At The Kitchn, I develop all of your favorite recipes and help you discover your most beloved grocery finds. I have more than 17 years of recipe development experience, including time spent in cookbook test kitchens and on Alton Brown’s culinary team. My two kids have lots of opinions on dinner.
Patty Catalano
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It’s the “perfect bite.”
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Danielle Deavens
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“My family burns through them like oxygen.”
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Ivy Manning
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Filling your pantry, fridge, and freezer with versatile staple ingredients makes the chore of everyday cooking a little more palatable. Aldi is my first stop when restocking my supply after weeks of holiday cooking — and it should be yours, too. Navigating the aisles and checkout line of this quirky little market is easier than the big-box stores, but what keeps me coming back are the low prices of the high-quality core grocery items.
One item that I’m definitely adding to my cart this winter is a bag of Season’s Choice Mixed Vegetables. These frozen veggies are my secret to serving cozy, comforting meals all season long, while saving time and money. The medley of frozen green beans, sweet peas, tender carrots, and corn add wholesome flavor to the soups and casseroles that are on my winter menu. The best part? A bag of the frozen vegetables costs less than $1.
It’s easy to forget about frozen vegetables at the height of summer when there’s a bounty of fresh produce. When winter arrives, the best way to get your fill is in the freezer section. Frozen vegetables are as good as (and sometimes better than) fresh at this time of year because they are picked at their peak and then flash frozen.
Aldi’s Season’s Choice Mixed Vegetables are a classic combination of tender peas, carrots, corn, and green beans. The colorful medley of veggies is already prepped. There is no need for peeling, trimming, or slicing the carrots, peas, corn, and green beans, which means you can add them directly to recipes — no thawing required. Plus, a 12-ounce bag of these frozen vegetables costs less than $1, and you’d be lucky to find this variety of fresh produce at that price.
Frozen vegetables, like these from Aldi’s Season’s Choice line, are exactly what winter casseroles, soups, and stews need. Add them directly to retro casseroles (like this chicken and rice casserole or this tuna casserole) that have stood the test of time for a reason.
All-in-one meals like shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie, or the French chicken Parmentier rely on a medley of vegetables, so why not use frozen here too? Just remember that these veggies warm quickly, so there’s often no need to thaw before adding them to a recipe. Additionally, the corn, peas, carrots, and beans are already cut into bite-sized pieces, so you’ll want to avoid prolonged cooking to maintain their texture.
These mixed vegetables come packaged in a steam-ready bag, which is perfect for nights when you’re looking for a quick side dish. Add flavor to the steamed vegetables with a drizzle of pesto, crumbled cheese, or a squeeze of fresh lemon.
What Aldi groceries are you stocking in your freezer this winter? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Patty Catalano
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What started as a game — “What can we make in 15 minutes?” — to keep her son occupied during the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly turned into a full-fledged cookbook. 15 Minute Meals, out this month, is novelist, cookbook author, and TV host Ali Rosen’s bible for anyone who doesn’t have the foresight (or time!) to think about dinner hours ahead.
The long list of salads, soups, noodles, rice bowls, desserts, and more she’s created are proof positive that “there’s a lot that you can do in a few minutes.” She credits a big part of that to the veritable mountain of quality frozen shortcuts (and pantry staples) that exist today, calling it a “golden age of ingredients.”
As an often spontaneous meal planner (planner being generous), I wanted to know the one thing every lazy cook should always have in their freezer. So, of course, I reached out to Rosen to chat. Here’s what the woman who wrote the book on quick-yet-satisfying meals had to say.
“I would say frozen peas is my number-one thing — like I love frozen peas,” says Rosen, and maybe not quite for the reason you think. Their neutralness is what really makes them stand out: “[They] don’t add as much texture and flavor,” which oftentimes is what she’s going for when she wants to add some nutritional value into whatever she’s making — and with minimal effort.
“It’s no work, and because of their size, you don’t have to do anything to them. You’re not going to get a whole bite of them in anything, so they’re not going to ruin any flavor.” Plus, “The quality of how we freeze things has really shifted in the last number of years,” adds Rosen, who also wrote a freezer-meals cookbook. “So you’re often getting more nutrients from a frozen vegetable than you are from the broccoli you bought six days ago.”
“If you want to make mac and cheese, great! Throw some frozen peas into it and then you’re getting your vegetable quantity for the day.” Same goes for ramen, rice bowls, pasta bakes, soups (she’s a big fan of creating them from pantry ingredients like coconut milk and chickpeas, along with frozen peas), and ground meat for tacos.
Beyond frozen peas, Rosen swears by broccoli florets, medleys (like the pea, green bean, and carrot blends), and frozen spinach, which is especially great for melding into sauces and hiding from picky eaters — of all ages. “Freezing garlic and herbs in ice trays (in olive oil)” is another one of her favorites; she also recommends buying the frozen garlic or ginger cubes, like the ones at Trader Joe’s, with “as few ingredients listed as possible,” along with frozen stock and ice cream. (She grew up with Haagen Dazs Chocolate and still considers it one of the best.)
“My freezer is mostly full of ice cream — ice cream, stock, peas, and some gin.”
Buy: Cascadian Farm Organic Sweet Peas, $4.19 for 10 ounces at Instacart
What’s the one shortcut you always have in your freezer? Tell us in the comments below.
Mara Weinraub
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“It makes you forget your worries for a second.”
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Apple Mandy
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San Diego homicide detectives are investigating after out-of-town family members found a body in a freezer at a home in Allied Gardens on Friday morning, police said.
The family immediately called police after making the discovery about 11:45 a.m. in a home on Zion Avenue near Eldridge Street, San Diego police Lt. Jud Campbell said.
It’s unclear whether the dead person suffered any traumatic injuries, but the department’s Homicide Unit is investigating, Campbell said. No details such as age or race could be confirmed, but the body appears to be that of a female person.
The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call homicide detectives at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at (888) 580-8477.
Lyndsay Winkley
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Ever since I was a child, pie has been our family’s go-to dessert. My mom would stop by Marie Callender’s Restaurant & Bakery, and we’d select a pie from the endless list of options and bring it over to my grandma’s house to share.
Now, years later, finding a pie that rivals those memories can be tricky for me — especially because I’ve been eating a gluten-free diet. Truthfully, it’s pretty hard to find a crust that can hold up to its buttery, non-gluten-free counterpart. On a handful of occasions, I’ve tried recreating a flaky and juicy gluten-free pie myself, but rolling out the crust and mixing up a delicious filling takes more time than I often have, and I can never seem to get my pie to taste as good as the ones from my local specialty bakery.
I’ve plunked down a hefty sum to find a solid pie, and over the years I’ve built a list of must-order bakery staples. So I was surprised to find that my new favorite pie was waiting for me at my local Sprouts Farmers Market — no advanced orders needed!
Jill Miller, who runs The Maine Pie Co. (based in Maine, naturally), once owned The Runcible Spoon in Nyack, New York, where she was famous for her tasty pastries. She later chose to specialize in gluten-free pies for one very simple reason: “My husband has celiac disease, and we could not find a gluten-free pie on the market that tasted and looked homemade,” she says. “Anyone can make a good pie, but not a good gluten-free pie.”
Miller creates lab-certified, frozen, gluten-free pies made with brown and white rice flours and ships them off to grocery stores, like Sprouts, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Whole Foods Market, to name a few. (You can also buy them directly on the company’s website.) Maine Pie Co. currently has nine pie flavors, including classics like pumpkin, blueberry, sour cherry, and apple (my favorite, so far!). You can also spot its best-selling 9-inch pie shells, a handful of tarts, and a couple of mini pies, on shelves too.
I’m here for the full-size pies and, believe me, these pastries are really, really good. The sweet and tart apples are sourced locally in Maine and made into pies the same day. Miller says she learned this trick while running The Runcible Spoon. Back then, to ensure an always fresh baked pie, her team “would assemble, freeze, and bake off as needed,” she explains.
Because you’re baking these pies at home, they taste just-out-the-oven fresh and look gorgeous.
When I first tried the company’s classic apple pie, I was in dessert heaven! It’s a cinch to bake — I opened up the box, unsealed the frozen pie, and placed it in a preheated oven. Following the directions to a T, I baked the pie for 20 minutes, reduced the heat (from 425°F to 350°F), and continued to bake for another 50 minutes until the lattice crust turned a lovely golden-brown and the apple cinnamon filling was bubbling. The scent of butter and warming spices filled my kitchen.
After carefully taking the picture-perfect pie out of the oven to let it cool and spending a good portion of time admiring my efforts, I got out a carton of vanilla ice cream and served each warm slice with a dollop. The crust is flaky, and balances nicely with the sweet apples mixed with just the right amount of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
It’s now become my go-to dessert for holiday parties — and guests can’t even tell it’s gluten-free!
What store-bought desserts are you buying for your next holiday party? Tell us in the comments below.
Michelle Lau
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She always keeps one in the freezer.
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Kate Oczypok
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LOL, of course this is what she has.
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Isadora Baum
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
No matter how you feel about it, there’s no denying that the most popular item sold at Trader Joe’s is its Mandarin Orange Chicken. I used to work for Trader Joe’s, so I know firsthand how wild the frenzy can get about this frozen delight. In the South, where my particular store is, some folks would travel up to 200 miles just to stock up for the month on all of their frozen standbys (cooler bags and ice packs in tow!), which often meant bags upon bags of Mandarin Orange Chicken.
As for me, there are certain Trader Joe’s items that hold such specific taste memories for me — and Mandarin Orange Chicken is one of the most vivid. It was my college standby meal, for when the devil on my shoulder said, “We could just get Panda Express, couldn’t we?” and the angel on my shoulder said, “Saving money is also really cool, you know.” In this case, the Mandarin Orange Chicken was the perfect compromise, although I think my post-grad spin on this frozen item just might be even better.
Much like the Chinese American takeout classic it emulates, the Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken has breaded nuggets of dark meat chicken that crisp up to a golden-brown in the oven (or, better yet, air fryer) for eight to 10 minutes. When tossed with the accompanying sweet-spicy-sticky orange sauce, it’s a great break-in-case-of-emergency meal to keep on hand when your DoorDash/Uber Eats/Postmates apps start sending you the siren song of coupons and alerts. Served with fluffy rice, roasted broccoli (which you can even roast alongside your chicken), and a sprinkling of green onions and chili crunch for a meal that’ll have you go, “Takeout, who?”
Full disclaimer: Trader Joe’s serving sizes are sort of a punchline all their own. This bag says it serves five, but for me it solidly serves my hunger levels at a solid 2.5 servings (two entrées plus a little cheeky bowl for when midnight snack time comes around), so proceed with those portions in mind if you’re looking to serve the whole fam.
On their own, the nuggets are flavored pretty neutrally, so they are a great open-access protein for all kinds of riffing, which I love doing when I want a sauce that’s less on the sweet side (and it is pretty sweet!). I often use it as a shortcut for fried and breaded chicken dishes, like brushing it with a Nashville chicken-style spicy oil for mini sliders and mimicking other takeout favorites by mixing up a Korean-inspired gochujang BBQ sauce to coat it and serve alongside plenty of banchan.
If I really want to put dinner on easy mode, I’ll toss it with another sauce like Buffalo, honey mustard, or a sticky BBQ (like Sweet Baby Ray’s) for throwing into a wrap or topping an easy workday-friendly lunch salad that my college self would be very impressed by.
Find it in stores: Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, $4.99 for 22 ounces
Have you tried Trader Joe’s iconic Mandarin Orange Chicken? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Mackenzie Filson
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
The platters of family favorites that fill the Thanksgiving table every year all have one thing in common: Many of the most beloved (and delicious) recipes — mashed potatoes, fluffy dinner rolls, savory gravy, and the pièce de résistance, roasted turkey — are all shades of brown. Tasty as the traditional menu might be, I’m always on the lookout for low-lift ways to add color to my plate, beyond the cranberry sauce.
On a recent visit to Aldi, I spotted the key to a more colorful holiday dinner in the freezer aisle — Season’s Choice Colorful Carrots — and for about $1 per bag.
Aldi’s Season’s Choice frozen carrot coins aren’t what you’d expect. Instead of slices of orange carrots, this bag contains a medley of hues, including yellow, purple, and white. The carrots come packaged in a 12-ounce bag. That translates to about four (3/4-cup) servings, although with so many other sides available, you can probably stretch this package to serve a few more folks.
If you can’t get enough of prepped colorful vegetables, pick up a package of colorful cauliflower to pair with the rainbow medley of carrots. That 12-ounce bag contains purple, orange, green, and white cauliflower florets for the same price.
Aldi’s Season’s Choice colorful carrots come in steam-in-bag packaging. If your oven is packed and the stovetop is occupied, go ahead and steam the carrots according to package directions. The key to making this frozen vegetable holiday-worthy is in how you serve them. Dress the colorful carrot coins with homemade honey butter or this flavor-packed cowboy butter.
In many cases, the oven has a brief respite once the turkey is removed to the counter to rest. Use that time to roast the carrots directly from frozen. Follow the technique for this roasted frozen broccoli and be shocked at how simple and delicious a frozen veggie can be. If you’re looking for a way to prep the carrots on the stovetop, look no further than glazed carrots. While this recipe starts with fresh carrots, you can add the carrots straight from the freezer; once they are mostly thawed, move onto the glazing step.
Find it in stores: Season’s Choice Colorful Carrots, $1.37 for 12 ounces
What Aldi groceries are you bringing to Thanksgiving this year? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Patty Catalano
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