Here's a guest post by Brad, aka "Van Trekker"...
My name is Brad and I am an avid reader of the Smart Aldi Shopper blog. I was asked by Jeff to share some thoughts with you about Aldi's Fit & Active Grilled Chicken Bites and why they are such a wonderful product for people of all living situations.
My background is somewhat unusual. Last summer, I chose to move out of the home I lived in for the last six years in an effort to simplify and downsize. Now I live in Iowa in a cargo van about six days out of the week. It is a great deal of fun - so much so that I maintain a blog related to van camping / vandwelling at http://vantrekker.blogspot.com.
Jeff's Aldi Shopper forum motivated me to rediscover Aldi and enjoy many unusual, affordable products. Even better, the Fit and Active selections are exciting, tasty products that easily integrate with my 2012 wellness plans.
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| Fit & Active Grilled Chicken Bites |
The Fit and Active Grilled Chicken Bites product is one of my all time favorite Aldi foods. They are fully cooked, random sized chicken breast pieces that are very low in fat as well as tender and juicy. Ready to eat, the pieces (most of which are at least the size of a half dollar or larger) can be used for snacks, on salads, or included in a variety of dishes. I even keep a bag of them in my thermoelectric cooler for late night nibbling. They are more filling and less salty than eating jerky (although Aldi's Simms Beef Jerky is some of the best I've ever tried). It's the taste and versatility of this chicken product that ranks five stars in my book.
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| Brad's Chicken Taco Pizza! |
As you can see in the picture, the chicken bites work great for a chicken taco pizza made with an Aldi tortilla (used for the crust), taco sauce, green peppers and onions, and Happy Farms cheeses. The pizza was baked in the toaster oven in the cargo van. It was quite nutritious and had only about 320 calories. Some of the other dishes I have made with the chicken bites include a chicken Parmesan wrap, honey mustard chicken wrap, a chicken quesadilla, and lastly, a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, chicken, onions, cheese, and taco sauce. The grilled chicken works great in the fried rice or noodle w/sauce mixes as well.
This healthy grilled chicken product is just one example of the many Fit and Active offerings that fit the camping and van dwelling lifestyle. Other favorite camping foods include beef jerky, canned sardines, nuts, fiber bars, trail mixes, and fruit cups. With all of our Aldi stores located on the edges of town, the Aldi "stock up store" is a perfect place to visit when heading out for a weekend trip or just cooking at home - even if the home is a van dwelling.
Thanks for the post, Brad - and congratulations on your inspiring weight loss this year! Keep up the great work!
-Jeff the Aldi Shopper
YUM!! Great post! I just started my own Aldi blog and I love that I am finding other Aldi fans out there who love Aldi as much as I do too!
ReplyDeleteI wish we had these chicken bites here in St.Louis I could find a million uses for them! We always have a few bags of the frozen chicken breasts in our freezer and have had no problems with them! They taste better to me than other frozen breasts too!
Hi Aldi Mom, thanks for stopping by - your blog looks great!
ReplyDeleteThe Fit & Active Chicken Bites are one of those products that comes and goes. I stock-up on several bags when I can find them and have the extra freezer space.
Keep spreading the ALDI love, and stop back by anytime!!!
I may have to look for those. Do they have any Chicken patties that are grilled and not breaded but precooked? I used to buy a brand at my grocery store, but they stopped making them to sell that way to consumers.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall seeing any of the grilled patties - but I'd love to find some myself!
DeleteGreat to see a new post! I'm going to look for these chicken bites in our store.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thanks! The chicken bites are one of my daughter's favorites, and like Brad was saying - they're VERY versatile!
DeleteThanks for the post!!!! I'm going to Aldi tomorrow. I'll be looking for the chicken bites:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Again for your post... I really missed you!
Thank YOU! It's nice to be missed, and even nicer to be back!!! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI hope I can find these in my local Aldi's! I was a huge fan of their Fit Active(fully cooked)Grilled Chicken Breasts - they were so flavorful and juicy & I used them in many different ways. They disappeared from Aldi at least a year ago or more & I was so disappointed! I'm in Aldi frequently & don't recall seeing these....but will certainly look again. Anyone like the mini sweet peppers? LOVE!
ReplyDeleteHi Lois! These chicken bites are like a lot of things at ALDI - here today, gone next week! I was just at my ALDI today, and they weren't in stock here either, but I bet they'll be back soon!
DeleteGood to see you back, Jeff! I am still finding great things to eat at Aldi, the little pretzel sticks are great.....and the fruit this sumer has been fantastic! Looking foward to reading more! Rosie
ReplyDeleteHey Rosie - glad to see you're still stopping by! We like the Clancy's pretzels at our house too - I use the little ones to pack in my daughter's lunch box for her snack (she just finished first grade!) Now that summer's here, I'm TRYING to cut back on having snack foods around the house, we'll see how long that lasts - HA!
DeleteThe fruit here has been very good too - same for the veggies. Seems like they're better than last summer!
I liked that little bit about cooking in the toaster oven. Here in Alabama it gets pretty hot and humid in the summer and I just don't want to turn on the big oven. I use my toaster oven a lot. There was a program that aired in the UK on the BBC that was called Little Paris Kitchen hosted by Rachel Khoo. She had, what seems like, the world's tiniest kitchen in her Paris apartment (shes and expat from the UK). She prepared a lot of her dishes either on the eye of the stove or in her little toaster oven. I think you can find full or partial episodes in the US on YouTube. Wonder how many of her recipes I could recreate using Aldi products and my toaster oven......hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI love these, but a warning-- they are a seasonal product...So you can only buy them two times a year. Which is bad if you fall in love with these like I have. They usually go on sale in August and January from what I can tell. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a full sized chicken filet or something that was exactly the same, but bigger; it was also delicious and seasonal.
I back a whole bag with a little seasoning and then add it to every salad, pasta, or rice dish I make for the next week. So good.
I am very upset. I love these chicken bites. I am from St. Louis, MO, and they do not sell these at all the Aldis here. I was purchasing them at one store In Jennings, MO. Now they say they don't have them anymore. Is their a website I can order online? I do not like when there is an item for sell one month, and then the next month it's just promotional.
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymous - you might be in luck! According to the sales flyer for the store in Jennings, the Fit & Active Chicken Bites are on sale right now! Here's the ad I found online:
Deletehttp://weeklyads.aldi.us/aldi/default.aspx?action=entryflash&adref=aldistorelocator&StoreRef=946
Check it out, I hope they're in stock for you - they seem to be a pretty popular item going by the feedback I get here!
As far as I know, Aldi doesn't sell anything through their website. I get frustrated too when items disappear from the shelves for a while. I figure it's the Aldi way of getting us back in the store more often!
Good Luck!
Does anyone know in what season they gave this bites? I always go and they are only a temp item thanks
ReplyDelete