Remember two weeks ago when my whole menu plan was the Marketside products that Walmart was sending me to taste test? Well, it’s time for me to give you an update on how they all were!
Tuesday: Take & Bake Pizza and Salad
The pizza was pretty good. Better quality than frozen, but not quite as good as my homemade (although I’m biased of course!) The hands down favorite was the “smokehouse” pizza-which was bacon, Canadian bacon & ham with a mix of mozzarella cheese & provolone. Can you say Yum?!? I would recommend these without any qualms as a quick take out alternative.
The quality of the bagged salads was good. They had the tomatoes in a separate bag, ditto for the croutons, and of course the salad dressing. The Ceasar had real shredded Parmesan, not the powdered stuff. Of course buying your own salad ingredients would probably be cheaper-if you actually used it all & didn’t wind up throwing out unused veggies-but much more labor intensive.
Wednesday: Fresh Soup & Artisan Bread Night
As a family we love soup. Princess in particular is fond of Broccoli Cheese Soup, which was one of the options. I felt that all of the soups were good-the taste of the cream based soups was much better than that of canned soup. I personally would prefer to make my own soup, but my Mother in Law (who we invited over to share our soup bounty) pointed out that many of her friends don’t make soup at home any more because you have to make so much. She said that they would really love the more homemade taste and the fact that you could buy the smaller size portions.
I really liked all the bread offerings-I’m a bread lover anyway-but my favorite was the cranberry walnut bread. It was so tasty that I practically considered it desert!
Thursday: Gourmet Pasta Dinner with Steamed Veggies
“Stuffed” pastas (tortellini, ravioli etc) are one of those things I just have to buy fresh. Dried just doesn’t cut it! One of Yankee Bill’s favorite meals in the whole world is cheese ravioli with sauce-and the Marketside brand was a big hit with him. I liked the little sausage purses (borsellini). Although I am a dedicated “make it from scratch” style cook-out of all the products we tried, these pastas are the item I’m most likely to buy on a regular basis.
The veggies they sent were just gorgeous. Honestly-they were so fresh & perfect I could have just opened a bag and stuck them on a platter to serve with dip at a party. But the cool thing was you could just puncture the bag with a fork a few times, toss them in the microwave for 6 min or so and you had a bag full of steamed veggies.
I sent a couple of packages of pasta, veggies and salad home with my Mother in law as well-there was just way too much for us to eat! She thought it was a great product. Since she is a widow, she particularly liked the butternut squash. It was already peeled and cubed, and she felt that because it was cut so fine it cooked a lot faster than if she had purchased a squash & baked it in the oven. She said it was a much better product than buying frozen squash and much less labor intensive than buying fresh and preparing it herself. She plans to buy the Marketside squash in the future.
Friday: Fresh Dips for Entertaining
We were sent a huge amount of dips to try-so far we’ve dug into the blue cheese, ranch and the guacamole. They have all been good. The guacamole is one of the tastiest ones I’ve ever had!
If you are interested in more info on these product and more, stop by the Marketside website.
So there you have it! Have any of you ever tried the Marketside products at Walmart? What did you think?
Disclosure: This post is part of a campaign I am participating in with Walmart to test the Marketside brand products. Walmart has provided me with food samples and compensation for this posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.
****This is a sponsored post****
Amyrlin says
Walmart sent you a ton of food! I have used the marketside vaggies and bags of salad off and on since I do not shop there on a regular basis. I like the fresh bag of cut veggies to pack in my lunches for a side with a sandwich (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). I feel the cost is a trade off if I am packing a lunch and the entire bag lasts me a week. The bagged salads I use for convenience, I try to buy whole heads but I am a very busy Mom so I do use the bagged salads. I like what I have tried, I may use the fresh pizza in the future on an evening I am working overtime. I have been averaging three nights a week lately so when I shop at Walmart next I may give it a try, if it is cost effective, I suppose I could even freeze a pizza like I do when I have time for bulk cooking. How many servings did you get out of a container of the soup? I cold see us buying this for a quick meal with some sourdough bread. Have a great weekend!
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Well, the larger size was 23 oz, so that’s about 2X a standard soup can. . .
Emily says
I am the biggest fan of the pico de gallo and just amazed at how fresh it is. I usually buy four per week. Besides enjoying it with tortilla chips, we add to salads, to garnish on hot dogs & brauts, scrambled eggs, and add to several pasta dishes. Cooked Portabello stuffed ravioli drizzled with EVOO & garnished with the pico de gallo and a side of the MS steamed vegetables. Totally mouth watering. My next weakness is the salad dressings….bleu cheese, chipotle ranch and the ceasar are on the top of my list as well. I am so picky about my dressings. In the past I always made them from scratch. Not anymore. Thanks for simplifying my life. I’m a dedicated fan of Marketside and will definitely do a Deli walk-by for the bakery good.
richard dull says
I just had send a review on your marketside blue cheese salad dressing. I think,out of all the blue cheese dressings i have tried,including the recipe that i make myself.Marketside blue cheese is the absolute best tasting blue cheese i have ever tried PERIOD!! It taste so fresh that its unbelievable that its bought in a store.
ive tried it everywhere and this stuff is great.Thank you all for making such a wonderful salad dressing.
Sincerely,
Richard Dull
suzannw says
I absolutely love love love the multigrain loaf. I think it is the best store bought bread I have ever tried. I love whole loaves of bread versus sliced loaves. I don’t know why they do it, but Big Y slices their bakery loaves, and I feel that it ruins the quality. Any way, I shop at the Chicopee Ma Walmart, and lately they have not had any Marketside bread. I feel like a crack addict without his fix! Does anyone out there happen to know why? I hope it’s not a permanent omission. It’s so disappointing when you find something you love and then it’s discontinued!
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
I’m not sure Suzannw–have you asked at the bakery counter or spoken with one of the managers?
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Ok–I was able to contact Walmart HQ and find out about your bread! Here is their reply: “Thanks for the comment. I was able to speak to the buyer and the product is going thru a upgrade and will soon be back in the store under the same Marketside name. The item should be available by the end of next week.”
lamalle says
Best French baguette, too bad we don’t have it in NYC
Vicki Chappell says
I love the convenience and the value of the Marketside salad kits. But, the Asian salad kit has TOO many green onions.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
I’ll forward your comment back to the company 🙂
Julie Wiley says
I absolutely LOVE the Marketside breads….first bread I have had in a long time that actually tastes as good as the bread my Mom used to make on the farm every week. I have not yet tried much other of the Marketside brand as I am really fussy, but may venture into some other products in the Marketside line after reading these reviews. It’s hard to imagine a guacamole as good as the fresh we get at one of our deli’s.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Great Julie! I’ll share your comments with the folks back at Walmart 🙂
Stacey Beck says
*MARKET SIDE MEATLOAF IS TRASH!*
I am not picky, I eat leftovers, mostly anything really, even sometimes questionable foods…but not this! The meatloaf was disgusting, reminded me of canned dog food with ketchup. The vegetables were mostly sliced potatoes, which were watery and somehow frozen tasting. So nasty that we threw our dinner in the trash, and discussed the financial loss of that meal. I actually dug through the trash in order to find the brand, and take the time to write this review, in order to save others from this investment. Horrible. Never, ever again.
jerri says
I am an employee and work in the deli. I believe it would be a good thing to make a deli wrap with buffalo taste. It could be, grilled chicken, blue cheese crumble,fried onions like on the BBQ one with a buffalo sauce. Think it would go over really well. Also love the new chicken spicy mustard one.
Leo says
In my view the Marketside guac is little different, and not quite as good, as the Walmart store brand. Also, it is annoying that the plastic seal doesn’t come off in one piece, but is so thin that it fragments and has to be cut out with a knife.