The Most Overrated Items At Sam's Club

For shoppers who are buying for a large family or who are looking for high-quality items, Sam's Club makes a lot of sense as a grocery destination. This warehouse club has a laundry list of products that deserve a spot on your shopping list. From unique, tasty snacks to staples that come in amazingly large quantities, Sam's Club can be counted on as a place to buy excellent items at fair prices. However, that's not always the case. Indeed, there are some notable exceptions to that general rule.

Some products at Sam's Club simply aren't what they're cracked up to be. They are so overrated, in fact, that they should be avoided completely. When you see them on the shelves, you will be tempted to add the products to your shopping cart. These items may look yummy or may look like great buys. However, the truth is you should just keep moving down the aisle and not think twice.

Let's say that you love pulled pork and your night isn't complete until you've had your glass of whiskey. Thus, you should absolutely adore the Jack Daniel's Pulled Pork that is available at Sam's Club, right? While that might appear to be sound logic, you need to stay away from this gross pulled pork product by all means necessary.

The only positive attribute of Jack Daniel's Pulled Pork is that, since it has already been fully cooked, you can easily heat it up in your microwave. But once it comes time to chow down, everything quickly goes south. The overwhelming issue is the unbearable amount of sweetness in this product. There's just way, way too much sugar and it overpowers everything. The whiskey flavor that convinced you to buy this pulled pork in the first place is buried beneath no less than a sugary mountain. If you want pulled pork with the flavor of Jack Daniel's whiskey, you're going to have to make your own because, alas, this is not it.

The aforementioned Member's Mark Southern Style Chicken Bites are a big hit but don't make the mistake of thinking that also applies to Member's Mark Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. This overrated Sam's Club item might look like Chick-fil-A's delicious chicken sandwich, but the truth is that they aren't comparable at all. While Chick-fil-A's sandwich deserves a spot in the fast food hall of fame, this Sam's Club sandwich is only deserving a trip to your trash can. It's that bad.

The first thing you'll notice when you bite into a Member's Mark Southern Style Chicken Sandwich is the strange dill pickle-like flavor permeating the meat. Though you might not hate it at first, you'll soon grow to despise that briny taste as it builds up with each passing bite. To add to the misery, the texture is much too soft. If you like your chicken sandwiches to be crispy, you should know that these sandwiches are the opposite of that. Stay away.

Those who think it's impossible for bacon to be overrated have never purchased this bacon from Sam's Club. Member's Mark Restaurant Style Bacon may come with an appealing price tag but by the time you work your way through this ten-pound box of approximately 200 slices of bacon, you'll think twice before ever buying it again.

This bacon isn't gross, mind you, but it's just not that good compared to other bacon you can get elsewhere. The slices are thinner than average and, to make matters worse, they're extra fatty. By the time you finish cooking the bacon, it will have shriveled into a brittle shell of its former self, one that's also lacking a worthwhile amount of bacony goodness. You'll still eat it but you'll also daydream of other, meatier brands of bacon that cause you to drool with delight.

Unless you believe that quantity always tops quality when it comes to bacon, pick another brand. You'll be happier in the long run.

Typically, potato salad is something that is safe to buy at a place like Sam's Club. Potato salad is easy to make so what could go wrong? After you try the Member's Mark Loaded Potato Salad, you will actually be surprised by how bad it tastes. Sam's Club dropped the ball with this one.

This potato salad is made with redskin potatoes. The skin is kept on the potatoes and, while it may look cool, the skin ends up getting stuck between your teeth. An even bigger problem is the huge amount of mayonnaise that is used in this potato salad. If you were making this salad at home, it has much more mayo than any halfway competent chef would use. There's so much of it that this Sam's Club item is basically mayo with chunks of potatoes, bacon, and cheddar cheese mixed in. The container says there's sour cream but that too gets lost in the flood of mayonnaise.

Unless you want your family to disown you, don't you dare bring Member's Mark Chicken Enchiladas to the next get-together. Not only does this overrated Sam's Club item taste bad, but it's also so embarrassingly inauthentic that it's laughable. It may look like real enchiladas at a glance but, upon further inspection, you can see that there are issues. Serious issues. Once you taste it, you'll realize it's an unappetizing counterfeit that could get you uninvited from the family reunion.

The biggest negative here is the texture of the tortillas. Inexplicably, these tortillas are so big, fluffy, and doughy that it's as if they inexplicably used bread in these enchiladas instead. Moreover, the red sauce lacks spice and, even then, there's just not enough of it.

The only redeeming quality for the enchiladas is the chicken, which is the often beloved Sam's Club rotisserie chicken, one of the best grocery store rotisserie chickens available. That said, everything else about these Member's Mark Chicken Enchiladas is so bad that even the chicken doesn't make much of a difference.

Like the enchiladas, fajitas, and mango salsa mentioned above, these Del Real Foods Pork Tamales from Sam's Club are extremely overrated. It's probably safe to say that you should just stay away from anything related to Mexican cuisine when you're shopping at this warehouse club. Perhaps you'd be better served by learning how to make these dishes on your own.

These tamales are made with pork that is utterly bathing in red sauce. Honestly, the meat is actually okay. The problem is everything else. First, the red sauce has a limited amount of spiciness to it. Even though the label claims that there are jalapeno peppers in these tamales, you'd be hard-pressed to detect their heat in this dish. Second, the masa dough that makes up the body of the tamales is extremely dry and flaky. When you take a bite, don't be surprised when crumbs come falling down onto your shirt. Third, the amount of filling just isn't enough compared to the portion of the masa.

Instead of being these knockoff tamales, you'd be much better off finding a small Mexican restaurant near you with expert chefs who know what they're doing.

These days, you can find these scrumptious cakes in every corner of the country. If you're at Sam's Club, you may be tempted by Member's Mark Handmade Crab Cakes. Eating a crab cake that is made by hand, as the packaging claims, sounds like it'd make for a tasty meal.

Unfortunately, you'll know you've made a poor purchase right after you heat up the crab cakes, as a strong and unwelcome fish smell will fill your home. If you can ignore the odor enough to take a bite of one of the cakes, the fishy flavor will make you grimace. This strong flavor is just too much even for the greatest seafood consumers out there. Worse yet, the pungent taste stays in your mouth no matter what you drink. You'll need to go brush your teeth if you hope to dissipate the fishiness. Each package comes with six crab cakes but you will likely give up after trying one.