Nah, that would really open up the floodgates: meatballs, burgers, beef and chicken cut up for later stir fry dishes, homemade stuffed shells. Not to mention vegs that are frozen before they go bad, peppers diced for quicker prep later in the week, etc.
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Also, marinated artichoke bottoms! I can get plain canned ones locally, but I never saw any marinated ones before TJ’s, and haven’t since. Cultured butter is a must-have. The fiends!
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Thank you!
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I quit when the T&B opened. The sausage fave is $6. Hard to compete with that.
My butcher has 2 lb. bags of ready to fry popcorn chicken that I use for sesame chicken and the like. Other than that, I’ll buy some Hot Pockets in a pinch.
Bought some frozen pierogies a few years ago that were competent; but can’t find them anymore.
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For us in no particular order
TJ’s
pork dumplings
Lasagna (has been inconsistent-- first few were “Hey, really good!” then “Meh, what happened?” not horrible but not “really good” either-- been about 50/50 over the last 5-ish years.
French Vanilla Ice Cream!
Chocolate Ice Cream
Coffee Ice Cream
Meatballs
Lava Cake
Orange Chicken
Hannaford or Shaw’s Supermarkets (biggest New England Supermarkets) We use both. H is cheaper, S is closer…much closer.
Frozen Veg
Spinach
Corn
Brussels
Ice Creams (whatever is on sale & not full of air or corn syrup)
Vanilla
Chocolate
Butter Pecan
Choc Mint
Pepperidge Farms Cakes
Frozen Raviolis
Pierogies
Hot Pockets
Tina’s Burritos (or house brands)
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Asian inspired frozen things usually are at least worth eating even if I don’t like enough to buy again. I like the pork shui mai (sp?) from Trader Joes. Not as good as homemade but as good if not better than some restaurants.
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Thanks for the reminder to clean my freezer out.Not a lot of frozen prepared food there. 1/2 bag of frozen ravioli. Mainly steaks, poultry stocked up and some leftovers.
I think the main reason I don’t buy a lot of frozen prepared food anymore is because they look a whole lot better on the package than it actually tastes.
And if anyone can recommend a good quality frozen meatball, I would be interested The couple I tried over the years were pretty spongey.
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i was disappointed, tmissed that cultured butter, as well.
but, as i’ve mentioned before, sometimes when tj’s discontinues a product it’s not because they want to. sometimes the quality deteriorates, the supplier goes out of business. so, sometimes there’s nothing to forgive.
I had surgery a few years ago which had me off my feet for a few weeks. I bought a bunch of frozen food to take some of the pressure off my husband who can cook but is not confident in the task. Most of it was awful. I ate plenty of frozen dinners growing up. It did not live up to my memory. Frozen ravioli is usually good and fried chicken was ok. Chicken pot pies are usually decent. Why is commercially lasagna so bad? Homemade freezes so well. Next time this situation arises, I will order one of those mail order food services that will give him the ingredients and recipes. We will both be much happier.
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Some Italian bakeries and delis in Toronto sell excellent frozen lasagna. There’s also a couple lasagna specialists, a couple pasta makers and upscale Italian restaurants that sell their frozen lasagnas online. Do you live near a good Italian bakery?
I could live on the frozen chicken tikka masala entree by Deep Indian Kitchen. It is so filling, and easy to alter by adding vegetables to round it out. And for dessert, I’d get a few scoops of Talenti mango sorbet.
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No, I don’t. That is a downside of living in a rural area. I do make an acceptable one. I was wondering to myself a few moments ago why it was that I did not have homemade freezer meals prepared for that surgery. I then remembered that we were having a construction project going on which prevented me from doing better prep work.
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Yasssssss!
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I like Talenti, but I’ve recently been splurging on Salt & Straw. Love that they now ship nationally, but they won’t do you just a pint (and at their price point, it makes me sense to get more). That’s 5 pints usually at a time, so I’ve got lots of ice cream to get through. 
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Yes! We have a lovely family with a spot at our farmers’ market that makes dumplings and potato pancakes. We are there every Saturday morning. They offer frozen and unfrozen. We cannot tell the difference. They are wonderful.
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LoL, the “Protein” water is readily available here.
Just shows to go ya! (reverse the Spoonerism if desired)
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These are what I tend to buy. Looking at the items on the the list, it seems like a lot, but I don’t buy them that often.
Pagoda Pork Egg Rolls (Minh and Chung’s are good too, but Pagoda is better, IMO)
Good & Gather Chicken Thai Basil Spring Rolls (Target store brand)
(I like lots of dumplings, but these are my favorites. The Twin Marquis Pork & Chinese Chive is a recent find. That’s another CJ Foods brand, as is Bibigo.)
Bibigo Spicy Mandu Pork & Vegetable Dumplings
Bibigo Japchae Potstickers Beef & Pork Dumplings
Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons
Twin Marquis Jiaozi Dumpling Pork & Chinese Chive
Kroger Beef Corn Dogs
McCain Quick Cook Crinkle Cut French Fried Potatoes
Kroger Extra Crispy Crinkle Cut Fries
Grown in Idaho Hand Cut Fries
McCain Craft Beer Battered Thin Cut Potatoes
McCain Quick Cook Straight Cut French Fried Potatoes
Alexia Yukon Select Puffs
McCain Craft Beer Battered Onion Rings (not oniony enough but the best of the frozen onion rings I’ve tried)
SeaPak Jumbo Coconut Shrimp (I like most frozen shrimp, but that’s my favorite)
Haagen Dazs Chocolate
Haagen Dazs Strawberry
Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche
Tillamook Chocolate
Tillamook Oregon Strawberry
FatBoy Ice Cream Sandwiches
Popsicles
Private Selection Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
(Thinner crusts are my frozen pizza preference)
Sam’s Choice Thin Crust 4 Meat Pizza
Red Baron Thin & Crispy Crust Pepperoni Pizza
Freschetta Brick Oven Crust 3 Meat Pizza
Freschetta Brick Oven Crust Pepperoni Pizza
Freschetta Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza
Private Selection Thin Crust Doppio Pepperoni & Mozzarella Pizza
Rosina Italian Style Meatballs
Rosina Homestyle Meatballs
Cooked Perfect Italian Style Meatballs
Cooked Perfect Homestyle Meatballs
I used to buy Chef Bombay Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken but stopped because of broken plastic trays. I’ve never had broken trays with any other brand of frozen dinners.
…and I’m always on the lookout for new or unusual frozen foods. Most recently I tried some Ayo brand West African frozen foods. They were okay but a bit pricey. Not worth the money, IMO. I also had Patti’s Good Life Mac & Cheese recently. It’s not as good as Beecher’s, but it was pretty good.
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Frozen meatball recommendation: Cooked Perfect Angus Beef - image and link here
This fully-cooked, lower-carb version has minimal seasoning of onions/bell peppers/garlic. The breadcrumbs listed in the ingredients are a tiny component.
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Useful, thanks!
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I have the same issue. Bought these once and was very impressed: https://www.target.com/p/earth-39-s-best-baked-mini-beef-meatballs-frozen-26oz/-/A-23974771
One reviewer said the recipe has changed so they might not be great anymore.
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