I won’t bore you with personal details, but let’s just say that my wife and I have been looking at ways to cut costs recently. Whereas we used to be able to spend whatever we wanted at Aldi, now we’ve been reduced to using gift certificates my parents bought for us, and keeping our food budget to the bare minimum. One of the ways that we decided to do this, was to purchase frozen orange juice, instead of the pre-bottled kind, which would save us at least a couple of quarters per shopping trip.
The end result was a mixed bag: She ended up loving the frozen kind, which isn’t surprising considering I found it to be more tart than OJ in a bottle (or carton), and she’s all over anything that’s tart. On top of it being too sour for me, I also thought it tasted more watered down than normal, which could be a side effect of having to add water to the non-concentrated pillar that comes out of the container. Even sniffing it doesn’t result in the smell of fresh oranges, like it does in the containers, despite the assurance on the container that this is 100% orange juice.
The only situation where I can see this coming in handy, and where we will still probably continue to purchase it, is as a backup for when our regular juice supply runs out. Having a two-year-old means we go through juice (and milk, and food, and diapers…) at an alarming rate; it’s actually not uncommon for me to buy multiple juice containers, and then less than two weeks later realize I’m pouring the last drop, with no chance to get to a store. For this reason, it’s a good thing to have on hand, especially since it obviously keeps much, much longer than refrigerated juices.
Outside of that, there are some areas where I don’t mind cutting costs, but I don’t think this is going to be one of them. While the frozen kind is just 99 cents, certainly a respectable price considering it makes a good pitcher’s worth, there’s something that’s lost in the translation. Maybe my wife added too much water, but even then, the pre-bottled containers give you plenty for around a dollar more. And as broke as we are, I don’t think a dollar or two is going to completely break the bank. Not a fan.
Overall: 5/10. It’s still 100% juice, if the label can be trusted, but I thought that it was too tart and watered down for my liking, though for what it’s worth, my wife really enjoyed it. We purchased this to cut back on some costs, but I’m going to pony up the extra buck or two and purchase the pre-bottled (or cartoned) kind instead, which tastes a lot fresher, has more sweetness to it, and provides around the same amount of OJ. It was an interesting experiment, but not one that I’m terribly interested in. Its one redeeming quality: this is great to have on hand as an emergency backup for when regular juice supplies run out, especially with a demanding two-year-old in tow.
