Season’s Choice Harvest Grain Bowls
Many Americans don’t eat enough vegetables, and it can be challenging to eat healthy if you’re on the go and don’t always have time to cook. This can be especially true if you need quick lunches during the workday or if you’re someplace where you don’t have a full kitchen to work with.
Aldi sells a couple of ready-to-microwave bowls that offer a serving of grains and veggies with fewer processed ingredients. I like to get bowls like that sometimes when I am tired of eating salads for lunch but still want to eat something that’s good for me. Aldi also occasionally rotates some different types of bowls with various flavors into its lineup. I recently saw some harvest grain bowls in the weekly Aldi ad and decided to give them a try.
Season’s Choice Harvest Grain Bowls cost $2.99 for a 10-ounce single serving bowl at the time of publication. They come in two flavors: Italian and Southwest. These are meat free and are a product of Belgium.
The Italian bowl features a “Tuscan style blend of wheat berries, lentils, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and onion, lightly seasoned with Parmesan & herbs.”
The Southwest bowl features “rustic grains, beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes, onions & garlic, lightly dressed with lime and a dash of cumin.”
These are Aldi Finds, so they’re only in stores for a short time. Each store receives one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone unless Aldi decides to bring them back at some point. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that are not in stock at your local store.
These are sold under the Season’s Choice brand, which is not a company. It’s the private label Aldi uses for frozen vegetables. Season’s Choice items range from basic, unseasoned frozen veggies such as corn or mashed cauliflower, to French fries of all types, to more intriguing dishes such as flavored broccoli or cauliflower bites to seasoned steakhouse green beans.
The packages have directions for heating these in the microwave. Remove the bowl from the outer sleeve. Place the frozen bowl, without piercing the lid, in the microwave. Heat the bowl on 900 watts for 6 minutes if heating the Southwest bowl, or for 7 minutes if heating the Italian bowl. Let the bowl stand for 1 minute after cooking for good heat distribution. Remove the film and stir the contents before serving.
My microwave cooks at a higher wattage, so I experimented with microwaving these for one minute less than the directions suggest. They turned out plenty hot.
The package instructs not to heat these bowls in a conventional oven or toaster oven.
Both of these bowls are about as free of processed ingredients and preservatives as you can get when you’re buying grocery store ready-to-heat meals. I appreciate the fact that they contain a variety of veggies and grains. If I were making similar meals in my own kitchen, it would require a lot of dicing and cooking of various separate ingredients. For example, I like that I can enjoy eggplant in the Italian bowl but not have to cook my own eggplant.
The bowls do contain some sodium, but that also gives them flavor, and I don’t think they taste overly salty. Whether it’s too much sodium might depend on your dietary needs.
Keep reading for more information about each bowl flavor.
Season’s Choice Italian Harvest Grain Bowls
This has good flavor and is my favorite of the two bowls. I like that it includes eggplant, which is something I don’t eat often but do enjoy when I can get it, usually from restaurants. It also has some Parmesan cheese — enough to stick to my spoon but not enough to detract from the veggie and bean flavors in this bowl.
Ingredients include cooked wheat berries, cooked brown lentils, broccoli, grilled eggplant, water, grilled red pepper, grilled yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, white kidney beans, grilled onion, Parmesan cheese, basil, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, corn starch, garlic, salt, natural flavor, vegetable stock, black pepper, and sunflower oil.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains wheat and milk. It may contain egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, soy, pine nut, coconut, chestnut, or sesame.
One bowl contains 270 calories, 5.5 grams of total fat (7% DV), 1.5 grams of saturated fat (8% DV), 510 mg of sodium (22% DV), 42 grams of total carbohydrates (15% DV), 9 grams of dietary fiber (32% DV), 5 grams of total sugars, no added sugars, and 13 grams of protein.
Season’s Choice Southwest Harvest Grain Bowls
This wasn’t as flavorful as the Italian bowl. I don’t know why that is exactly, but I did notice it doesn’t contain natural flavor like the Italian bowl does. This Southwest bowl features various beans, spelt, corn, onion, tomatoes, and peppers with seasoning, which is mostly a mild cumin flavor. I ended up melting some shredded cheddar on top of this to make it a little more interesting. Overall, it isn’t bad. Just a little more plain than the Italian bowl.
Ingredients include cooked black beans, cooked spelt, sweet corn, cooked red kidney beans, water, grilled red pepper, tomatoes, grilled yellow pepper, roasted onion, green pepper, tomato pulp, lemon juice, tomato concentrate, semi oven-dried tomatoes, cumin, salt, onion powder, sunflower oil, garlic, and xanthan gum as a thickening agent.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains wheat. It may contain egg, milk, fish, crustacean shellfish, soy, pine nut, coconut, chestnut, or sesame.
One bowl contains 290 calories, 3 grams of total fat (4% DV), <0.5 grams of saturated fat (<2% DV), 500 mg of sodium (22% DV), 52 grams of total carbohydrates (19% DV), 11 grams of dietary fiber (39% DV), 7 grams of total sugars, no added sugars, and 13 grams of protein.
The Verdict:
Season’s Choice Harvest Grain Bowls come in Italian or Southwest varieties. They feature various veggies, grains, and seasoning with mostly whole ingredients. These cook up in the microwave in minutes, making for an easy, healthy meal. The Southwest bowl tastes okay, and we really liked the Italian bowl.
I saw these and bought one of each. I live alone and try to eat healthy. Most weeks the bulk of my purchases are vegetables. If I put together my own bowls I’d have such a huge quantity, and I like variety in my meals, so I purchase things like these whenever I see them.
Like you I enjoyed the Italian one much more. The Southwestern was ok but nothing special. I’ll be going back to Aldi and picking up a few more to keep in the freezer.
Concerned about the plastic in the microwave. I wish they gave alternatives to cooking.
You could always transfer the food to a glass dish to cook in the microwave.
I have been looking at Aldi’s for Harvest Grain Italian Bowl. Will they ever have in stock again?
Aldi doesn’t typically say whether or not a product will return. Since this product showed up in January, it’s possible it might return around the same time of year, if it returns. The only way to know is to keep an eye on your local weekly Aldi ad. https://www.aldireviewer.com/when-will-an-aldi-find-that-is-out-of-stock-be-back/
these bowls are disgusting, the dog’s food smelled better! Tossed them in the garbage! typically Aldi anything is good, but this was just plain old gross. Don’t waste your money
These are currently back at Aldi, while supplies last!