The Grocery French Fry Brand We Recommend Leaving In The Freezer Aisle

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Any spud aficionado can probably tell you that french fries from a restaurant typically taste better than store-bought options. That's partly because many commercial kitchens have dedicated deep fryers ready to get the potato slices thrown into their baskets. That doesn't mean the ones folks cook at home are bound to be bad. Ingredient quality also matters, and not all the bags of fries in a grocery aisle stack up equally. Mashed compared store-brand frozen french fries and found that one set of offerings clearly fell short: the Great Value line from Walmart. The retailer's regular, crinkle cut, and seasoned varieties were not only substandard but also were the three worst performers in our taste test.

Just how bad were they? After our reviewer cooked the sliced spuds in the oven, Great Value's unseasoned variety remained forgettable and bland. Even the seasoned version tasted greasy (from the batter) rather than flavorful. "I learned quickly there's no sense wishing on a great fry from Great Value," wrote our tester Steven Luna. The one positive he found across the Great Value line: The prices are indeed on the lower end of the sampled brands. It cost around $3 for a 2-pound bag. Still, a bargain price isn't the biggest selling point if the fries simply don't taste good.

In fairness, the product has received plenty of positive reviews online. However, some shoppers agree that the Great Value fries are best skipped. "I picked these up because the name brands are so expensive now. Wow, were these awful," wrote one customer about the regular cut fries on Walmart's website. "I hated them so much that I started making my own darn fries with regular potatoes lol." Others had a problem with the texture. "Fries came out wet, spongy, not crisp at all," wrote a customer. So much for the convenience of a premade frozen food.

Or you can look beyond the Great Value brand for a better bite. Our favorite frozen fries include Ore-Ida, Alexia, and Checkers, all of which are sold at many Walmart stores. They're more expensive than the Great Value, but worth it. At around $4 for a 2-pound bag, Ore-Ida is roughly a dollar more. "I was shocked to find out how good these were," wrote one reviewer on Walmart's website. "The value on this product is actually better than some of the off/store brands when considering the volume of the bag and reliable outcome."

Meanwhile, Great Value's underwhelming taste doesn't mean other grocers don't have top-notch store-brand frozen fries. We found that several other private labels — Signature Select from stores owned by Albertsons Companies, such as Safeway, United, and Shaw's; Kirkland Signature from Costco; and Trader Joe's own-brand — were downright delicious. As an added bonus, the Kirkland Signature choice even works out to a lower price per serving than Great Value.