Steven Helmer Publications

  I went to the grocery store this evening with no real idea about what to have for dinner. My wife had suggested bratwurst so, with no better plan, I decided to get a pack (along with a pack of hotdogs for our daughters). As luck would have it, Piggly Wiggly happened to have Sheboygan Sausage Company Bratwurst on sale, a pack of 10 for $7.99.  I had heard of this brand but had never tried it until tonight. After finally doing so, I have to admit it was pretty good. As a life-long Wisconsinite, I can tell you there is a difference between bratwurst brands. This includes quite a few that are not much more than a bunch of fat shoved into a casing. This is one of the better brands from a quality standpoint, with plenty of meat. This made them more filling and a lot less greasy than some of the lower-priced brands we've purchased. The outer casing was decent as well. Some casings are very tough to bite into and chew. This brand wasn't one of them. I was able to enjoy the brats wit...

  I rarely manage to eat breakfast before heading into the office in the morning, so I always try to keep something in my mini fridge/freezer to fill that void. I picked up a box of Jones Dairy Farm All-Natural Pork Sausage last week for this purpose, primarily choosing this brand, despite it being slightly more expensive, because it was made in near-by Fort Atkinson and I try to support Wisconsin businesses whenever I can. Overall, I have to say this ended up being a good choice. I've made a few of the sausage links in the microwave to go with a bowl of oatmeal and it has proven to be a good complement. The sausage has a good flavor, not too spicy but seasoned, and is filling. One thing I found I liked about this brand is it doesn't seem to get as dry/tough when microwaved as some other frozen sausage links. I can cut through them with a plastic fork while so many other brands end up requiring a knife if I want to cut them into smaller pieces. I am always going to like that co...

  I decided to keep things simple tonight and just make some Hamburger Helper for dinner. As I dug through my freezer for ground beef, I was reminded of the Honeysuckle White All-Natural Ground Turkey I purchased at Costco last month and decided to get a pack of that out instead. Even though I've heard ground turkey is supposed to be better for me, I've been reluctant to buy it after the last pack I purchased ended up having a lot of bones in it. After using this brand however, I am more willing to use it more often. One of the first things I noticed with this brand was there wasn't much grease. I cooked this up like I would with ground beef and had almost nothing that needed to be drained. The turkey did give the Hamburger Helper a different look because it came out gray in the frying pan rather than brown. However, I admittedly didn't notice any real difference in taste once it was seasoning. If I wasn't the one making dinner, I probably wouldn't have even not...

  I went to the grocery store last night looking for something simple for dinner. I had other things on my agenda yesterday evening and didn't want anything that would take long to make. As I entered the meat section, I decided on ring bologna and wound up buying the Kewaskum brand. My decision to purchase this particular brand came down to size. At first, the $7.99 price seemed a bit high, especially since I figured I would need to purchase two of them if I wanted leftovers for lunch. However, when I looked at other brands, I found the price was comparable to those and the bologna from this brand was quite a bit larger, giving me more for my money. As far as quality goes, I had no complaints. I thought the ring bologna had a good flavor to it, plenty of garlic without it being overpowering and was, at minimum, as good as better-known brands. My wife and daughters said they thought the skin was a bit on the tough side. I, however, did not think it was any tougher than I would norma...

  My wife was in the mood for burgers last night and, since I really didn't have the energy to make them from scratch but also didn't want to spend a fortune at a restaurant, I stopped by the store for some frozen patties.  I ended up picking out the Silver T Brand Beef Chuck Patties primarily because they were on sale for $12.95, slightly less than the brand I'd normally buy. They proved to be an OK purchase. I made these on the grill , both because it was a nice day out and I've found frying patties in the house tends to lead to a lot of unwanted smoke. Since they were chuck patties, I hoped they wouldn't be as greasy as some of the other frozen brands we've purchased. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case and, as has happened on more than one occasion, I found myself contending with uncontrollable flames from the dripping grease. As far as taste goes, I had no complaints. There is always going to be a difference between frozen and fresh but, ...

  My wife had planned on making dinner last night but got distracted by a cleaning project, so I tagged in at the last minute. After wandering the store for longer than normal and unable to make up my mind about what to make, I decided to just keep things simple by grabbing a box of spaghetti pasta and sauce.  My original plan was to brown up some ground beef to go into the sauce but saw Our Family Italian Style Flame Broiled Meatballs were on sale for $5.99 per bag of 40 and because it was both more convenient and slightly less expensive, I picked them up. Overall, I think it was a good choice. A couple things I noticed about this product. First, the beef and pork meatballs weren't as greasy as some other frozen brands I've picked up at the store. This is appreciated, especially when I'm adding them to sauce because if I wanted to drain grease, I would have just gotten the ground beef. The other thing I noticed/liked about these meatballs was the taste. They were seasoned...

I was in the mood for bacon on Saturday morning and since I needed to go to the store anyway, picked some up. I hadn't tried the Smithfield Fully Cooked Bacon before, but it was less expensive than my normal brand by about 50 cents, so I gave it a try. I wasn't disappointed. I think the thing that surprised me most about this brand was, unlike many other pre-cooked bacon products that are out there, it didn't taste overly salty. Obviously, being bacon, there is going to be some salt in it but not to the point that was all I could taste. The bacon also came out crisp in the microwave when I heated it up, something that isn't always the case with products like this and only adds to the experience, at least in my opinion. Of course, it also helps that the bacon is somewhat crisp right out of the package too, which I enjoy because sometimes I just don't want to heat it up. As is also normally the case with bacon, this was a bit greasy when cooked. However, it wasn't...

  I've had this brand in the past, but it's been at least five or six years since I last purchased it because I'm a guy who likes to shop for value and can usually find a better deal with other brands. However, I was at the store yesterday evening and discovered the No Name patties happened to be the most affordable choice and picked up a box. I made these on the grill and the first thing I noticed about them is they weren't as greasy as many of the other beef patty brands I've purchased. Yes, there was still some grease and a few flames as a result of that grease. However, the flame ups were much more sporadic, and I didn't end up with an out-of-control grease fire, as has happened multiple times before. Another thing I noticed about these burgers while grilling them is they didn't shrink nearly as much as other patties. They were still smaller than they were when I put them on the grill but were large enough to fit the bun perfectly. In comparison, I'v...

To tell you the truth, I didn't even know Johnsonville made Polish kielbasa. I had never seen this advertised or in any of our stores. In fact, the only reason I learned about this product was because my mom came across it when she was out grocery shopping and, since my wife and I both forgot to make plans for dinner last night, offered us one. Kielbasa is relatively popular in our household. However, we normally buy locally-made kielbasa from one of our grocery stores and I wasn't really sure how this one would compare to those. Unfortunately, while I didn't hate it, I wasn't as impressed with it as I was hoping to be. My biggest complaint about this product is it wound up tasting a bit bland, at least when compared to some other kielbasa we've purchased. This actually surprised me a bit because, when I was cooking this, it smelled a bit spicy and I was afraid it would be the exact opposite. I guess I wasn't the only one who felt this way about this kiel...

We had some cheese pizzas in our freezer so my wife and I decided to make a couple of them for dinner. Since neither of us is a fan of just-cheese, we decided to doctor one of them up a bit and, since I had to run to the store anyway, I was put in charge of finding toppings. I was in the mood for something other than just vegetables and found this product in the store's meat section for $2.29. After some consideration, I ended up purchasing it. When I saw this product, I thought it would be a perfect compromise for my wife and I. I like Italian sausage on pizza. She isn't as big of a fan. I figured the Crumbles would give me what I wanted while being small enough where she wouldn't care. Plus, I wouldn't have to cook it first. As it turns out, I wasn't a big fan. My biggest problem with this product is I thought the sausage was a bit bland. While I'm not a big fan of spicy food, I expect Italian sausage to have a little bit of a kick to it. This had a ...

My wife had to do some shopping yesterday afternoon and, while at Wal-mart with the kids, decided to pick up something for dinner. She came across this item and picked it up with the intention of adding some vegetables and making stir fry. She did just that last night and I was very impressed with this meat. This is primarily because I enjoyed how it was seasoned. It had just enough to give it some flavor without the meat being too spicy or peppery. It complemented the vegetables well as a result. I also liked the fact the meat wasn't too tough. This has been the case with similar products we've purchased in the past and is a big reason why I usually don't buy products like this. But, in this case, the meat was just the way it should have been. As a result of all of this, I do think this is a product I would purchase again, either to make beef steak sandwiches or something else, like the stir fry we had last night. If you come across this while shopping, I would re...

When my wife and I did some shopping at Costco several days ago, one of our objectives was to re-stock our freezer with meat. This included finding items we could prepare in our slow cooker so, when I came across a 4-pack of their Kirkland Signature Swift Premium Pork Sirloin Tip Roasts, I didn't hesitate to throw them in our cart. There were two reasons for this purchase. The first is roasts are easy to make (especially in the slow cooker). The second was the $1.75/pound price was very reasonable, essentially giving us four meals (plus leftovers) for less than $20. And, after trying one of these a few days ago, I have to say I was very pleased with our purchase. To tell you the truth, I'm actually not a huge fan of pork roast. Yes, it is convenient. But, more often than not, the roasts we purchase come out tough and dry and just aren't overly enjoyable as a result. This roast, however, was definitely different. The one my wife ended up preparing was tender and jui...

Since last night was skate lesson/dance lesson night for our daughters, I once again stopped at the grocery store in search of something I could throw in our slow cooker. I originally planned on grabbing a small ham. However, Christmas is just a few days away and, since we'll be having ham then, I decided to pick up this product instead. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really sure I wanted to buy this product when I first saw it. This is because the small amount of turkey inside that package was more than $8. But, I was in the mood for something a little different (and easy to make) so I decided to splurge a bit and get it. Unfortunately, my opinion of the product was a bit mixed. As far as preparation goes, this definitely fell into that easy-to-make category. All that needed to be done with the turkey was heat it up and, because of that, all I needed to do when I was home at lunch yesterday was put this in the slow cooker with some potatoes. Dinner was ready by the ti...

I decided to make some macaroni and cheese in the slow cooker for dinner a couple nights ago and, figuring it wouldn't be enough on its own, stopped at one of our local grocery stores to pick up some ham to add to it. Since I was on a somewhat tight grocery budget, I decided to cut some cost by picking up a ham steak instead. While not quite as good as a regular ham, the fact I was able to buy this for less than $5 was something that made this purchase worthwhile and I figured, once it was mixed in with the macaroni and cheese, it would be hard to tell the difference anyway. As it turns out, it was a good purchase. One of my biggest concerns with this purchase was whether or not the ham steak would end up being too salty. This has been a problem with similar products in the past and I was afraid it would end up ruining the entire dinner. However, before adding it, I took the time to sample it and this turned out not to be a concern. There was some saltiness, but no more tha...

I am a Costco member and there are quite a few things at that store that I will make the 30-minute drive just to purchase. Their meat section, however, really isn't included in that statement, mostly because I can usually find better prices (by shopping on the right day) at our local stores. The one exception to that is this product, which I have now purchased (in bulk) on a couple separate occasions for a little less than $2 per pound. We actually go through a lot of chicken drumsticks in our house (they are an easy-to-prepare meat on days when I need to use our slow cooker) and made this purchase because we saw a benefit in stocking up. We continue to buy this product because the chicken drumsticks are well worth that money. To tell you the truth, the price on this product really isn't the main selling point for me. I can actually find fresh chicken drumsticks locally for around the same price. However, the Kirkland Signature brand does score some extra points with m...

My wife was in the mood for BLTs on Saturday and, since I wasn't really in the mood to make anything more complicated than that (we had been running errands all day), I agreed. When we made the sandwiches, we used this product for the bacon component. I had actually purchased this bacon a couple days earlier. It's not a brand I would normally buy. But, one of the local grocery stores had it on sale so I decided to pick up a package of it. After having it Saturday night, my overall opinion of it was a bit mixed. The bacon did have a decent flavor to it. In fact, not only could we taste the maple flavor when we were eating this bacon, we could smell it when I was frying it up on the stove. So, as far as that category is concerned, I was happy. However, when I started making this bacon, I also noticed it was very fatty, even more fatty than what you would expect bacon to be. And, predictably, by the time the bacon was fried up, it had shrunk down considerably. In fact, by...

After days of cool temps and rain, we finally had a nice day today so I decided to take advantage of it by lighting the grill. Since I needed something to throw on it, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and picked up a box of Johnsonville Mushroom & Swiss Grillers. This was not a planned purchased. I had planned on picking up either a couple steaks or some chicken. However, the grillers happened to be on sale for $3.99 and the mushroom & Swiss variety, which I had never had before, looked decent so I ended up making this purchase instead. Overall, I have to say my opinion of this product ended up being a bit mixed. One thing I found I did like about this product right off the bat was how easy it was to get the patties separated once I took them out of the box. I know this is something that probably isn't a huge deal for other people. But, one of my biggest pet peeves with most frozen patties (brat patties or otherwise) is having to spend several minutes...