Think Twice Before Buying Walmart's Pre-Made Foods

Pre-made meals are undeniably convenient. They're great for when you're short on time and need a quick lunch or dinner. Despite their thrifty nature, grab-and-go meals can be hit or miss and are not always worth the convenience if the food isn't enjoyable — particularly if it leaves you feeling sluggish or worse, still hungry.

While many grocery stores offer their fair share of good and bad pre-made meals, Walmart tends to have more misses than hits. It's hard to deny the retailer's prices, but when it comes to pre-made options, disappointment is all too common. From inconsistent produce quality to surprise price discrepancies at checkout, Walmart has a few red flags to watch out for. For those who appreciate an easy meal and a solid deal but don't want to be duped by unappealing food, we've rounded up some convenience foods to avoid when shopping at Walmart. To create this list, we analyzed nutrition labels and customer reviews as well as personal experience. 

Walmart's Marketside Italian Style Deli Pinwheels are made with with salami, pepperoni, provolone, greens, and bell pepper dressing rolled in a flour tortilla. With the label indicating that the pinwheels are made onsite, this convenient snack might seem like a fresh and feel-good choice. While they may be relatively unprocessed and offer 32 grams of protein, they're not ideal. Containing over 100% of your recommended daily intake of sodium and saturated fat packed into a single serving, these pinwheels don't offer much in the way of a balanced meal.

On top of that, they contain no fiber, meaning it likely won't keep you full for long. And they're poorly rated at 2.8 out of 5 stars, with customers complaining about their soggy texture, salty flavor, and poor price to quality ratio. If you're craving an Italian-inspired ready-made bite, Walmart has better options. Consider the Marketside Italian Hero Half Sub Sandwich instead, which offers similar protein, some fiber, and a better balance of fat and salt. 

Who doesn't appreciate a fresh, healthy snack? Marketside Cantaloupe should meet the criteria for a nutritious bite; The cantaloupe is cut into bite-sized chunks without additional preservatives or artificial flavors. Unfortunately, Walmart's cantaloupe seems to be highly subject to rapid spoilage. Though most melons typically don't last more than a few days after being sliced, this grocery store cantaloupe has an even shorter shelf life, often going bad before shoppers even get the chance to open the package, according to Walmart.com reviews.

Verified customers report a range of issues from cantaloupe that's been cut too soon, leaving it hard and unripe, to fruit that tastes sour, rancid, and off-putting — sometimes with a slimy coating. This packaged melon is wildly unpopular, with 69% of reviewers giving the cantaloupe 1 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, questionable produce is not unique to the big-box retailer, with some customers swearing off fresh produce from Walmart entirely.

Walmart's Freshness Guaranteed variety cakes might look tempting, but nutritionally, they're a sugar overload. With 30 to 35 grams of sugar per serving, just one slice can exceed the American Heart Association's daily sugar recommendation for women (25 grams) and nearly max out the limit for men (36 grams). A single piece can put you over the desirable intake — before factoring in anything else you eat during the day. And with 16 servings in the whole cake, you're going to wind up with a pretty slim slice. Plus, the variety cake's low reviews average 2.4 out of 5 stars,  making this dessert simply not worth the headache or blood sugar spike. Several of the reviews note that the cakes lacked a fresh taste, despite its name suggesting otherwise.

Shockingly, the worst offender is the carrot cake portion, which has the highest sugar content, saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, and calories of the bunch compared to the rest of the variety assortment. Somehow, despite having a vegetable component, it manages to have even less fiber than the German chocolate cake and the regular chocolate cake. To top it off, the ingredients list of all the cakes are less than ideal, containing artificial flavors, artificial coloring, and high fructose corn syrup. If you're craving something sweet, consider Walmart's Freshness Guaranteed Plain Angel Food Ring Cake, which, although similarly reviewed, contains less sugar, no cholesterol, no fat, and more natural ingredients.

Made with roasted turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, and Italian dressing, the Marketside Turkey Bacon Wrap presents as an easy and nourishing lunchtime option. However, with a staggering 2500mg of sodium (109% of your daily value), this wrap is a full-blown salt bomb. Given that oven-roasted turkey breast is typically considered a healthy protein, it's surprising just how undesirable this wrap actually is. The wrap is also rated a meager 2.5 out of 5 stars, with customers frequently complaining about the bland taste, watery dressing, and hard tortillas. According to most verified shoppers who wrote reviews on Walmart's site, an inviting, pleasant taste is simply not present.

If you're in the mood for a wrap, you're better off grabbing a Marketside BBQ Chicken Wrap or a Marketside Chicken Spicy Mustard Wrap. Both are more well-rounded choices that offer higher customer satisfaction, lower sodium, less trans fat, and more protein. They also come in the same resealable container and are crafted fresh in-house, offering the same conveniences as the turkey-bacon version, with fewer downsides.

The Marketside Southwest Style Salad is filled with fresh and satisfying ingredients like romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, salsa, crunchy tortilla strips, and creamy chipotle dressing. The package includes a disposable fork and multiple servings, seemingly making it ideal for enjoying a shareable snack or filling meal. While an overall healthy option, this salad might not be ideal for savvy shoppers.

According to customers online, in 2021, Walmart's salads underwent "shrinkflation." Although it remained the same price, the size of the salad decreased. In this instance, the Southwestern-style salad shrank by more than 25%, with customers receiving approximately five fewer ounces of food — while Walmart increased its profit margin. One Walmart customer commenting on Reddit said, "A very noticeable difference. I'm still hungry." So, if you opt for this particular pre-made meal, consider that it might not be the best option for hungry shoppers looking for a good deal.

This article is for those shoppers who appreciate the convenience of pre-made foods but don't want to sacrifice quality, taste, or nutrition.To determine which options aren't worth buying due to poor flavor, low ratings, questionable ingredients, or a lack of nutritional value, we analyzed customer reviews, nutrition labels, and similar pre-made foods sold at Walmart stores.

In addition, we factored in reviews from verified customers on Walmart.com and Reddit as well as the writer's firsthand shopping experience. Although taste played a role in our assessment, cost, overall, was not a primary factor since most of these products are similarly priced to other pre-made options on the market, including those available at Walmart. Our nutritional evaluations were based on guidelines from the American Heart Association as well as the Daily Values and Percentage Daily Values, which are used  by the Food and Drug Administration for nutritional labeling in the United States.