I was at a Dollar Tree the other day, when I happened to spot a pack of meatballs in the freezer section.  Upon mentioning this out loud to my wife, she reminded me that we needed some for spaghetti that night.  Lazy, and not wanting to stop at any one of the dozens of places I passed on my way home to get a more “well known” brand of meatball, I decided to “splurge”.  After all, what else did I have to lose besides a buck?

First of all, they should be called “meat shapes”, because very few are really in ball form.  Instead, they’re just little lumps of what appears to be meat (me being the idiot that I am, didn’t even think of looking at the ingredients to verify there was actually meat in them).  They also don’t look very healthy:  Whereas most meatballs I’ve had in my day have a dark brown color, these, even when cooked, came out gray.

Flavor-wise, they are exactly what you would expect from dollar store meatballs.  I’m not one of those people to turn a cheek at dollar store products, but even I was a little skeptical buying what was supposedly an actual meat product.  These have about the same taste as water…only it’s a little more disturbing because you actually have to chew it.  Seriously, there’s nothing there.  I guess this CAN work into its favor, because it takes the flavor of whatever it’s covered in–so theoretically, you can dump it in your favorite barbecue sauce, and it will taste just like your favorite barbecue sauce.  So if you’re looking for an excuse to down tablespoons of your favorite sauce for no reason, then pick up a bag.

But if you’re looking to actually spruce up your favorite pasta with these things, or make a tasty appetizer for your latest party, then I must recommend that you go somewhere else.  And you can thank me later.

Overall: 2.5/10.  I guess no taste is better than a pungent one.  That being said, however, I didn’t pay a dollar just to chew on something…I expect there to at least be a little something there in the way of taste.  I guess sometimes you really do get what you pay for…and nothing else.