14 Frozen Desserts From The Grocery Store To Avoid At All Costs

The frozen aisle of any grocery store is a wondrous place to be. You could be passing by with nothing on your mind other than picking up a quick carton of milk, until your eye catches a delightful assortment of ice cream sandwiches or thaw-and-serve cheesecakes. While the world of frozen treats has long barreled past just ice creams and soft serves, not all frozen desserts are created alike. Some fail to maintain their texture and consistency once thawed to room temperature, while others simply can't pack a punch with their flavors.

Driven by the guiding light of previous taste tests done by Tasting Table as well as popular consumer consensus, we looked at the flavor, texture, and consistency of frozen desserts and found some unforgivable offerings in the aisle — scroll to the bottom for a detailed look at our methodology. If you don't want to rack up abandoned leftovers in the freezers, you'll want to avoid these frozen desserts at all costs the next time you're at the grocery store. 

On paper, the prospect of 12 pre-portioned lemon squares that only need to be defrosted for an hour before serving sounds tempting. But the tangy burst of citrusy goodness followed by a buttery shortbread crust that you'd expect from Trader Joe's Lemon Bars never fully arrives.

Our taste tester sifted through 17 frozen desserts from Trader Joe's and simply could not get past the egg-heavy taste of the lemon bars. While the lemon curd made a brave stab at offering the citrusy flavor that lemon bars are known for, the shortbread crust failed to compensate for the eggy flavor of the dense filling. The portion size is known to be a disappointment (one reviewer on Reddit compared it to a Costco sample). If you are looking for a satisfying frozen treat to beat the mid-afternoon slump, you may want to continue your search elsewhere in the dessert aisle. 

While you are perusing the frozen dessert aisle at Trader Joe's, you may also want to avoid eye contact with the oat non-dairy frozen sandwiches. Ice cream sandwiches are a beloved childhood favorite, and there's no excuse to go wrong with the vegan version of this beloved staple. But in a bid to deliver a vegan-friendly treat made with an oat beverage, these definitely don't hit the mark.

Rather than giving the satisfying sensation of biting through a soft chocolate wafer into vanilla ice cream, the two elements fail to work in tandem with each other. The consensus is shared across the internet (one comment on Reddit likened the creation to Play-Doh). With better and creamier dairy-free options available, such as the company's Hold The Dairy! Mini Frozen Dessert Cones, you'd be unlikely to add these non-dairy frozen sandwiches to your cart a second time. 

The frozen cheesecake section is a highly competitive one, with several pre-made options to choose from at bargain prices. While Trader Joe's iteration delivers seemingly great value for money at $7.99, its blandness has earned this baked cheesecake a one-way ticket to the "avoid" category.

For starters, there's its taste — or the significant lack thereof. Few things can erase the stresses of a hectic day like sinking your spoon through sumptuous layers of a cream cheesecake before hitting hard ground on a crumbly graham cracker base. But while Trader Joe's website promises that "Every bite is rich, creamy, and superbly satisfying", the cheesecake falls short on delivering the creamy, tangy taste that it should. It's even been likened to vanilla cake batter. 

If you have one already sitting in your freezer, its only redeeming factor is that it can serve as a sufficient base for other flavored toppings. Fruit compote, caramel sauce, marshmallow sauce — take your pick. If you are feeling creative, you can choose from a host of gourmet toppings to upgrade frozen cheesecake, from dulce de leche and Italian meringue to candied nuts or baked apples.

In the frozen dessert aisle, Aldi has been known to offer up some crowd-pleasers, from the My/Mochi ice cream bites to the velvety-smooth Brookie Dough ice cream (brownie + cookie, get it?). However, if you find yourself reaching for Sundae Shoppe Minis Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches on a leisurely Sunday morning, you should pause and reconsider.

At first glance, their appearance alone might convince you into believing that you've found the Oreo ice cream sandwich dupe that nobody knows about. However, the word 'mini' on the packaging wasn't added as an afterthought. Expect disappointingly bite-sized sandwiches within that fail to satisfy — if you're having a larger crowd for dessert, you will want to look elsewhere for viable options.

And then, there's the matter of flavors. Visually, these mini sandwiches offer more filling than a standard Oreo cookie, but there wasn't much joy to report beyond this small win. The overly strong flavor profile of the chocolate cookie refuses to share the spotlight with the vanilla cream, making for a one-note experience that won't have you reaching for seconds.

Hot on the heels of the mini ice cream sandwiches comes another frozen offering from Aldi that disappoints with its size: a selection of colorful macarons. The appeal is obvious, as this box of 12 assorted macarons can spare you all the headache of making your own at home.

Unfortunately, the box of assorted macarons is a letdown on all fronts. First, some have found the macarons' size to be smaller than average. You might be willing to soldier on, but their texture serves up another disappointment. The word "macaron" often draws to mind colorful, crispy meringue shells. However, Aldi's offering lacks that crisp, making it difficult to chew through a mouthful even after the macarons have been sufficiently thawed.

The only redeeming factor here comes from the macarons' fillings. A box of 12 macarons offers up two of each flavor: raspberry, vanilla, lemon, chocolate, pistachio, and salted caramel. While the filling manages to deliver on the flavors promised, it fails to compensate for the dental workout of making your way through the chewy shells.

Whether you are an avid home baker or an experienced chef, there is one fact that everyone knows to be true: Cheesecake is not an easy mistress to please. From under-mixing the ingredients to rushing the cheesecake out of the oven too soon, many sneaky cheesecake mistakes can derail your efforts. But while the promise of a frozen, done-for-you whipped cheesecake sounds tempting, Great Value's offering misses the mark on more than one count.

The first red flag pops up in its ratings: At the time of writing, 54% of customer reviews have awarded it with one dismal star on Walmart's website. It is an uphill struggle to find any redeeming factors about this cheesecake. Tasting Table's ranking of six frozen store-bought cheesecakes saw this whipped iteration clocking in at the bottom. The absence of the signature depth and decadent consistency of cream cheese can leave you feeling like you are swallowing a mouthful of whipped cream, making this one frozen dessert that you'll want to avoid at the grocery store.

There's soft serve ice cream, and then there's Dole Whip. Since the mid-1980s, an icy cup of pineapple-flavored soft serve has served as an essential part of the experience for thrill-seekers at Disney theme parks — the ideal way to combat Florida's scorching summers after a trip to the Enchanted Tiki Room. But Dole's attempt to package the magic in the form of frozen cups has proven underwhelming for long-time fans of the original nostalgic dessert.

Available at Costco as a pack with eight cups, its appearances prove disenchanting, as the size of each cup runs smaller than the original. The rich buttercup hue of the Disney treat also loses its luster here, appearing significantly lighter in its frozen replication. The visuals perhaps set this frozen dessert up for disappointment, because there isn't much good news to report: Its flavor lacks the vibrant intensity of pineapple puree, with the organic coconut cream overpowering the soft serve.

If you are looking to salvage any Dole Whip cups already camped out in your freezer, you can use them as a base for smoothies with added fruits and greens. And if those pineapple cravings strike again in the future, it might be more worthwhile to make a trip down to Disney World or Disneyland instead of your nearest Costco.

The unfortunate run-in between store-bought cheesecakes and frozen desserts continues with Belmont's Pumpkin Spiced Whipped Cheesecake. Pumpkin-based desserts generally rule the frozen aisle every fall, but this cheesecake fails to bottle the magic of the seasonal staple. The result is an inauspicious entry in our ranking of frozen desserts to avoid at the grocery store. One reviewer on Reddit dubbed it a "goopy, soupy mess."

Its packaging makes this frozen dessert look harmless enough, offering up tempting visuals of a cheesecake topped with dollops of whipped cream and sauce. But that first spoonful will prove you wrong — instead of the airy, velvety texture you're expecting, be prepared to be confronted with a pudding-like consistency. The heavy-handed sugary quality of the pie also proves off-putting. The barest attempt at tanginess from the cream cheese is hurriedly clammed down by the overly sweetened pie.

If you are looking to fix the pudding-like texture, it helps to eat yours frozen without thawing, but the problems don't end there. The whipped topping starts losing its texture rapidly once thawed and the spiced jam at the center offers up a bland, unappealing taste. The only good news comes in the form of the cheesecake's handy plastic box which is ideal for storing leftovers — and given the dismal reviews, you can probably expect to have an ample amount of those.

The frozen section at Costco is not here to play. Even on a leisurely stroll, you'll find a host of frozen Kirkland Signature staples that are worth every inch of freezer space, from the classic cheese pizza to the lightly-breaded chicken chunks. But while vanilla ice cream bars sound far from rocket science, Tasting Table's ranking of the best frozen desserts at Costco saw these clocking in plum last.

Available in boxes of 18 bars for around $12, the Kirkland Signature Ice Cream Bars can seem like a popular addition to the dessert menu for weekend gatherings at home. But the quality of the ice cream bars fails to prove as impressive as their price. For starters, there is the chocolate shell: a thin veneer that doesn't deliver on the sumptuousness you'd expect from the "chocolate flavored coating and roasted almonds" advertised on the box.

All might have been forgiven if the vanilla ice cream offered up a creamy, velvety treat. Instead, the lack of flavors in the ice cream will convince you to call it quits and opt for a rich, flavorful tub from Häagen-Dazs next time.

Trailing behind the not-vanilla-enough ice cream bars are Oreo's frozen dessert sandwiches, which also failed to impress in Tasting Table's ranking of frozen desserts at Costco. Shakespeare might have spent his days musing over what's in a name, but the nomenclature is the first thing that will make you reconsider these dessert sandwiches. "Frozen dairy" is a term used when a dessert doesn't meet the legally required standards of milk and cream to be considered an ice cream.

As a consequence, you won't find the creamy goodness of classic Oreo cookies waiting for you in ice cream form. Instead, our taste tester found that the cookies soften rapidly at room temperature and end up sticking to your fingers, hampering the eating experience. The filling, again, fails to mimic the creaminess you have come to expect from Oreo cookies. This dessert could have likely benefited from having larger chunks of cookie.

Long story short: If you are looking to revisit your fond childhood memories of Oreos, it helps to stick to the cookie version for now, especially since the frozen dairy dessert bars haven't been faring much better either — one Redditor has called them "trash."

If you were to tour Costco outposts around the world, your quest for the perfect cream puffs would yield some unexpected results. Matcha cream choux, anyone? In the U.S., you'll find a tempting array of cream puffs to choose from as well, but proceed with caution concerning this frozen offering from Delizza.

Available in boxes of 120 puffs, Delizza attempts to capture the classic appeal of cream puffs in a thaw-to-serve format. But the concept of frozen cream puffs appears to be a major miss, failing to deliver on the light-as-air texture of a pastry shell oozing with vanilla cream filling. Eating yours lightly thawed might help you enjoy the cream filling as ice cream, but since cream puffs aren't exactly hard to find, you would be better off trying your luck elsewhere.

A 12-pack of ice cream sandwiches stashed away in your freezer sounds like the perfect treat to come home to — unless you are picking up yours from Walmart's private label, Great Value. At first taste, the cakey texture of the chocolate-flavored wafers proves disappointing. The problems are further compounded by the fact that neither the vanilla nor the chocolate flavors are pronounced. 

Driven by the chatter around Walmart's ice cream sandwiches refusing to melt, one reviewer on YouTube subjected hers to a toasty oven to simulate a hot summer day and found that it reduced to milkshake-like consistency — making it far from an appetizing treat for a blistering day in the sun.

When an ice cream promises to send you to chocolate paradise, the expectations are high. Despite claiming to deliver "a creamy rich delight with every scoop", this tub's flavors fall short of its tall claims. Take a quick glance at the ingredient list on the back of the tub and you'll find that cocoa is far from being the frontrunner — milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup assume priority as the decadent notes of cocoa are shuffled to the back of the queue.

Just dip a spoon into the tub, and you'll understand the hierarchy of the ingredients' listing order. The flavor profile of the ice cream is dominated by artificial flavors and the chocolatey goodness that you'd expect is largely MIA. While strategically chosen toppings can balance the intense sweetness of the ice cream, the chocolate paradise promised in its name appears to be a barren wasteland instead.

The only thing better than raw cookie dough? A creamy vat of frozen ice cream punctuated with cookie dough chunks. And while Wegmans' offering achieves the goal of having a rich vanilla ice cream base, its cookie dough pieces do a poor job at being the star of the show.

One of the most prized joys of helping yourself to cookie dough ice cream is chancing upon the chunks of cookie dough ever so often — reminiscent of the times you dipped your finger into cookie dough batter while your mom was looking the other way. While the chunks do indeed exist here, they lack any real presence and fade away into the vanilla ice cream far too soon. The satisfying crunch you would expect from a classic pint of cookie dough ice cream never really pulls through, making it a major miss for fans of this flavor. With creamier chocolate chip cookie dough ice creams available in pints and gallons, you'll have an easy time finding better alternatives.

The process of discovering store-bought frozen desserts that aren't worth your dime started with a deep-dive into Tasting Table's own archive of taste tests. We also consulted popular consumer forums, such as Reddit and YouTube. Some of the frozen desserts featured on this list have been associated with major off-putting factors in the flavor department, while others are grappling with technical issues in consistency and texture. Personal tastes can often vary but if you are looking for maximum value for your money, you'll want to wheel your cart right past these frozen dessert aisle selections.