your next Target splurge. Target customer reviews were incredibly eye opening as we looked at Target-brand products that customers claimed to be of bad quality or value.

We also considered nutrition. Some things to look out for in frozen foods are high amounts of sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats. Another tip is to check out the ingredients list — if it's super long and filled with multiple words that you've never heard of, chances are that food is pretty processed. There are many healthy and unhealthy frozen food options available at Target, and we want to lead you away from any that will affect your health negatively.

Almost all of us have a frozen pizza stocked in our fridge at any given time. It's the perfect thing to have when you feel like indulging in a delicious pizza but don't want to pay the pizzeria price. And while Target has plenty of good options, you may want to avoid its Signature Wood-Fired Mushroom Pizza, the lowest-rated frozen option with 3.2 stars out of 5.

One of the main things that reviewers noted was that the pizza crust had a cardboard-like consistency and taste. That's one of the last things that you want your pizza crust to be. Others mentioned that there was just zero flavor overall, which is pretty hard to do, considering cheese and tomato sauce are naturally filled with tons of flavor.

One customer left a scathing review, saying, "This was one of the worst pizzas I ever had. Sorry but it is. Absolutely no flavor. Cardboard box feel. It feels illegal ... this should be $1.25 at the dollar store." For a price of $6.99, it's definitely not worth it to get this tasteless pizza when there are many other highly rated frozen pizzas available at Target.

Having some fun appetizer options in your freezer is always a good idea. You never know when you'll need a quick snack to entertain some friends or something to nibble on during Sunday football. Unfortunately, some frozen appetizers can be a huge letdown, like the Good & Gather Frozen Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Cones.

These quesadilla cones are made with flour tortillas, chicken breast, and cheese, plus a lot of extraneous ingredients. It's no secret that many frozen appetizers are highly processed, and these quesadillas are no different. They also have a high amount of saturated fat, about 23% of the Food and Drug Administration's daily recommended amount.

The quesadillas were rated 4 out of 5 stars on the Target website, so there are definitely people that enjoy them. However, there are also negative reviews that are a bit concerning. Some people shared that the flavor was completely off, with a sour and unpleasant taste and texture. Several people shared that they found sharp chicken bones in the quesadilla, which is not only unappetizing, but also unsafe. One customer even said, "no one deserves to torture themselves eating these" while another shared, "This is honestly the worst thing I've ever eaten. I baked a few of them just to try and I threw them all away. The filling tastes rotten. Do not try!"

In the world of omelet bites (or egg bites) the Good & Gather Frozen Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Omelet Cups are definitely not the best. In one serving, which is about four pieces, there are 25 grams of fat — 15 of which are saturated. That is 75% of the FDA's recommended limit. If you are having that much saturated fat in one meal, you're going to have to be extra mindful of what else you're eating throughout the day. Having high amounts of saturated fat can increase risk of heart disease.

There are many other great egg bites brands – like Nellie's, which has only 8 grams of fat total, including saturated fat. With many similar product options, it's always a great idea to check the nutrition information to make sure that you're making the right choice.

These Good & Gather Omelet Cups received 4 out of 5 stars on the Target customer ratings. However, according to multiple reviews, the recipe Good & Gather was using has since changed. One customer shared, "Did you think your loyal guests wouldn't notice the monumental texture difference and complete lack of egg being used now? What is an omelet bite without EGG. We are smarter than that, Target. Please remove this broccoli-cheese mess from the shelves and bring back what we are paying for."

It's incredibly common to stock up on frozen vegetables to have easily on hand. And they're generally healthy, too. There are reports that many vegetables that are frozen right after they are harvested are able to retain all of their nutrients. However, some vegetables don't taste nearly as good frozen as they do fresh, and corn is definitely one of them. Most people love the characteristically crisp texture that corn has, and when it's been frozen, it tends to end up soft and mushy.

Now, the Good & Gather Frozen Street Corn isn't just frozen corn. It's also seasoned with cheese, lime juice, garlic, and chili pepper. On the surface, that sounds like it could be pretty good. The reviews, however, tell a different story. When reading the multiple negative reviews on this corn, we saw not one, but two reviews that mentioned the corn smelling like "a musty basement". There were also more a handful of reviews that said that there was a strange plastic and chemical taste to the corn. Overall, many people ended up throwing their bags of corn away, because they thought the taste was that bad. One customer chimed in, "Agreeing with others on the strange taste. Almost like melted plastic or glue. It's very overwhelming to the point where I threw the entire bag out after a few bites."

Nothing beats a delicious homemade chicken fajita. If you don't have the time, though, some people opt to grab this Tex-Mex meal when out at a restaurant or frozen from the grocery store. Unfortunately, the Good & Gather Frozen Southwest Inspired Chicken Fajitas at Target may not be the best choice.

The "fajitas," or rather, the fajita filling, comes in a large bag and includes red and green bell peppers, white meat chicken, and other seasonings and additives. These are rated a 2.6 on the Target site, which is one of the lowest ratings we've seen on the company's website. One of the main problems reported by customers is that the bell peppers completely overtake the amount of chicken in the bag. And when you're eating something with the name chicken in it, you want that to be the main ingredient!

The other issue is that the few pieces of chicken that are in the bag are described as "wiggly," "rubbery," and "mostly fat." We don't know about you, but we personally don't want to be eating chicken with any of those characteristics. Other reviews also mentioned that the seasoning provided in the bag didn't have the classic fajitas taste, and was overall unpleasant.

The Good & Gather Frozen Lobster Mac and Cheese Bites are another frozen appetizer that looks incredibly appealing on the packaging, but isn't that great when you open the box. With the large, fresh looking bites and description of "crispy breading", we can see how many people were drawn to try these.

With a 3 out of 5 star rating on the Target site, though, these mac and cheese bites have many negative reviews. One of the main complaints is that the size of the bites are way smaller than how they're shown on the package. People also described the cheese balls to be almost hollow, with barely any cheese or lobster pieces inside. As for the taste, many described them to have an overwhelming fish taste that overtook the flavors of the cheddar cheese.

Plus, when looking at the nutrition information, we can see that these cheese bites are not very healthy. Now, we understand that anything fried with cheese isn't going to be the healthiest — however, when something doesn't taste good, we don't want it to be bad for us, too! In one serving, there are 7 grams of saturated fat, which is 35% of the FDA's daily value. There are also 3 grams of added sugars, and 590 milligrams of sodium. If you're going to be eating something that could impact your health in a negative way, it better be delicious.

Frozen bagged meals can be an incredibly convenient way to have a hearty dinner with minimal effort and cleanup required. There are many delicious frozen bagged meals out there, but unfortunately, the Good & Gather Frozen Indian-Inspired Chicken Tikka Masala is not on that list. With a 2.9 star rating, we were curious to see what Target customers thought of this dish.

Off the bat, we saw that many people were disappointed by the serving size of the masala. One reviewer explained, "Very deceiving. Definitely not 2.5 servings — unless you count a bite of chicken a serving. Super disappointed. They should add way more chicken and veggies and do away with the rice. Anyone can make their own rice." People even went as far to say that the entire package barely serves one person. If you were banking on making this meal for you and another person to share, you'd end up pretty hungry.

Now, knowing that customers felt that the serving size was too small, we took a look at the nutrition information. For people using the whole bag as one meal, they're consuming a total of 700 calories, 7.5 grams of saturated fat, 115 grams of carbohydrates, and the true kicker — 1,550 milligrams of sodium. For a meal that was described as "no flavor," costs $8.99, and isn't very healthy, is it really worth it?

This frozen product is ultimately just frozen chicken cut up into grilled strips. It seems simple enough, so what could possibly go wrong? While you might think this would be an easy 5-star rating, Target customers actually rated the Good & Gather Grilled Chicken Breast Strips a 3.5 out of 5.

Many people describe this chicken as disgusting, rubbery, mushy, and gross. One reviewer was outraged, writing, "Disgusting! Inedible! It definitely cannot be chicken! Target should be ashamed for even trying to pass this off as chicken and trying to sell it to us." Others wrote that the chicken was full of fat, and barely looked or tasted like chicken.

Some people speculated that the chicken was "brined" too long, which means that the chicken is pumped with sodium. Their assumptions may be correct, since each 3-ounce serving of chicken has 390 milligrams of sodium. For reference, an average 3-ounce grilled, skinless chicken breast has about 44 milligrams of sodium.

Continuing on the theme of frozen chicken, you may not want to opt for Target's breaded chicken patties, either. These Good & Gather Chicken Breast Patties ranked even lower than the grilled chicken strips, with a 3.1 out of 5-star rating. When diving into the reviews, it seems that people used to love this product, and then something changed.

There are more than 10 reviews where people share their disappointment in the chicken patties. One reviewer explained, "Quality took a huge hit recently, went from a reasonable choice to complete trash. Watery, mushy, unflavored chicken. Actually threw out the last few patties, couldn't do it to myself not worth it...yuck! Spend the extra money and get the name brand." Others agreed, writing that the change in quality is not just slightly worse, but drastic. Multiple people urged others not to spend their money on this product, while others expressed their regret in not checking the reviews first.

In the world of frozen fruit, Good & Gather does a fairly good job. Nearly all of the frozen fruits that are available under the brand have a customer rating above 4 stars. The Good & Gather Diced Avocado, however, had the lowest score at a 4 out of 5. Now, that score isn't necessarily bad — but seeing that every other fruit had nearly 5 stars, we were curious.

The ingredients in this bag are quite simple — it's just avocado and lime juice. Many customers, however, weren't pleased with the taste of the avocado. The main problem lies in the fact that the avocado is apparently not ripe. Customers shared that the taste was bitter and flavorless while the texture was hard yet spongey.

One reviewer wrote, "It never occurred to me to look at reviews for a produce product. I wish I had. Thawed to make avocado toast. They did not look 'right'. Had no smell. Touched & it was springy, kind of spongy ... I can't begin to explain [the] bizarre taste & texture. Spit it out, tossed the entire bowl."

The Cavatappi Pesto Pasta with Chicken by Good & Gather is a two-serving pasta dish. It's made with cavatappi (spiral noodles), along with pesto, almonds, chicken breast, and cheese.

Objectively, this isn't a very healthy meal. First and foremost, one serving is 1 cup — and for something containing chicken and noodles, 1 cup of cooked ingredients isn't very much. Even if you were to just eat one serving, you'd still be consuming 27 grams of fat (4.5 of which are saturated), which is 34% of the FDA's daily recommended amount. There are also 430 milligrams of sodium, which is 19% of the FDA's daily value. In reality, most people will be eating the entire container — so you're going to need to double those numbers.

This meal has a 3.2 out of 5 star rating. Some people described the pasta as tasting very bland or chemical-like. Others shared that the noodles were undercooked, there was barely any pesto sauce, and the chicken was inedible. One person wrote, "I was hoping to find an easy side dish but this was absolutely disgusting. I usually look at reviews before I buy something like this from Target but I was in a rush. It literally tastes like rubber and oil in a pan." Save your money and excess calories for something that is really worth it.

We all know that burgers aren't necessarily the healthiest. So if you're going to have a burger, you want it to be good. We can't say that the Good & Gather Uncured Bacon and Cheddar Beef Patties fall into that category.

One of the most concerning things about these burgers is that multiple customers found bone fragments in them. Others shared that after consuming the burgers, they became sick. Even without those safety hazards, apparently the burgers themselves just don't taste great. People describe them as chewy with a sausage-like taste. Others mentioned that they were overly salty and simply disgusting. A regretful reviewer shared, "Should've read the reviews before buying. This was the nastiest burger I've ever had. The smell will fool you but once you take your first bite you'll to spit it right back out."

In one burger, there are 1,020 milligrams of sodium, which is 36% of the FDA's daily value. The sodium along with the 10 grams of saturated fat (51% DV) in the burgers are not the best things for your heart health. Now, we're all for indulging every so often, but the quality of these burgers doesn't make the indulgence worth it.

When choosing which items to feature in this article, we went through every single frozen Good & Gather item. We first considered the customer ratings, highlighting the lowest-rated food items. We wanted to provide a variety of types of food, so we made sure to pick ones from each category. We also considered nutritional aspects for many of the products in order to give extra support to our choices.