OTL: Private Selection Frozen Foods

Kroger is our primary grocery store and we love the Private Selection ice cream so I was very pleased to be invited to try some other Private Selection products through BzzAgent.com.

I found the appetizer selection at our store to be fairly limited and there was nothing I thought my husband would like. He did see one that he thought he might be interested in but I told him I was pretty sure we'd already tried it and not liked it very well. Of course now I can't remember which one that was. I chose the Mediterranean-Inspired Hors D'Oeuvers Collection which contained 3 each of spinach pesto puff, mushroom phyllo triangle, and feta sundried tomato phyllo roll. This is supposed to be 3 servings with each serving being one of each type of appetizer. I ate the entire box for lunch and was still hungry. I really enjoyed the spinach pesto puff and the mushroom phyllo triangle while the feta sundried tomato phyllo roll was just okay. The information I received said appetizer prices range from $3 to $7 per box but I don't remember seeing any at my store for less than $6. I have managed to lose my receipt but I'm pretty sure the box I got was close to the $7 mark making it fairly expensive to me. I can't imagine buying several boxes of appetizers for a party could possibly be cheaper than making something on your own even if there would be plenty of other food for guests to eat. Another thing to note with the variety that I purchased is that even though all the appetizers bake at the same temperature, the spinach pesto puffs take nearly twice as long as the other two. If I had been thinking I would have put the spinach pesto puffs in first and then added the others halfway through the baking time but I did it totally backwards and cooked the other varieties first and then ate them while the spinach pesto puffs baked.

For my pizza, I chose the Barbeque Chicken as it looked like one of the few varieties that my husband might try with me. He is definitely not a fan of unusual pizza toppings! While the description on the box sounded very good, the pizza ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. First when I took it out of the box I wasn't sure it was going to be enough for the two of us even though it says it is three servings. It turned out that we were filled up but we did eat the entire thing in one sitting with nothing left over. We both liked the crispy, flat bread crust although I may have over baked it just a bit in trying to get the cheese to look more melted. There were very large pieces of onion on the pizza and the only good thing about this is that it made them easier to pick off since there were so many. The barbeque sauce had a strong flavor and my husband even said it had a bit too much of a kick for him and he likes spicy foods. I thought there was too much sauce as well. While there was bacon visible on the pizza, neither of us could taste it over the flavors of the barbeque sauce and onions. While $5 isn't a bad price for a frozen pizza, we can purchase multi-packs of pizzas at Sam's Club which come out cheaper per pizza, feed the entire family not just the parents, and give us some leftovers.

Now dessert is where Private Selection seems to have things right. We are big fans of the Private Selection ice creams, although there have been a few flavors we didn't care for as much as others. The offer from BzzAgent didn't include ice cream which was okay because it gave me a chance to try another Private Selection dessert. I found the desserts to have more of a selection than the appetizers or the pizza and had a hard time choosing just one that I wanted to try. The range of sizes is better here too from packages with one or two servings to packages of four servings. The range of prices reflects this also at $3 to $5 a package. When I saw the package of four Belgian Chocolate Lava Cakes I knew that was something everyone in the family would like. These are yummy, rich, and chocolaty and I am sure we will be purchasing them again! They only take 40 seconds in the microwave and come out with lots of delicious molten chocolate in the middle. They aren't kidding when they say to wait a minute or two before eating them though because that chocolate gets hot. Last night my husband and I started out sharing one cake but we had to make a second as sharing was just not doing it for us! I think one cake each is pretty perfect though. It is enough to give you lots of chocolate but not so much that you will be overly full or go into a chocolate coma. Just like warm chocolate chip cookies, these chocolate lava cakes are perfect with a glass of milk.

Overall I was not as impressed with the Private Selection Frozen Foods as we have been with some of the other Private Selection products like ice cream and lunch meat. I don't think I'll be purchasing the appetizers or pizza again in the future but I can see trying more of the desserts and other Private Selection products through out the store. I believe the Private Selection products are available at all of the Kroger family of stores, although selection may vary by location.

Do you shop at one of the Kroger family of stores? Have you tried any of the Private Selection products? Are they products you regularly buy for your family? Any favorites?

Full Disclosure: I wrote this post while participating in a marketing campaign for BzzAgent.com. I received one free Private Selection Appetizer, Pizza, and Dessert in order to provide my honest feedback. I will also receive points for MyPoints.com when this blog post is reviewed by BzzAgent. This review contains my honest opinion and experience and was not edited in any way by BzzAgent, Private Selection, or Kroger.
 
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