Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries

Despite my heritage(??) I'm not that into potatoes. Or at least non-liquid potatoes. But I have so many sauces that I don't know what to put on, so to the fry aisle we go. These seem appealing because they're skinny, which is less potato per square mile and more salt/oil/sauce/air. In the end, they projected more cardboardy potato than their size warranted. Not impressed. But, the smell when cooking reminded me of East Mall Arby's, which reminded me of my grandma, so that was nice. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10 

Red Robin Steak Fries (Freezer Edition)

Time for my least favorite carb, potato! Red Robin the resto is allergy-friendly, so presumably Red Robin the frozen fries are too (this is a faulty presumption in general but nevertheless?). These are thick and seasoned. They take 24 minutes to cook. That's a long time. They taste like mid potato. The seasoning doesn't really come through, which is just fine for me. A vessel for ketchup. No death. Fine. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Alexia Sweet Potato Fries

I love a sweet potato fry, especially when compared to a normie potato fry. These are cute and well-separated, so it's easy to have just one serving. However, 10 minutes is not enough cook time! They aren't super flavorful, but I like them just fine. A few more minutes on the clock and I expect good things.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

McCain Curly Fries

Hm. I'm really of two minds about these. On the negative side, the top of this bag is so perforated that it's fully open to the air -- you can smell inside and see inside and that makes me VERY worried about contamination etc. Super odd. But on the positive side, these were the cheapest fries at the store and tasted much better than the plain, tasteless McCain fries -- basically they taste like Arby's curly fries, but perhaps a little spicier and a little less soft/oily. Which is good. They're easy to cook and count out a single serving. Fun shape. I'm into it but the bag thing is really weird. I wonder if they're all like that.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

McCain Craft Beer Battered Potatoes Thin Cut

The bag doesn't actually call these fries, which is super weird. Surely there's no legal definition of Fry? Or if there is, surely these guys meet it?! Weird stuff at McCain's headquarters, which may or may not be a store brand, I'm not sure. I got these because they were the cheapest fry, and I don't really like fries so I figured it wouldn't make a difference. I do think there is a difference though. First, the shape and size is good: they're skinny fries and some short some long. The calorie count is also more reasonable than other fries (about 450 for half the bag). But the flavor is really lacking, even for plain fries. I think it needs more salt?? Or some sort of seasoning or more oil or something. The skin is thick, but flavorless. Alas. I prefer the checkers fries and will go elsewhere next time unless the price differential is really shocking.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Checkers aka Rally's Famous Seasoned Fries

Despite my blog's contents, I'm really not a fan of french fries, especially frozen ones. But as far as frozen fries go, I liked these a lot. They're a little thinner than the typical frozen fry, and they have a copious amount of black pepper (and other mysterious seasonings and MSG) on 'em. They cook up nicely and, as with all fries, go great with Arby's sauce. I only got these as they were on clearance, but now I'm kind of sad I won't see them in my store in the future!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Arby's Seasoned Curly Fries [Frozen]

I'm thinkin' Arby's....did a smart thing making these available in my local grocery. They're really not bad! Not quite as greasy as the OG restaurant version (which is probably a good thing), but otherwise pretty authentic of a match. They cooked properly, had a nice curl to 'em, and are way better than a regular oven fry. Thanks, Arby's. If only they sold Arby's Sauce in the bottle, too. (Update: they do!) 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Ore-Ida Golden Crinkles French Fries

These are "America's Favorite Fries", but I always hated them as a kid. Too mushy, not as good as fast food, that's for sure. But in these Quar Times, I'm excited to have anything frozen, so it was a special treat when I made these. They got cold weirdly fast and they weren't as good cold, so you should eat 'em quick. But they were still better than I remembered as a kid, and straightforward to cook. Good with salt added but better with tons of ketchup. A fun snack and it's always nice to have Warm Food in the wintertime, especially these days.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10

Grown In Idaho - Hand Cut Fries

Finally, I'm finishing off the trifecta of frozen potato products from this company! In all, these really are convenient and a big calorie bang for your buck. Unfortunately, I don't LOVE potato or fries that much; they're more of a conveyor for cheese/gravy/meat for me, which I never have at home and so I'm inevitably unimpressed. My main issue is that these are too thing and too oily/sweet, with not enough (any?) salt or pre-seasoning. Sure, I can add my own, and sure, I can mix up some mustard and ketchup and mayo and pretend I'm at a West-Coast Burger chain, but in the end we're all just staring into the void.

What?

These are fine. They are soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside. They are very easy to cook (although it does take like 30min, I could fall asleep by then). They are a little too funnel cakey, but overall decent, and certainly not worse than any other frozen fry I've had.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10

Grown In Idaho - Super Crispy Steak Cut Fries

These fries have been blowing up my social media because I got them for free. I've never been much of a frozen-fry girl (or even a fry girl, really), but these are super easy to make, fairly cheap, and quite filling. So I'm moderately into it. I will say that these were oddly sweeter than I was expecting, definitely sweeter than any fries I've had in a restaurant, and I wasn't really feeling that funnel cake vibe. But you put a little seasoning (garlic/salt/pepper) on these and a little ketchup (or a lot) and you're in business. There's enough in the bag for two meals of just fries. They are also fairly crispy, as advertised, although the bigger ones were a bit soft. I do like that there is a fun variety of shapes and sizes in the bag, though, and I'm excited to try other types from this line, maybe the skinnier ones. Stay tuned!

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (about 3.50)
Taste: 6/10