Sadly, there was a time when I ate Breakfast Best’s Sausage Bowls pretty frequently: It was about a decade ago now (!) when I first started a new job working at a high-end clothes retailer. Since it was a pretty early shift (it started at 6 a.m.) I would bring these to work with me to eat during my break, simply because it was quick (ready in under three minutes), cheap (under $2), and gave me a little pick-me-up, considering it was often the first thing I would eat most days.
A lot has changed in the years since then (though, ironically, I still work at that exact same place). For example, as a hereditary benefactor of my mother’s high cholesterol, I now try to really limit the amount that I take in, and the 255mg present in each sausage bowl just isn’t a good fit with that equation. There’s also, unsurprisingly, equally-ridiculous amounts of sodium and fat to go along with it, to the extent that by the time you finally find something positive (23g of protein), it just feels like a moot point.
But there’s one area where the point isn’t moot, and one thing that hasn’t changed: this is still a very delicious little bowl. And that is why I’m willing to take the occasional health hit to enjoy one every now and again. The potatoes are pretty dry and fairly tasteless (which is just standard potato) but there’s enough cheese and sausage to ensure that you should never have to get stuck with a bite consisting only of the unmoist vegetable. Sometimes, melted cheddar cheese can come off as fairly tasteless, especially in frozen meals, but this has a very strong flavor that really hits the spot. Rounding everything out is the sausage, which you can’t really go wrong with…it’s greasy as all hell (seriously, there’s about an inch-thick layer of grease on the bottom of the bowl when you’re done) but packs in some good, albeit standard, sausage taste.
It’s just a shame that, despite how much crap is packed inside, there’s just so…little here: the bowl is so oversized that the contents only take up maybe half of it, making it appear larger than it really is when displayed at the store. The average person can have this downed in somewhere around 10 bites, making it feel somewhat anti-climactic, considering the havoc it will probably wreak on your bowels in a short time.
In other words, it tastes exactly as you would probably expect it to. I remember being appalled seeing the price tag on the national brand version of these bowls, and as usual, Aldi comes to the rescue, offering these for a mere $1.99. While that’s loads cheaper than the main brand, I will say that there’s not really a whole lot to them: the average hungry man will get probably under ten bites before it’s all gone. That makes it feel more like a teaser than an actual meal, which makes the health hit seem even worse, since you’ll probably have to eat more stuff just to feel full. But as a quick meal of convenience, this one delivers enough on flavor to make it a worthwhile option to have on hand.
Overall: 7/10. Flavorwise, these are actually really good, with potatoes, cheese, and sausage coming together to form a rather tasty little snack. The problem is, this “snack” is also an instant heart attack that won’t even come close to filling most people up, yet still has loads of cholesterol, sodium, and fat. Preparation is quick and easy, though, and at $1.99 per bowl, it’s way more affordable than the absurdly overpriced national brand (at least at full price). If you fill up way easier than I do (and I think most people do), then this could fit the bill as a convenient and quick little meal on the go. For me, though, as good as it tastes, it doesn’t even come close to filling me up, yet has well more than half of the daily allowance of pretty much everything that’s bad for you; as someone with high cholesterol (and borderline high blood pressure), that fact alone relegates this to little more than an occasional treat.
