The Walmart Great Value Ice Cream Flavor We Absolutely Hated

Stocking your freezer with ice cream can help banish sweet cravings as you whip up treats quickly. Whether mixing up milkshakes, topping brownies, or serving slices of pie with neat scoops, ice cream can upgrade desserts and midafternoon snacks. What better way to facilitate these sweet recipes than with affordable tubs of ice cream? That's exactly what Walmart offers with its Great Value brand. Running at just over $3 for a tub of 48 fluid ounces, Walmart's collection of flavors can be smart purchases. To help make buying decisions easier, we ranked 15 Walmart Great Value Ice Cream flavors and were surprised to discover that cost-friendly certainly doesn't have to mean short on taste. The Great Value brand is cranking out many delicious flavors with the kind of smooth, creamy texture you'd expect from a decent scoop of ice cream. Unfortunately, one flavor was a clear disappointment for our team.

Great Value's Vanilla Bean ice cream flavor is not only plain, but its vanilla flavor tastes artificial — and our team isn't the only ones who think this way. Confused Redditors have also taken to the boards to remark on the strangeness of the ice cream, noting that the flavor makes the ice cream inedible and stating that they noticed an off-putting aroma from the product.

You won't find real vanilla bean pods listed on the label for Great Value's Vanilla Bean ice cream. Looking at the ingredients used to make the ice cream, milk, cream, buttermilk, sugar, whey, corn syrup, and skim milk are used, but the package clearly states that 1% or less of natural flavors with vanilla extract, vanilla bean specs, mono and diglycerides, carob bean gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and cellulose gel and gum are included. 

Of course, as with all food reviews, some netizens adore the flavor. Not only does the price point make this vanilla ice cream an enticing buy, but some ice cream lovers use the stuff as a milk substitute, make homemade ice cream sandwiches by sandwiching scoops between two cookies, or mix scoops with protein powder. 

Should you take a carton home and find you can't stand the stuff, you can look to elevate bowls with canned ingredients or add instant espresso powder and your favorite mix-ins to convert the ice cream into a richer treat. If you're simply looking for a convenient add-in for other recipes, you could absolutely stock your freezer with this ice cream and save some money with the purchase.