I have a confession to make: I’ve had sushi, like, twice in my life. For the sake of avoiding a potential exaggeration, we’ll say three times, tops. And one of those was from a supermarket. The only other time that I can remember was just over a year ago, at a Chinese restaurant down the street from my house. If there was a third, it must not have been memorable, because I’m drawing a blank. It’s not that I don’t like sushi, because the times I’ve had it, I did, it’s just that it tends to be expensive, and the places that offer it tend to have more filling dishes for way cheaper.

Well, I was dying of starvation when the wife and I stopped by Aldi one evening. Our intent was to pick up a couple of their Fusia noodle bowls, which are pretty much out-of-this-world, and dirt cheap, as recently our financial situation has taken a rather sudden turn for the worse. But in the frozen food section, we stumbled on Fusia Shrimp and Avocado Rolls. Surprisingly, I was a little more hesitant to buy them than my usually pickier wife (though part of it was also due to there not being a price posted), but eventually my stomach got the better of me, and I decided to go ahead and splurge.

Honestly, my opinion of this product, at least initially, was guided along by my wife; I’ve had sushi so infrequently, I don’t even remember the proper texture. Hell, I didn’t even remember that it’s always supposed to be served cold (thank goodness I didn’t make this at home on my own)! To thaw, you have three options: Microwave (takes about 40 seconds), cold water bath (takes about 30 minutes), or let sit out (takes about two hours). We opted to microwave them; within a minute we had cold, but thawed, sushi, ready to eat!

While I might know nothing about sushi preparation, I‘ve got the taste covered! The main taste was definitely fishy…I don’t think I would have guessed that it was shrimp, but it was a pleasant, light flavor. I also got the avocado, which is fitting, considering it “shares the marquee” with the shrimp. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t much of a cream cheesiness, though it’s probably more of a “paste” to hold everything else together. he package also comes with a small pack of soy (that certainly wasn’t enough for us, though my wife does tend to go heavy on the soy whenever it’s around), as well as some wasabi…I just sampled the wasabi alone, and it almost immediately felt like pin-pricks on my tongue. I’m not really into the stuff, but it honestly tasted like other wasabi that I’ve had, so it seems legit.

This is some pretty decent stuff, given the fact that it’s frozen, but a lot of supermarkets now seem to offer fresher versions, for about the same price. Sure, here you get 15 pieces, while the supermarket by me offers eight pieces for about $6, but their pieces are a lot larger…I could down this whole package by myself, and still be completely hungry (which has actually happened to me before). If you don’t eat a lot, or are just in the mood for something lighter, then the $5 asking price will be perfect for you. Otherwise, this provides about as much sushi as the supermarket brands, but for only a couple quarters cheaper…and at least I can taste the cream cheese in those. Not great sushi by any means, but it’s decent for the convenience and price.

Overall: 6/10. This is only the third time I’ve ever had sushi (and one other time was from a supermarket), so I’m certainly no expert, and I went into these absolutely starving, but these exceeded my expectations. For $4.99, you get a decent amount of sushi, and going with the quickest of the three thawing options (the microwave), they were ready in about a minute. The lead taste is certainly fishy, though I’m not certain it was shrimp (it’s “shrimp salad”, according to the packaging; almost enough to send shivers down my spine), but it wasn’t bad; the avocado also shines through. At the very least, it pretty much equals the supermarket sushi I had, and is a couple quarters cheaper. If you don’t mind supermarket sushi (and you don’t have to admit it out loud), and want a quick fix, then this is at least worth a try.