I try to be careful about purchasing a lot of frozen convenience meals because they are often what’s considered ultra-processed. That means they often contain a lot of ingredients and additives that you wouldn’t necessarily find in a typical home kitchen or might have trouble pronouncing. Typical ultra-processed foods at the grocery store often include pizza, ice cream, potato chips, chicken nuggets, sugary breakfast cereals, canned soups, hot dogs, and more.
Frozen dinners often fall into the category of ultra-processed. However, I’ve come to enjoy the Whole & Simple line of single-serve, frozen, ready-to-heat meals from Aldi that do a better job of including mostly whole, easily recognizable, less processed ingredients.
Meals in this lineup that I’ve tried include:
- Pad Thai and yellow curry Thai style meals
- Tahini and chickpea protein bowls
- Pork or chicken enchilada bowls
- Shrimp and asparagus or shrimp and quinoa bowls
- Mediterranean style chicken quinoa bowls
- Street corn or chicken and cilantro and lime riced cauliflower bowls
- Southwestern style chicken quinoa bowls
- Omelet breakfast bites
- Burritos
Whole & Simple is not a company. Rather, it’s the private label Aldi uses for foods that — not surprisingly — contain mostly whole, simple ingredients.
Aldi kicked off the New Year with a new pair of limited-edition Whole & Simple bowls featuring shrimp with either pasta or rice. I love shrimp, so it was an easy decision to pick these up and try them at home.
These are Aldi Finds, which means they’re only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone unless Aldi decides to bring them back later. You can’t order these online if they’re sold out at your local store.
The Whole & Simple Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bowl and the Whole & Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowl each cost $3.98 for an 8-ounce package at the time of publication. That comes out to about 50 cents per ounce.
Each bowl contains one serving, and neither of these bowls has a very large portion size. It’s enough that you won’t go hungry if this is all you eat for lunch, but you might want to supplement with some fruit or veggies or something else to help you feel a little more full.
The fronts of the packages state these contain “ethically sourced shrimp” and “simple wholesome ingredients.”
These are sold frozen and should be cooked from frozen. The boxes have directions for heating these in the microwave. Remove the bowls from the cardboard boxes. Cut one slit in the plastic film. Microwave on high for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Let stand for 1 minute. Carefully remove the hot bowl from the microwave. Peel back the film, stir thoroughly, and enjoy.
Keep in mind the shrimp in these bowls are raw and need to be cooked thoroughly to 165 degrees before eating.
Keep reading for more information about each bowl.
Whole & Simple Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bowl:
Whole and Simple Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bowl ready to eat.
This was my favorite of the two shrimp bowls here, although both are good. This one features shrimp, broccoli florets, and penne pasta in an alfredo sauce. My bowl had six decent-sized but small shrimp, which felt about right for the size of the overall bowl. It also had a good amount of broccoli, plenty of pasta, and a classic alfredo sauce. I liked that the broccoli was mostly florets and no tough stalks. As a pasta lover, this really hit the spot.
Whole and Simple Shrimp Alfredo Bowl nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk, shellfish (shrimp), and wheat.
This contains some ingredients you wouldn’t find in an average home kitchen, but it’s better than a lot of other meals like this on the market. Ingredients are: cooked pasta (water, durum wheat semolina), broccoli, shrimp, cultured cream, water, parmesan cheese (pasteurized part skim cow’s milk, cheese culture, salt, and enzymes), salt, nonfat dry milk, granulated garlic, parsley, sodium citrate, sodium carbonate, black pepper, and xanthan gum.
This has some sodium, and it might not be ideal for people trying to eat a low-carb diet. One bowl has 290 calories, 7 grams of total fat (9% DV), 4.5 grams of saturated fat (23% DV), 85 mg of cholesterol (28% DV), 630 mg of sodium (27% DV), 34 grams of total carbohydrates (12% DV), 3 grams of dietary fiber (11% DV), 3 grams of total sugars, no added sugars, and 21 grams of protein (42% DV).
Whole & Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowl:
Whole and Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowl ready to eat.
This features shrimp, bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, rice, and a garlic butter sauce. This meal was fine. My bowl had 5 and a half small shrimp, and I thought it could have maybe used one or two more shrimp. It felt a bit lighter on the broccoli compared to the penne pasta bowl above, but it also contains some other veggies such as spinach and peppers. It is fairly light on bell peppers, so if you don’t like peppers, this might be okay. The rice is the dominant ingredient, and it does have a rich garlic butter flavoring.
Whole and Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowl nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
This is gluten free. If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains shellfish (shrimp) and milk.
Again, this isn’t perfect in terms of ingredients, but it’s decent. Ingredients are: cooked long grain rice, shrimp, water, broccoli, red bell peppers, spinach, yellow peppers, olive oil, granulated garlic, salt, sodium citrate, sodium carbonate, nonfat dry milk, natural flavor, buttermilk solids, milk solids, xanthan gum, and turmeric.
This contains a fair amount of sodium and a few carbs. One serving has 230 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat (6% DV), 0.5 grams of saturated fat (3% DV), 65 mg of cholesterol (22% DV), 690 mg of sodium (30% DV), 33 grams of total carbohydrates (12% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), 1 gram of total sugars, no added sugars, and 15 grams of protein (30% DV).
The Verdict:
Whole & Simple Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bowls and the Whole & Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowls feature mostly whole, easily recognizable ingredients. These are single-serve frozen meals that are good if you need a quick, easy lunch for one. We liked the shrimp alfredo bowl a lot. The garlic butter shrimp rice bowl is decent, too.
