Vegan at the Dollar Store: Frozen Foods

Last night I stopped at Dollar Tree after someone posted a picture of a couple new items in What Fat Vegans Eat. I know dollar store food can be kind of not the best quality. After all, it costs a dollar. But still…

I wanted to try it. I grabbed a package of Jennifer’s Garden spring rolls, and samosas, veggie burgers, and battered mushrooms from Chef Ernesto. You will notice the Chef Ernest items are marked “100% Vegetarian.” They are, in fact, 100% vegan!

And they all looked pretty good out of the box, too. I baked all of these, although you also have the option to pan fry, deep fry, or microwave, depending on the item.

The veggie burger came out beautifully browned, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It’s slightly smaller than a Qrunch Burger, but the perfect size for those cheap store-brand buns. Pretty spicy, but not overwhelming. They are made without soy and held together by potato, and I’m pretty sure they’re gluten free. The burgers come two in a box. The spring roll wrappers were nice and crunchy. The filling is minimal, but good enough for the price – even a tiny bit better than I expected. They have a good flavor, but nothing special. I’d still get them again. I was skeptical about the battered mushrooms, I figured there’d be a ton of batter and a tiny piece of mushroom underneath it somewhere. That was not the case, there was just the right amount of batter for a big piece of mushroom. The real problem I had is the batter never really got crispy. Maybe if I gave them an extra 5 minutes in the oven. I also wish the instructions would’ve suggested turning them halfway through. Finally, those cute little samosas! They are mostly filled with potato, with maybe two or three peas thrown in. They were loaded with spices, though, had a good flavor, and a flaky crust. I don’t mind eating potato samosas, I’d do it again.

In case you’re interested in the ingredients, this is for the veggie burger.

The Battered Mushrooms.  

Samosas.

Spring rolls.