Appetitos Spinach & Artichoke Mini Bread Bowls

A toasty-warm appetizer can serve as a tasty alternative to chips and dip during a weekend get-together — or take everyday snacking to new flavor heights. Too often, however, many consumers have neither the time nor the patience to whip up such offerings from scratch Fortunately, these consumers now can choose from a wide array of convenient heat-and-eat frozen appetizers that aim to satisfy just about any occasion.

With those realities in mind, we set out to find a new store brand frozen appetizer to tempt our Test Drive panelists' palates. We settled on Appetitos Spinach & Artichoke Mini Bread Bowls from Batavia, Ill.-based ALDI Inc. Although the product (along with a Buffalo Chicken counterpart) was a limited-time purchase, we thought it was innovative and tasty-looking enough to warrant a test. We purchased three 8-ounce boxes for $2.99 each (each containing eight 1-ounce appetizers) at a Chicago-area ALDI store.

Product Comments

Cynthia: While the bread bowls were cooking, I could smell the cheese and the garlic. Once I took the mini bowls out of the oven, I let them rest, [then] took a bite, and then another. I was impressed with the flavors. They were quite good. I ate each one and could have eaten more.

Drew: I prepared the product for appetizers before going out for dinner. The packaging didn't disappoint. The bread bowls were very tasty. [They] tasted like I baked them from scratch. They were very easy to make and tasted amazing. I would purchase this product again.

Shirley: I thought the product was delicious. The bowls were moist on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside, and the filling was really good. Nice cheesy flavor. I served them at a family gathering, and everyone was disappointed that I didn't have more. … A really tasty and [easy-to-prepare] appetizer.

Packaging Comments

Cynthia: The appearance of this product is appetizing. I loved the colors on the packaging. I would try this product just by how it looks.

Drew: The picture of the bread bowls on the packaging looks very appealing and draws me in. It entices me to purchase the product. Shirley: The packaging was OK — Nothing really exceptional about it or eye-catching. But the picture of the product was appetizing-looking.

Shirley: The packaging was OK … Nothing really exceptional about it or eye-catching. But the picture of the product was appetizinglooking.

Note: Test Drive delivers honest, yet totally unscientific feedback on a new store brand product items/packaging they like a great deal; a yellow light to items/packaging they deem "acceptable;' and its packaging each month. Our panelists give a green light to and a red light to items/packaging not meeting their expectations.