Latest news with #frozenfood
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The 'Absolutely Delicious' Frozen Fried Chicken I Could Eat Every Day (It's THAT Good!)
This article may contain affiliate links that Yahoo and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links. As much as I love cooking, some nights I really need a quick dinner that doesn't require much effort on my part. That's usually when I peruse my freezer. I'll grab frozen shortcuts from the grocery store here and there, but my favorite ones come from QVC. (Yes, the QVC you watch on TV.) The retailer offers a bunch of delicious options that I, and more members of The Kitchn team, adore. So, if you, too, need to stock your fridge with effortless meal-starters, these are five of the best we recommend. Heartland Fresh Chicken Fried Chicken with Gravy $99 Buy Now 1. Heartland Fresh Chicken Fried Chicken with Gravy This is easily one of my favorite groceries to pick up at QVC. Heartland Fresh's Chicken Fried Chicken with Gravy comes with 12 frozen chicken breasts — enough to last my fiancé and me for over a month — along with two packs of creamy white gravy. I usually crisp it up in my air fryer, which only takes 15 minutes — perfect for weekday lunches and dinners. You can also heat it in the oven. The chicken has a peppery breading that is on par with fried chicken from a quality restaurant. It goes nicely with the gravy, which I make in a saucepan on the stove. To be honest, though, I often find myself just eating the chicken with a side of barbecue sauce for dipping and some roasted veggies. I could eat it every day. Heck, maybe I'll stop and make some right now … Buy: Heartland Fresh Chicken Fried Chicken with Gravy, $99 for 12 (5-ounce) chicken breasts at QVC The Perfect Gourmet 100-Count Classic Potstickers $79 Buy Now 2. The Perfect Gourmet Classic Potstickers These potstickers are another great go-to for your freezer. For one, you'll get 100(!) dumplings, divided into four bags of 25, so you can easily make enough to share (though you definitely don't have to). Not to mention, there are six flavors you can choose from and a combo option, which includes chicken and broccoli, pork, kung pao pork, and chicken. They're also pretty easy to make: Simply pop them into a hot pan, and get them nice and golden all around. Add them to your favorite salad (or salad kit for a delicious two-ingredient dinner). Buy: The Perfect Gourmet Classic Potstickers, $79 for 100 (0.7-ounce) potstickers at QVC Rastelli's Provolone and Parsley Pork Sausage Links, 4 (1-Pound) Packs $97 Buy Now 3. Rastelli's Provolone & Parsley Pork Sausage Links 'It was love at first bite with Rastelli's Provolone and Parsley Pork Sausage Links,' wrote contributor Haley Lyndes in her review. These sausage links are a natural for a big summertime bash (toss them on the grill!) or sheet pan dinners. You'll get four 1-pound packages or 16 sausage links, so maybe both?! They're also delicious: 'The pork was meaty, rich, and fresh, with way more flavor and none of the blandness I often find with the packaged supermarket options,' Lyndes wrote. 'The provolone cheese adds a creamy, slightly tangy kick with the parsley bringing a fresh, herbal pop in every bite.' Say no more; into the cart, it goes. Buy: Rastelli's Provolone & Parsley Pork Sausage Links, $97 for four (1-pound) packages at QVC Bertoncello Italian Cacio Pepe or Pizzaiolo Stuffed Gnocchi, 4 Pounds $79 Buy Now 4. Bertoncello Italian Pizzaiolo Stuffed Gnocchi I often reach for gnocchi when I need an easy meal. I love crisping them up on a sheet pan with a mix of veggies. When even slicing peppers sounds like too much effort, I'm grabbing Bertoncello's Italian Pizzaiolo Stuffed Gnocchi out of my freezer. It tastes just like pizza, with creamy mozzarella and zippy tomato basil sauce in the center of each gnocchi. Cook them in a skillet for about 10 minutes, which is what I usually do (and toss in a little butter and Parmesan cheese at the end), or in an air fryer for just five minutes. The two bags of stuffed gnocchi are two pounds each, so they last several weeks (if not months). Plus, you can also get these gnocchi with a cheesy, peppery cacio e pepe filling, or a combo pack. Buy: Bertoncello Italian Pizzaiolo Stuffed Gnocchi, $79 for two (2-pound) bags at QVC Mama Mancini's Beef Meatballs $60 (was $66) Buy Now 5. Mama Mancini's Beef or Turkey Meatballs in a Cup For unbelievably good meatballs, try Mama Mancini's. You can decide whether you want beef or turkey (or both!); either way, the three cheese-stuffed meatballs are smothered in tomato sauce. Culinary producer Janette Zepeda tried them at this year's QVC Foodie Fest, and she couldn't get enough, which is perfect, because you get six cups in an order. They 'embody everything a good meatball should be,' said Zepeda. They're 'tender, juicy, with the right balance of seasoning and the perfect touch of acidity from the rich, flavorful tomato sauce.' Buy: Mama Mancini's Beef Meatballs in a Cup, $59.98 (on sale!) for six (7-ounce) cups at QVC What's your favorite QVC dinner shortcut? Tell us about it in the comments below. Subscribe to The Kitchn! Further Reading We Used Our New 'Room Plan' Tool to Give This Living Room 3 Distinct Styles — See How, Then Try It Yourself The Design Changemakers to Know in 2025 Create Your Own 3D Room Plan with Our New Tool Sign up for The Kitchn's Daily newsletter to receive our best recipes, posts, and shopping tips in your inbox.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Fed-up roommate enrages fridge-raiding freeloader after taking drastic action: ‘Act like a child, get treated like a child'
She took the cold shoulder to the next level. After months of quietly enduring a frustrating roommate scenario straight out of a sitcom, one woman decided she'd had enough — literally clamping down on her co-habitant's cagey behavior. Seeking vindication, the anonymous apartment dweller took to Reddit, explaining that she lives with her 31-year-old partner and his brother, and that for the most part, the less-than-common living arrangement works just fine — they even split rent and bills three ways. However, she noted, her 29-year-old pseudo-brother-in-law is a picky eater and tends to stick to frozen snack foods — which would be fine, except for the fact that after gobbling up his own supply, he goes in on everyone else's icy stash. 'We've talked to him about it countless times. He always apologizes, says he was really hungry, and promises to replace it but he rarely does,' she explained. One day, after coming home from a long day at work and looking forward to one of her favorite frozen treats, the frustrated flatmate instead found an empty box in the trash. Furious, she argued with the meal mugger, bought a lock, and put it on the house's spare freezer, leaving the thief without access to her food — which, according to her, really set him off. 'He said we were treating him like a child and being incredibly petty and hostile. He says it's humiliating,' she said — before explaining that her partner is firmly anti-pilferer and thinks his brother is 'just mad he got caught.' After thinking it over, the woman said she felt guilty and wondered if she took the tiff a touch too far. If there's one thing that can unite the Internet, though, it's a tale of bad roommate etiquette. 'Adults make commitments and keep them. Adults also don't steal each other's food. Act like a child, get treated like a child,' reasoned one commenter, while another slammed the roommate's behavior. 'Congratulations, you are living with a human cockroach. Set boundaries and if/when exceeded, enforce them,' they insisted. 'Now that there are 2 freezers, he can get more groceries at once, so it should last him a few days more,' said one positive person. Drastic as the thieving deterrent sounds, the classic padlock-on-the-fridge is a more common solution than expected. In some cases, some offices have had to resort to locking up communal refrigerators — to prevent potential pilfering between employees. Some households also occasionally opt to lock up supplies to circumvent too much midnight snacking — like the man who bought a so-called 'fridge safe' to keep his fiancee from eating his chocolate. 'Anyone want him? Surely, this is break-up material,' the choc-blocked woman protested on Facebook at the time. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
The restaurant-quality hidden gems I always buy from Aldi Australia
Aussie foodies have uncovered a secret menu of sorts, but it's not at your local fine-dining hotspot. Instead, fans are raving about the tasty treats tucked away in the freezer aisles of their local Aldi. A recent foodie thread has unveiled what many budget-savvy Aussies are calling a 'secret menu' of restaurant-quality food - and they can all be found in the unassuming low-cost supermarket. From flaky beef pies that rival gourmet bakery favourites, to Greek-style spanakopita praised by actual Greeks, and buttery roti that's been declared 'better than any restaurant,' shoppers have taken to the Reddit page to spill the beans on Aldi's best-kept food secrets. The now-popular thread began with a simple question from a shopper praising the supermarket's frozen roti and once-stocked dumplings, asking others to share their own underrated finds. What followed was a flood of fan-favourite recommendations, tips and hot takes on the best-value, most delicious eats - many of which cost less than $7. 'I go to Aldi just for spanakopita more times than I care to admit,' one user confessed. While another said of the popular frozen pies, 'They're a dupe for the Herbert Adams pies - but half the price.' With Australia's cost-of-living crisis forcing many households to tighten their belts, it's no wonder this thread struck a chord. Shoppers are desperate for budget-friendly meals that don't taste like cardboard, and according to hundreds of Redditors, ALDI is quietly delivering restaurant-style flavour for a fraction of the cost. So, if you're tired of overpriced takeout or just want to upgrade your weeknight dinners without blowing the budget, this list might just change your grocery game. From spicy quesadillas to dangerously addictive Portuguese tarts, these are the cult ALDI products everyday Aussies can't stop raving about - and why you might want to stock up. First up were Aldi's Elmsbury Beef Peppercorn Pies ($6.49 for two) which have won major praise for their gourmet flavour at a budget price. 'I think the fancy frozen beef pies that are like $6 for two are actually super good,' one shopper wrote. 'Came here to say this! They are a dupe for the Herbert Adams pies which retail for $10. The Aldi ones are $6.49.' The only catch? Shoppers warn not to confuse them with ALDI's standard beef pies from the same brand, which didn't rate as highly. Next, shoppers listed the Urban Eats Spanakopita ($5.99), with some customers admitting they visit Aldi just to stock up. 'I go to Aldi just for spanakopita more times than I care to admit.' 'I'm Greek and I find their spanakopita to be excellent.' 'I keep them stocked in the work freezer, and bust them out in the sandwich press when I haven't brought in a proper lunch.' Other shoppers recommended pairing it with lemon juice, tzatziki or the chain's seasonal lamb koftas for a Mediterranean-inspired dinner. Described as 'elite' and 'better than any restaurant,' were their Urban Eats Roti Paratha ($4.99 8pack) on the other hand, with this flaky flatbread moonlighting as an Aldi MVP. 'The roti is amazing and same if not better than any restaurant I've been to,' one Redditor claimed. ''The roti is elite. We've been getting the pre-made Massaman [curry] from the fridge section and it's delicious with some jasmine rice and roti as an easy week night 'fakeaway'.' It's also vegan-friendly and cooks perfectly in a fry pan or sandwich press with no oil required. If you're into Taco Tuesdays, they just got easier with their Urban Eats Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas ($4.99 2pack) making the list These cheesy quesadillas are ready in minutes and pack a smoky chipotle punch. 'Pan fry those babies and you have a pretty decent meal for the price,' one person wrote. 'Definitely! I love them with salsa, jalapeños and sour cream. I'm going tomorrow, dinner is sorted.' 'Seconded! Just had one for lunch - absolutely top tier,' another wrote. For the sweet toothers, shoppers shouldn't go past Aldi's Sweet Haven Portuguese Tarts ($5.49 4pack), apparently. The golden, creamy custard tarts are a hit straight from the freezer and multiple shoppers say they should be illegal they're that good. 'Portuguese tarts are pretty good!' 'Those ought to be illegal! I love them.' 'Just tried these tonight. Pretty good is understating it.' 'I'll second that. They're a freezer staple for us.' For a pro tip, bake them in the oven for 10 minutes to get that fresh-from-the-bakery crisp. While many of these cult buys are available year-round, some may only appear during limited promotions, so fans recommended stocking up when you see them.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
I've Eaten More Than 50 Frozen Dinners So Far This Year — These Are the 3 I'll Stock in My Freezer Forever
This article may contain affiliate links that Yahoo and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links. Thanks to major improvements in flash-freezing technology, better sourcing, and a surge of innovative brands, the freezer aisle has become one of the most exciting (and overwhelming) sections in the grocery store. There are hundreds of meals touting plant-based ingredients, globally-inspired recipes, and famous chefs. It can be hard to tell what's worth stocking up on just by looking at the frosty packaging. I've made it my mission this year to try as many frozen meals as I could get my hands on — more than 50 and counting. There were frozen burritos, sandwiches, pasta, and plenty of frozen pizzas. These are the three that really stood out to me and have (and will continue to be) on my grocery list. 1. Saffron Road Chicken Tikka Masala There's a wealth of frozen Indian food options in grocery stores today (Trader Joe's has a dozen in its freezer case). I've tried a handful of tikka masala, and while a lot of them fell short (too much cream or not enough spices), Saffron Road's Chicken Tikka Masala is absolutely delicious. It's got a bit of warmth from the medley of spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. The chicken is really tender, and you really won't believe that it came straight from the freezer, while the rice is plentiful and fluffy. Saffron Road makes a few other really good frozen meals, too. Try the Saffron Road Chicken Biryani with Basmati Rice; our resident registered dietitian raves about it. Buy: Saffron Road Chicken Tikka Masala, $5.99 for 10 ounces at Amazon 2. Dr. Praeger's Pizza Stars I'm getting a little abstract on what is considered a meal. These Dr. Praeger's Pizza Stars are what happens when you cross a pizza pocket with veggie-shaped nuggets, and I am here for them. They are gluten-free (the exterior is made with a cauliflower base) and feature a cheesy, marinara sauce-rich filling with a few hidden (as in you can't taste them) vegetables, like zucchini and cauliflower. I'd say the entire box is a meal in itself, but it also goes great with a side salad. I heat them in the air fryer to get a bit crispy while the center stays gooey. It's one of Dr. Praeger's greatest creations to date, just behind those frozen veggie burgers. Buy: Dr. Praeger's Pizza Stars, $5.99 for 9 ounces at Target 3. Mìla Caramelized Scallion Noodles Most frozen foods are meant to be baked or microwaved, but Mìla has helped redefine convenience by offering a variety of frozen dumplings and noodles that are steamed or boiled. These Caramelized Scallion Noodles require a quick stint on the stovetop before being tossed in a sweet and savory sauce. Trust me — these noodles taste better than takeout and cost less than half as much. Plus, they're readily available at retailers nationwide, like Target, Whole Foods, and more, in addition to Mìla's website. Buy: Mìla Caramelized Scallion Noodles, $5.99 for 9 ounces at TargetWhat frozen dinner do you always have in your freezer? Tell us about it in the comments below. The Weekly Checkout Sign up for The Weekly Checkout to get the most up-to-date grocery news, tips, and highlights. Subscribe to The Kitchn! Further Reading We Used Our New 'Room Plan' Tool to Give This Living Room 3 Distinct Styles — See How, Then Try It Yourself The Design Changemakers to Know in 2025 Create Your Own 3D Room Plan with Our New Tool Sign up for The Kitchn's Daily newsletter to receive our best recipes, posts, and shopping tips in your inbox.
Telegraph
21-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Findus Crispy Pancakes to air-fryer chips: How the British freezer has changed though the years
The idea of preserving food by stashing it in a very cold place is as old as humanity itself. But the process wasn't successfully domesticated until a century ago, when Clarence Birdseye returned from a stint as a fur trapper among the Inuit community in Newfoundland between 1912 and 1926. Noting that the fish they caught would freeze immediately when pulled from the water at this latitude, Birdseye was impressed that it kept its texture and flavour when defrosted months later. He discovered that the same retention of flavour applied to peas if they were blanched after picking and then immediately frozen, even keeping their bold green colour. Fast forward to 1929 and, operating under the catchy moniker Captain Birdseye, Clarence introduced frozen food to the American consumer. It wasn't until the 1970s that home freezers (produced by brands such as Lec and Co-op) began to replace traditional larders on this side of the Atlantic. They've housed our homemade and processed comestibles ever since... Having smoked endless cigarettes and sipped Party Sevens and Lambrini until we passed out on our paisley bedspreads, our only hope of getting up in time for work was the teasmade going off. Which it almost never did. Our frozen-meal choices reflected our lack of concern for our health. Vegetables and homemade soups were considered suspicious interlopers while Crispy Pancakes and lasagne filled the drawers (courtesy of Findus), along with boxes bearing BirdsEye Steakhouse Grills and, for afters, Sara Lee gâteaux and Arctic Roll. Meanwhile Rodney ' Likely Lads ' Bewes enticed the housewives of Britain to buy BirdsEye products during ITV ad breaks with the pay-off line: 'Be a good girl, have a proper lunch tomorrow'. Different times indeed. Our freezers had to keep up with our frenetic, shoulder-padded lifestyles but the nutritional content of what was in them was firmly stuck in the epoch of Dennis Skinner and the three-day week. It was the advent of the frozen microwave meal – Vesta Chow Mein or Beef Curry? Take your pick – which could be heated up in our new Panasonic in minutes, meaning a near-instant dinner for the stressed, junior-executive coat-hanger salesman. The results were barely an improvement on boil-in-the-bag; questionable, too, was the noxious ooze of a BirdsEye Chicken Kiev, a common precursor to the glacial, impasted horror of a Wall's Viennetta. We maxed out our credit cards like avaricious Gulf sheiks in Harrods, but, looking back, our diet was in fact on the level of an Uzbek coal miner. Only we had McCain Oven Chips and a lot more plastic trappings to fill the pedal bin. By the end of the Thatcher era, home freezers were as ubiquitous as Gazza and Danny Baker's 'Daz' adverts. But we were starting to consider our life expectancy. Enter the health-conscious ready meal, a category dominated by WeightWatchers and Lean Cuisine, which tried to tempt us with 'meals' such as Honey Mustard Chicken with Grey Poupon, which, if you're wondering, is just another kind of mustard. Frozen-food manufacturers also assumed that we wanted smaller versions of things – which we did, buying up McCain Micro Chips and Chicago Town Mini Pizzas in our droves, perfect for that sensation of feeling both fiscally cheated and still really hungry come 9pm. We wanted to live longer but our new commitment to healthier frozen choices extended neither to our children – who, for the first time, were able to gorge on freezer treats marketed exclusively to them such as Turkey Dinosaurs and Calippo Shots – nor to our pudding choices, alternating as we did between Mars ice creams and tubs of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough. Happy type 2 diabetes to us all. As budget airlines made a trip to Bali a more tempting option than a fortnight in Benidorm, frozen food manufactures struggled to produce versions of pho, sushi and nasi goreng that tasted even remotely like what we ate on holiday. In response, produce actually became more parochial, but with a premium twist. The downmarket reputation of the freezer-friendly microwave meal for one was rescued by M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury's launching top-rung ranges of dinners, from beef bourguignon to 'luxury' fish pies. If the concomitant prices were too high, there was also the option of a frozen Yorkshire pudding from Aunt Bessie, one of the most successful ways in which a dish perfected in the 1920s gas oven could be transposed to the era of Big Brother and Benetton. One of the few outliers with international aspirations was Sharwood's, which branched out from sauces into frozen Indian meals. More redolent of Doncaster than Delhi, they were at least an improvement on the Vesta curries of the 1970s. Meanwhile, BirdsEye dipped its toe into health-food signalling with its frozen Chicken Dippers, 'now with Omega 3'. The strapline was later quietly dropped from the packaging, presumably when it became apparent that most consumers thought Omega 3 was a games console; an item which freezes just as adequately as battered chunks of cheap hen. The premium trend reached its apotheosis with the M&S Gastropub range and, a notch higher still, Charlie Bigham's frozen meals which, if eaten daily, remain capable of bankrupting Warren Buffett himself. Yet this was also the era when we started to get artisanal with our freezer drawers. Herbs? Avocado chunks? Smoothies? Bone broth? We discovered we could freeze them all. While ensuring that there was still room for bags of frozen seafood mix for our make-from-scratch endeavours, as well as the ever-expanding thin-crust pizza ranges with toppings that, finally, extended beyond margarita and pepperoni. This was also the decade that saw Instagram infiltrate our kitchens. All at once, Little Moons mochi ice cream balls became an essential dessert staple among children and Instagrammers with the IQ of children but with access to a tripod and portable charger. Domestic freezers today can breathe a sigh of capacious relief after the full-to-bursting era of Covid stockpiling. They still contain forgotten Plant Chef and Moving Mountains vegan burgers, which we will eventually eat with the kind of grudging sanctimony usually displayed by Jeremy Corbyn's inner retinue. As for kitchen newcomer the air fryer, well, that's just far more fun isn't it? Discovering that frostbitten Brussels sprouts from last Christmas taste good in the Ninja is the present-day equivalent of Alexander Fleming mucking about with penicillin. We must now, naturally, give frozen chips the same treatment. TGI Friday's and Greggs have, oddly, compelled us to eat in rather than dining out by launching 'fakeaway' chicken meals and frozen sausage rolls respectively, and I won't even pass comment on the 'innovation' that is frozen veggie tots. Of course, there's little room left in our Miele for any Rodney Bewes-endorsed goods today. But open your freezer on a full moon and it's still possible to hear a Findus Crispy Pancake rattling its icy chains.
