Frozen Foods You Should Never Buy From Aldi

Making a trip to the supermarket is rarely friendly to your wallet. It seems like every time you walk up to the cashier and they start scanning your goods, you stare in horror as you watch your total cost climb higher and higher. It's never fun to leave with a chunk of your bank account depleted. But there is one option that can help take some of the load off of your funds. If there's an Aldi nearby, you can get at least most of what you need there for a fraction of the price you'll pay at another chain grocery store.

While Aldi doesn't carry the huge variety of items you find at other larger supermarkets, it's a great place to go for your basic needs. If it's specifically frozen food you're looking for, Aldi has a decent selection of stuff to stockpile your freezer. But a decent selection certainly doesn't mean every single item is worthy of your attention. So if you're penciling in a trip to Aldi in the near future, make sure to avoid the frozen items on this list.

A lot of people believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It's your body's first chance to fill up with energy so you can charge at whatever lies ahead of you and crush it like a champion. Many people find they don't have time to whip up a balanced breakfast before they head out the door, so convenience is key. That's what might make the Breakfast Best Pancakes and Sausage on a Stick enticing at first. But this is a product you definitely don't want to take up any space in your freezer.

There are several issues at play here. First, the taste of these is very underwhelming. The pancake exterior feels gummy and it's way too thick. The sausage that hides underneath is rubbery and very salty. Those two aspects alone are a huge turnoff. But then you look at the nutritional facts and things get worse. There are 21 grams of carbs, so anyone avoiding carbs needs to turn and run. And with 9 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, and 340 milligrams of sodium per stick, there are much better ways to start the morning.

Starting the morning off with a breakfast sandwich seems like a great idea, right? You get all your favorite breakfast foods – eggs, cheese, sausage, and bacon – nicely nestled between two pieces of bread for a handheld vessel with a mission to get you stoked for the day ahead. But if you're thinking about investing in the Breakfast Best Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Croissant at Aldi, you'd better think again.

Let's start with the taste. First, you expect a croissant to have a delicate texture, thanks to the butter and lamination, but these are frozen – when they cook, the bread becomes tough and crumbly. The cheese has a plastic-like quality to it, and both the egg patty and sausage disc are beyond rubbery. It also warms up unevenly, so you have these off-putting cold spots peppered throughout. If that's not enough, the nutrition here is abysmal. One sandwich has 28 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 30 grams of carbs, and almost 1 gram of sodium. Avoid these at all costs.

Mornings can prove very stressful for many, so a quick and convenient way to get energy into your body is essential. This is what might draw your eye to the Whole & Simple Breakfast Bites in Aldi's frozen breakfast aisle. However, don't be fooled by the photo on the box and the "13 Grams of Protein" message. These are breakfast bites that are much better left on the shelf.

Starting your day off filling your body with poor nutrition is a recipe for disaster, plain and simple. Your body always wants to operate at peak performance, but these breakfast bites will deter you from that. If you opt for the ham, pepper, and cheddar bites, you're tossing back small bites packed with 240 calories, 9 grams of saturated fat, and 350 milligrams of sodium. And don't think for one second that the turkey, sausage, and spinach option is much better. These actually have 10 more milligrams of sodium, putting them at 360 milligrams per serving of two bites. Mix that with 180 calories and 5 grams of saturated fat and you'll think of plenty of things you'd rather have for breakfast.

When your appetite is calling for a hot slice of pizza, there really is no other food you can supply it with that'll scratch that itch. Pizza time is serious, so having a few frozen options in your freezer on hand alleviates all the traveling you have to do to cop a fresh pie. However, if you're at Aldi and you see a box of Reggio's Sausage Pizza staring back at you, you pass that box right on by. This is one frozen pizza that definitely doesn't earn its place anywhere in your freezer.

Now, these pizzas are "dinner size," which means you can pretty much put away a whole pie if you're really hungry. Well, your body definitely doesn't want or need 18 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 49 grams of carbs, and over 700 milligrams of sodium. On top of that, the texture of the sausage is rubbery, and the cheese is rather bland.

After a heavy meal full of rich and hearty dishes, a sugary blast of dessert can really push dinner over the top. And you better believe that if you have guests over to eat and you break out a container of Specially Selected Frozen Cream Puffs, you're gonna get people pretty excited. The little morsels of light, delicate breading filled with rich cream top off an evening in one of the most delicious ways possible. As tasty as these might be, you should keep them far away from your belly.

Since these puffs are bite-sized, it's too easy to toss back several of them, and that's a big issue in terms of their nutrition. Let's say you scarf down three cream puffs. You just smacked your body with over 11 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, and almost 20% of your daily cholesterol intake. This means anyone who really decides to go hard on the cream puffs is flooding their system with unnecessary cholesterol. Are these puffs tasty? Yes. But they're simply not worth the poor nutrition.

When hunger strikes, it comes in all kinds of forms. Sometimes it's the kind that only requires a small snack, but other times the belly beast kicks in with the force akin to what Harold and Kumar felt when they made their incredibly arduous schlep to White Castle. Well, if you get smacked with Harold-and-Kumar-level hunger that only White Castle will stave off, you can simply cop yourself a box of the frozen White Castle Cheeseburgers for convenience. But just because you can doesn't mean that you should.

Now, it's no secret that fast food isn't the pinnacle of healthy eating. Far from it. And that's why these frozen cheeseburgers don't belong in your fridge. Each box comes with three two-burger plastic sleeves, making two burgers one single serving. Along with both of the slider-sized burgers is 18 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat (40% of your daily value), 1 gram of trans fat (the worst kind of fat), and over ½ a gram of sodium. These things are miniature vessels of unhealthiness; leave them out of your shopping cart.

There are so many questions that pop into your head when you're in the mood for a burger. What kind of meat are you going to use? What kind of fixings will you pile on top of the patty? Do you want it rare or well done? All these pertinent questions loom large because when it's burger time, you want to make sure your appetite is invested in something worthwhile. Well, if you're wondering whether or not the Bremer Angus Cheeseburgers will check the right boxes, they won't.

Now, keep in mind these cheeseburgers are basically Hot Pockets. The cheese-topped patty has a flatbread casing around it, so the meat and cheese flavors are encased in the bread. Well, sadly, there isn't really much flavor to seal in. The beef is super bland, and the cheese has a gummy texture. These things aren't exactly great on the nutrition scale, either. With 340 milligrams of sodium, 4 grams of saturated fat, and 160 calories per flatbread burger, the fact that there are 10 grams of protein is somewhat irrelevant.

While cream cheese and jalapeños might at first seem like an odd combination, once you actually try it you realize the cream cheese does a great job of coating your mouth with a cooling sensation to offset the spicy kick of the jalapeño. Now add a deep fryer to the whole mix and you have yourself a super solid appetizer for parties. However, best to avoid the Appetitos Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese at Aldi for a couple of different reasons.

Let's start with the nutritional content. Now, once you start combining a heavy cheese and a deep fryer, you automatically know you're not dealing with low-carb cuisine. So, it shouldn't come as a huge shock that in only three of these stuffed peppers lies 230 calories, almost ⅓ of your daily saturated fat intake (29%), and 25 grams of carbs. Even if you can stomach all that, the flavor here lacks as well. The cream cheese often comes out runny, which is very unappealing, and the outer breading burns easily. If you're looking to get your stuffed jalapeños on, this is not the way to do it.

Whether you're having some friends over for a weekend get-together or just cranking through Netflix shows on your own, having a big ol' pile of freshly baked beef taquitos on a tray nearby is never a bad idea. So long as the outer corn tortilla is crispy and the meat inside is tender and savory, you really can't go wrong. Well, the Casa Mamita Beef Taquitos at Aldi certainly found more than one way to go wrong, which is why they don't deserve a spot on your shopping list.

Even after they are baked in the oven, the corn tortillas that wrap the beef are mostly chewy as opposed to crispy. Once you bite down, things don't really get any better. The meat inside tastes super salty and is nowhere as tender as you'd like. You get the sensation of chewing on dried strips of beef jerky. And the nutrition here is nothing to brag about. Three small taquitos pack 240 calories, 26 grams of carbs, and 340 milligrams of sodium. You can skip them.

The best part of diving into a freshly made chicken pot pie – other than the delicious flavor, of course – is that the first time you break open the buttery crust on top, your nostrils are inundated with those rich smells that erupt from out of the flaky opening. That burst of steam is so packed with scents you can almost taste them as they waft by. This is what makes the Bremer Chicken Pot Pie such a bummer.

Let's start with the pastry pie itself. Flaky and buttery it certainly isn't. The edge around the pie comes out hard as a rock and crumbles everywhere when you try to bite into it. Once you break through to the pie's edible innards, you're not met with a rush of great smells. There's a thick off-putting heaviness that leaves you suspicious about the quality of the ingredients used. It might very well have something to do with the fact there are just under 10 grams of saturated fat (almost ½ of your daily value), 410 calories, and 790 milligrams of sodium in each pie.

Topping a fresh-baked potato with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese leads to a wonderful combination of the warm soft texture of the potato melting the cheese into a deliciously gooey coating that coats your mouth in rich flavor. Well, you don't have to worry about baking potatoes or buying shredded cheddar cheese if you buy the Bremer Potato and Cheddar Pierogies at Aldi. Bremer combines both flavors into one doughy bite-sized pocket that, in the end, is incredibly underwhelming.

One positive aspect of these pierogies is that the texture of the potato and cheese filling is pleasantly silky. However, the cheddar flavor really doesn't peek through enough. The pockets that encase the filling tend to become very tough around the edges, which makes for an overly chewy experience when the dough should feel delicate throughout. Plus, only three pierogies pack nearly ½ a gram of sodium, as well as 32 grams of carbs.

If you're after rich, vibrant, and umami-packed flavors, you may look to Asian cuisine to find dishes packed with tastes and sensations that render your tongue numb with satisfaction. Take pot stickers, for example. These bite-sized dumplings are encased in a super delicate wrapper that allows for the maximum flavors of the meat and vegetable stuffing inside to hit your palate. However, the Fusia Asian Inspirations Pork Pot Stickers at Aldi manage to do the opposite.

The pork filling in each pot sticker is juicy, but not in a great way. It feels like you're biting into a juicy, warm loaf of compact sodium. Gross. The dumpling casings are very delicate, but the pleasant mouthfeel they cause is instantly canceled out by the off-putting saltiness of the pork. In terms of nutritional value, there's nothing here to boast about. Tossing back three pot stickers (and you'll likely need a whole lot more than that to fill up) nets you just under ½ a gram of sodium, 150 calories, as well as some sugar. When it's time to enjoy Asian food, this isn't the way to do it.

Rice can get a bad rap as being a boring, bland food. However, there are tons of ways to spruce up a plate of basic rice and turn it into something super savory and packed with delicious ingredients. Well, if you don't feel like heading out to the nearest Asian restaurant for some great rice options, Aldi has Fusia Asian Inspirations Chicken Fried Rice available for purchase.

After a few bites of this dish, you may realize you should've just made the schlep to a local restaurant. Much of the rice becomes a very tough texture after cooking. The chunks of chicken are dry, and even the sauce that comes with it can't seep into the chicken enough to solve the problem. Flavor-wise this is a disappointment. When it comes to nutritional value, the sodium content will leave most people aghast. Only 2 cups of rice contain over 1 gram of the stuff. Tack on 62 grams of carbs and almost ⅓ of your daily cholesterol intake, and you have a product that doesn't earn its place in your home.

Cheesecake is the kind of dessert that can push you into a food coma in the most delicious way possible. If you eat a huge dinner but can still fit a bit more before your stomach waves the white flag, cheesecake is the perfect food to get that flag frantically shaking back and forth. Aldi sells assorted varieties of Belmont Cheesecake, and even though each slice hits those rich and creamy notes really well, the nutritional value in them would make any doctor furious.

If you take down one slice – which is super easy to do, because the flavor and texture of each slice is great – and you'll be hammered with 320 calories, 100% of your daily sugar intake, and over ½ of your saturated fat intake (9 grams). It's easy to brush these facts off once you take a bite because each slice erupts with sweet flavors. If you're looking out for your health or watching your sugar, then leave the Belmont slices far away from your freezer.