- 3 months ago
Ever wondered which Sam’s Club prepared meals are actually worth throwing in your cart? In this video, Nicole taste-tests and reviews every ready-to-eat meal she could find—from creamy Chicken Alfredo and cheesy Mac & Cheese to sushi platters, twice-baked potatoes, and the ever-popular rotisserie chicken salad. She ranks each of the 20 meals on a scale of 1 to 10, giving her honest take on flavor, texture, portion size, and value. Nicole also shares her go-to tips for reheating or serving each dish to make the most of your Sam’s Club haul. From weeknight dinner shortcuts to unexpected flavor bombs, find out which dishes are worth stocking up on—and which ones she’d pass on next time.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I hope I'm hungry. After reviewing all of Costco's prepared foods y'all wanted to
00:04see Sam's so this is that. I guess I just don't go to Sam's as much as I go to
00:08Costco so I didn't realize they had such a prepared food section. Right off the
00:13bat their prices I can tell from the get-go are better than Costco's. Let's
00:18see if the quality is the same and the variety though was a little bit more I
00:24must say. Chicken alfredo is right around $14. Now what I did notice that I have
00:29never seen before is a QR code to scan for the cooking directions. I remove
00:35the plastic lid and cover and then bake it 375 for 40 to 50 minutes. Let stand for
00:41five minutes before serving. The ease, you can't beat the ease of these meals.
00:51Make sure it's hot all the way through. Don't know about the parsley that's on top
00:56I feel like that is dried parsley. Definitely cheesy. Pretty good. I can't
01:01tell if that's like freshly grilled chicken or like a store-bought pre-grilled
01:06chicken. It's buttery, it's creamy, it's very simple. Something about this just
01:10doesn't taste quite homemade. Tastes more like something you would get from the
01:14freezer section. I'm not planning for this whole review to be a comparison
01:17against Costco but I feel like that gives you kind of a landmark. I feel like the
01:22Costco one tasted like homemade. I feel like this tastes like what you would
01:27expect from a store-bought pre-made alfredo. 6.5. The mac and cheese is very
01:34affordable. This whole pan is $8.07. They had them different just based on the
01:38weight but overall definitely like less expensive than the Costco one. Cover and
01:44bake 375. I have high expectations of this one because they used the good
01:53noodle. The cabotapi. I feel like you would probably want to uncover and go
01:56back in for a couple minutes. That's just a personal personal preference to get
02:01that cheese kind of crusty. Come on don't let me down don't let me down. If I like
02:06this I'm all about taking it out of this dish putting it in your own dish and
02:09bringing it to Thanksgiving. Nobody has to know. It's just like a classic cheese
02:14sauce. Super cheesy. I'd venture to say the same people that make this make the
02:19one at Costco. I'm not mad at this at all. I would and I will for sure buy this
02:26again and I might take credit for it. 9.5 out of 10. What I noticed at Sam's was
02:33they had several options of similar dishes but just different flavor profiles. For
02:38example when it came to chicken enchiladas there were two different
02:40varieties. We have the traditional one with the red sauce but then there was
02:44also a hatch chili chicken like a creamy sauce and that just looks so good. So I
02:50got this. Less than $11 for these enchiladas. They're definitely hearty. Six
02:56hearty size ones. I think this would feed my family. 350, 40 to 45 minutes. This one
03:01we're gonna bake covered for 30 minutes then uncover it and bake it for another 10 to
03:0615 minutes. This looks delicious. This honestly looks like when I make enchilada
03:11casserole. Flour tortillas. So they're very soft. Chicken is quite shredded inside.
03:19Sauce is really good. This is exactly what you would expect in a non-traditional but
03:27delicious chicken enchilada. The flour tortillas do get like a little bit gummy and soft in
03:34there but for whatever reason I don't mind it because I just kind of expect it in a dish
03:38like this. I give this 8 out of 10. Same flour tortillas. I can tell that's still a little
03:46bit on the thick side. They smell really good. This has hatched chili. That's good. The
03:53regular enchiladas I would just buy for a quick and easy dinner. This one I would buy and feel
03:59just fine serving it to company or bringing it to someone's house who might need a good meal.
04:06This one's a solid 9. Cold foods. Lots of cold options. Lots of salads. Sandwiches. These to me
04:13are great for packing lunches. For taking to picnics. You know or just for meal prep. So I'm
04:19going to start with the Mediterranean pasta salad. $9 for this big container. Doesn't look like there's
04:27any meat. I think you could turn this into a meal by adding one of their rotisserie chickens. You
04:33know everything at Sam's is like one penny less the cost on things like that. There's just $4.98
04:39versus $4.99. Has an interesting shape pasta which I like. Curly to absorb all the dressing. And it has
04:48kale. And the kale looks nice and like tender. Feta cheese. Love that. Parmesan.
04:56That's delightful. The vinaigrette is nice and tangy. There's a lot of flavor. I don't feel like
05:01I need to add any salt or pepper or anything like that. Pasta's cooked perfectly. 9 out of 10.
05:09Broccoli salad. This is a classic like southern style picnic side dish. I don't know if this is
05:15seasonal or year-round. At just under $10 right off the bat this one feels a little bit
05:20pricier for the amount you get because it it doesn't feel like as much. Looks like there's
05:26plenty of dressing for this amount. So right off the bat I'm feeling like you could probably add
05:31more broccoli and stretch this out a little bit. Although some pieces are dry. Let's let's give it
05:35a toss. The broccoli pieces are a little big. I kind of feel like I want to chop them up more.
05:41So I think for like a side dish you gotta have like smaller pieces of broccoli or else you can't
05:48get everything in one bite. This does have raisins and bacon. I often have it with dried cranberries
05:56instead of the raisins which I typically find is a little more crowd-pleasing. Okay a little taste
06:01test. Nothing wrong with it. Tastes like grandma's broccoli salad. There's nothing not to like here.
06:10I would buy this. I would serve it. A little bit pricier. 8 out of 10. Two sandwich options. I love
06:19this especially if you're having a party but also as like I don't feel like packing lunches and if
06:25your kids will eat something like this it just makes your life easier. Start now with the buffalo
06:30chicken pinwheels. This looks like something my kids would eat for just over $8. You cannot buy all
06:38the ingredients to make this. Get you. That's got a kick. I love a kick so for me I love this. I take it
06:46back. I don't think my kids can handle this. It's quite spicy but when you get something buffalo chicken
06:51you're kind of expecting the spice. It's delicious. I don't know about the romaine lettuce because it
06:56gets a little bit soggy so I don't think this one has quite a long enough shelf life but the flavor is
07:02delicious. 8.5 out of 10. Would buy. Now for the next sandwich. This is a chicken pesto panini with
07:12pesto ranch dipping sauce. This looks hearty. It's got four quarters of a sandwich but I feel like one
07:20would be enough one per person so this I think would serve four people for under $13 so three to
07:26four dollars a person. Doesn't sound bad. Now when I hear the word panini I think hot so this is a cold
07:33sandwich however I feel like maybe we should heat it up. Oh and it calls for that air fryer. 3.58 to 10
07:41minutes. Flip it halfway through. I could fit them all in my air fryer at home but here I think I can
07:47only put two in this one. This is a good like if you only have one or two people living in your house
07:53you just want an easy dinner this is like two complete dinners. Let's see what happens.
08:01I probably would have upped the temperature and gotten a little crispier. Plated up with the
08:07pesto ranch that's on the side. Little bite. That's also delicious. I feel like everything is so well
08:16seasoned I don't feel like I need to add anything. The only thing I would do here is up your air fryer and
08:21your cooking time so that this gets crispy. The best part about a panini is the crispy outside and
08:26that gooey hot delicious inside. So we got to fix that but this is a good one. 9 out of 10. All right
08:35I love when you can find just a really good side dish that you don't have like when you're say throwing
08:40steaks on the grill but you want that to be your main thing. You don't want to really have to worry
08:44about anything else. This one's going to come in handy. Twice baked potatoes and great price point
08:51$7.58 for four hearty size twice baked potatoes and it comes with bacon and sour cream. Topped with
09:01cheese and chives. I'm trying to determine if these chives are dried or were they fresh when
09:05they went on. $3.50 for 50 to 55 minutes. Don't let me down. Wish we had a steak. The twice baked
09:16potatoes. I wanted these to look better. Now that I see them cooked I'm pretty sure those are dried
09:22chives. I just wanted them to hold their shape a little more so I'm thinking they might have put
09:27too much like sour cream or cream in the middle. Yikes. It's like where did the peel go? Presentation
09:33it's just going to have to lose some points. Remember I really like the price and I really
09:37like the idea and I really like the fact that you don't have to buy your own sour cream afterwards.
09:41They're simple. They're fine. They need a little more
09:46like flavoring. Like put some of that cheese on the inside. Put a little more salt. Don't love those
09:55chives. I mean you can't like nobody's not going to like potatoes, butter, and cheese. Okay so it's not
10:01like it's terrible but with a little zhuzhing you could get this to a 7.5. I'd buy it in a pinch.
10:07Sam's has a sushi chef in the middle of the store that is like an outside contractor so I got a
10:13couple samples of what they had there. $15. This one has a combo of tiger rolls, Walton, California
10:20crunch, and dragon. So fresh and so delicious. These are all crab but they have the raw ones too
10:27with the raw tuna and the raw salmon.
10:33It's just the freshest like tasting sushi. Best value in town. 10 out of 10. They also have poke
10:39bowls. My daughter loves to go to the poke place and they are expensive. This is less than 10 bucks.
10:46This bowl may not look huge but it like it's hearty, hefty in weight. Avocado crunch. It's got the
10:53seaweed salad, the shrimp, some crab, the rice, and the sauce. Hint of sweetness. If you'd like to
11:00take your lunch to work or if you go out for lunch when you're at work this is probably a little more
11:07budget friendly. I'm not sure why it is coloring my rice. That kind of sketched me out a little bit
11:15fresh. And I love the seaweed salad. That one just didn't taste 100% fresh. But everything else is
11:21perfect. 7.5. 8 out of 10. Somewhere in there. Two takeout dinners I noticed. I'll be curious to see
11:27how many these feed. General So's chicken with rice and beef and broccoli with rice. Each one's right
11:34around 16 bucks. So hopefully about four dollars a person cheaper than going out to eat. Start with
11:41the general So's. Okay it says air fryer 350. I know that that's not gonna be high enough. The chicken
11:47is cooked. We're just looking to get it crispy and heated through. So I'm gonna go 390. 390 is a
11:52popular air fryer temperature believe it or not. A very effective way to heat up leftover or cold rice
11:59is the microwave. So I actually prefer that. Put a couple ice cubes down on there.
12:06And just microwave that for a couple minutes. Crisped up a little bit on the outside. Now we're
12:13gonna toss it with the sauce. Sauce that it comes with. Looks like the takeout dish. I feel like I'm
12:20I wish I had like a little bit more sauce. That looks like white meat chicken. I thought it was
12:26gonna be chicken thighs. I like this. The sauce is sweet. You get a little kick in the back.
12:32What I like about this versus sometimes when I get takeout is that it's like super greasy.
12:38This doesn't taste really greasy even though I know it was fried.
12:42I do wish this was a complete meal. Like I wish there was a green side to this. But all together
12:48it makes a great bite. I'd have to. Would buy again. All right the beef and broccoli with rice
12:55is a little different in our cooking method. This one could be done in the microwave but it also
12:59suggests a skillet. And I think the results will be better that way. So that's what I'm gonna do.
13:06Heating up the rice the same way I did the other one in the microwave. And then for the rest we come
13:12to the stove. So skillet. Then it says to add this in with a half a cup of water. I don't think this is
13:20enough to feed my family. So there's only like nine pieces of broccoli in here. Then you're just gonna
13:26cover it and let it cook until it's all heated through. And then we'll uncover it.
13:30Oh. That definitely looks better than it did going in. That sauce kind of got glossy. And now
13:37all we do is just add the included sauce which makes it saucier. So I like the amount of sauce
13:44with this one. Let that heat up for about a minute it says. And then that's it. Okay I have to go back
13:50in with some scissors because some of these broccolis are just too big and they don't get
13:55all the way heated through. That was fast. Let's serve it up. I would like more and better pieces
14:02of broccoli. Okay. Okay Sams. I like this a lot. I like that the meat was delightfully tender. The
14:11broccoli still has some crunch to it so it's not cooked to death but it's still tender. This is an A
14:17plus. And this was like around $15. So I think that's cheaper than takeout. Definitely quicker
14:25than takeout. 100% worth the buy. I give it a 9.5. This one caught my eye. The seasoned brussel sprouts.
14:37$8.17. Sounds a little pricey because I can buy this for cheaper and all you really need are like
14:43olive oil and seasonings. It saves you the trouble for probably only like a couple dollars more. So
14:50it depends on how much your time is worth I guess. Okay these bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes stirring
14:56halfway through. Brussel sprouts anyone? Coloring looks good. Hot and steamy. The ease factor is
15:03a 10 out of 10. Now it does look like somebody just went in here with a hacksaw and just kind of
15:08cut some of these. Why do they have like weird herb things going on? Basil, basil garlic oil. They use
15:18some sort of like a store-bought dressing or like oil mixture and that's what it tastes like. It tastes
15:24like a bottled situation that that these were seasoned with. I would rather just have no herbs. You know
15:30just salt, pepper, garlic, and oil. I had high hopes for this. Four. Four out of ten. Heating up another
15:39classic. Stuffed bell peppers. My mom loves the Costco stuffed peppers and I remember like
15:46they're good but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. So high hopes for this Sam's.
15:53Four dollars and ninety-eight cents a pound. This is three pounds worth of food for less than 15 bucks.
16:00Instructions say to cover this with foil go 350 for about 30 minutes then uncover and go another
16:0520 to 25 minutes. These look good. They don't have a dried herb on there so it's like it leaves it open
16:13for if you want to garnish this yourself. Cheesy, meaty. Bell peppers are soft but still with a little
16:19bit of crunch texture in there. Gotta go a little longer covered to soften up that pepper a little
16:25more. But the filling tastes more like what my mom used to make. It's not it's not sweet
16:32off the bat so it complements like that sweet pepper. A classic simple stuffed pepper. I like that
16:40there are no green bell peppers in here. Nine out of ten. It's a great price point. Would buy. Never seen
16:47this one before. This is cheese manicotti. Eleven dollars and eighteen cents. Again they have
16:53different price ranges for all of these but overall very affordable dinner if this is good to bring
16:59to someone or for a quick like Sunday night supper. This just says
17:04350 for about 30 minutes. I feel like it's going to take longer than that but whatever.
17:0930 minutes uncover 20 ish more minutes and we have the manicotti. We do love a cheese pool around here.
17:22I went in like yes and then I came I was like oh more like
17:28it's that parsley. It's the dried herb or whatever they've got going on in there just kind of
17:32because the the tomato sauce is delicious and the pasta is cooked perfectly in here. They just use I think
17:39that dried herbs in there. The dried parsley is just kind of creeping in making this. It's just like a
17:45giveaway that it's not homemade. Not quite authentic. Didn't know I was such a dried herb snob did you?
17:53I think this sits at a seven. Seven out of ten. This is the cob salad with chicken. This is definitely a deal
18:03compared to especially what you get off a salad bar or even like at a restaurant salad.
18:08Ten dollars and forty cents for this big old thing. Look at this salad. You get two whole hard
18:15boiled eggs in here. Lots of chicken. Lots of bacon. Listen I mean you buy those you know those little
18:20ones that come in the produce section that are like you know put in your lunchbox. Those are like five
18:25bucks. This is way better than that. You're getting a lot more stuff in here and it's not like mystery
18:30looking. Right off the bat I just think the onions are a little overwhelming in size.
18:36So I just want to cut those up a little bit. This is I know insignificant but I feel like
18:40if you want the perfect bite in this salad we all need to cut these up a little bit.
18:44Of course it doesn't say what the dressing is. Oh it's avocado. It's like an avocado vinaigrette.
18:53This is one of those times we don't want to dirty anything up.
18:55Fastest one of the day. It's got it all. It's got the blue cheese. It's got the bacon but everything
19:04mixes in nicely where like my kids wouldn't be scared of this either. Flavoring delicious. This
19:12is a good salad. Definitely worth the purchase. Solid nine out of ten. From the land of chicken.
19:19I've got two chicken items from Sam's. Starting with the Italian style herb grilled chicken breast.
19:28Everywhere has like a pre-cooked chicken situation but a lot of times when they come pre-packaged
19:34they taste pre-packaged. You know like something's weird about the texture. What I do like is the price
19:39point. Okay 11 bucks which you know doesn't sound cheap but a pack of chicken breast boneless chicken
19:45breast is $11. It does look seasoned. Let's hope it's juicy. Look at all that dried rosemary.
19:52I'll be scraping that off. Nobody wants to see the dried up Christmas tree needles.
19:58Cutting into it looks good.
20:03That has the texture of real chicken. Yeah this is just like real chicken.
20:08They marinated and grilled. They took all the work out of it for you. It is really
20:15tender and juicy. One, two, three, four, five pieces of grilled chicken for $11.
20:20Especially all you meal preppers and protein addicts. This is ideal for you. One for the rosemary.
20:28Nine out of ten I would buy this again. Let's try the rotisserie chicken salad. So it tells you right there
20:35this is what's made with their leftover rotisserie chickens. I remember the Costco version being
20:40really oily tasting. This doesn't look as oily. It does look a little mushy.
20:47It's better than the Costco one. It has good flavor. I don't feel the need to like
20:51doctor it up really. If I'm prepping for a party and I've got to make a ton of chicken salad I would
20:57happily start with this and maybe you know zhuzh it up a little bit or use this to like stretch out
21:03my chicken for $10.58 and you get almost two pounds worth. This is $5.98 a pound. Most restaurants
21:11and stuff where you get chicken salad is about 10 bucks a pound. So 7.5. Good one. You know I got to
21:21try out the taco kit. Coming in at under $15 we have chicken, tortillas, cheese, slaw, cilantro lime,
21:31crema and salsa and limes. What I do like about the whole situation is that the only thing you really
21:36have to do is heat up the chicken and I would advise the tortillas also. Now it suggests that
21:43you can heat this up in the microwave. So that's what I'm going to do. Now when it comes to heating
21:47chicken in the microwave, especially already cooked and shredded chicken, cover it up
21:56and then your microwave has a setting that's called reheat. Put it on that. Don't do cook
22:01for however long it says. Do reheat because it heats it up a little lower and slower and
22:07it doesn't dry it out. And then you can just microwave your tortillas, wrap them up in a damp
22:11paper towel or just throw them on here. Just give them a little char flavor. It just kind of wakes them
22:20up. All right, chicken heated. Give it a little stir. Yeah, it doesn't look dried out. I feel like this is
22:26just when you really don't feel like cooking. This is what you're going to buy. There's nothing wrong
22:31with it. I can already tell lime wedges or a nice touch. You'll make close to 10 with that amount of
22:37chicken. That sauce is really like smoky tasting. So is the chicken. It's like a smoky like pulled
22:44chicken situation. I don't like love everything separately but all together it makes a perfect bite.
22:51If I wasn't so full I'd probably finish this taco but I'm gonna give him... Oh what the heck.
23:00Feeling generous. 8 out of 10. For our final trick.
23:06I deserve a little treat. Don't you think? It would only be fair to end this with a little shrimp
23:14cocktail. Now this looks exactly like the Costco version. I feel like theirs were always around like
23:1917 to 20 dollars and this is 13. Very artfully displayed except for the browning lettuce.
23:26You do want to squeeze the lemon over the shrimp. Kind of freshen it up. We know these didn't just
23:31come straight out of the water. Sam's shrimp cocktail.
23:37Mm-hmm. Still delicious. When you're asked to bring an appetizer for a party
23:42for less than 15 bucks and having to do absolutely zero work, this is the one you pick up.
23:48I can't help but give it like a 9.8 out of 10 because there's just nothing wrong with it and
23:53shrimp cocktail makes everybody happy. I have three words for you. I am stuffed but I did my research
24:00and I think it was thorough. I definitely think there are lots of prepared meals at Sam's worth buying,
24:07worth trying and some that aren't. If you try any of these let me know what you think and if I missed
24:12anything let me know. What would you like to see me sample next? Cheers.
24:20Never too full for this.
24:23Never too full for this.
24:35I'm sorry.
24:35I'm sorry.
24:37I'm sorry.
24:39I'm sorry.
24:41I'm sorry.
24:41I'm sorry.
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