10 Kroger Brand Products To Keep Out Of Your Shopping Cart

Kroger and its many subsidiary stores have plenty of good options under the private Kroger label. The Kroger frozen french fries, for example, taste better and cook crispier than most of the brand-name frozen fries that come at a much higher cost. Kroger's bags of various trail mix flavors use the same quality ingredients at half the price of other brands. Items like these and other staples, like Kroger's milk and eggs, are certainly almost always worth buying generic.

But there are some Kroger items to avoid, too. Items where getting the name brand is worth the small extra cost, if there is an extra cost at all. These food fails exist in all of Kroger's various forms, including Ralphs, Food 4 Less, Dillons, and Baker's stores. As someone who has regularly shopped at a Kroger-owned grocery store for over a decade, I've had the pleasure — and sometimes misfortune — of taste-testing each of the products listed below over time. Through trial and tribulation, I have narrowed down a list of which Kroger products are taking up valuable room in your shopping cart. Whether it's the taste of the product, the quality of the ingredients, or just an above-average price tag, these are the 10 top Kroger products to avoid during your next trip to the grocery store. 

Of all the various butter brands you can find at the grocery store, Kroger's will more than likely be the worst of the bunch. These dense blocks of butter lack the flavor and creamy texture that all good butter should have. The pale white color doesn't help to make them any more appetizing, either.

Kroger's butter comes in sticks or spreadable containers, both in salted and unsalted varieties. The salt content makes little difference in the flavoring of these butters, though, as all variations are lacking in taste. While they work in a pinch for simple tasks like sautéing vegetables, you can easily find a better butter for the same price. 

A comparable option to replace Kroger's is Challenge-branded butter, which is admittedly nothing remarkable but a vast improvement when it comes to both texture and taste. With a kitchen staple as important as this, though, it may be worth elevating your butter to a better brand, even if it means spending a few extra dollars. Try Tillamook, Président, or Kerrygold butter for a real mouthwatering experience.

It's a sad party if these Kroger Chicken Party Wings got the invite. Small, bony, and unpleasant, Kroger's wings are boring at best and a choking hazard at worst. 

These party wings come in a four-pound pack for only around $12, which sounds like a great deal at first but should raise a red flag in the frozen foods section. These wings are meant to be quickly reheated in the air fryer or oven before serving. Unfortunately, the wings are rather bland by themselves and often break into tiny pieces, leaving small fragments of bone within the rather dry meat. 

While Tyson or Perdue might not be a huge improvement in quality, they are certainly a step in the right direction. Better yet, it's safer to skip the grocery store altogether when it comes to good wings. You can find much better quality meat even from some fast food places that offer chicken wings.

Kroger's frozen pizzas leave a lot to be desired. The box claims that these pizzas have a "rising crust," but any evidence of that remains to be seen. The end result after cooking for nearly 25 minutes is a flat, cardboard-like crust that doesn't taste much better than it looks. The cheese on top is equally disappointing, baked into an almost plasticky covering that looks unnatural. The pepperonis themselves aren't bad, but they can't hope to make up for the rest of the pizza's problems. 

Freschetta is another brand of frozen pizza often found at Kroger's for around the same price, if not even cheaper. These pizzas are exponentially better, with an actual rising crust that leaves the perfect chew at the end. Nothing can top the Screamin' Sicilian brand of frozen pizzas, though, which come in a wide variety of flavors. Though they're slightly more expensive, the Holy Pepperoni pizzas are covered in thin slices of meat that are almost as good as ones you'd get at the many historic Italian restaurants in Rhode Island. 

Making coffee is an art form, and Kroger is no Pablo Picasso. The store's bags and tins of coffee come in whole bean or ground and make a mediocre coffee that's reminiscent of sharing a lukewarm pot with your co-workers in an office kitchenette. Decidedly, that is not the way to start your morning. 

Admittedly, most coffees at the grocery store aren't going to be excellent. But there are better options that may suit your taste. Whether you're making drip coffee or cold brew, experiment with flavors and beans to find what works best for you. Jose's Vanilla Nut coffee beans are an excellent choice for making a better cold-brew coffee at home, for example. The medium roast coffee allows for a richer roast, while the light vanilla nut offers an excellent subtle flavor. Not all Krogers will carry Jose's, but you can find a large 3-pound bag at Costco that should last at least a month.

Kroger's bacon just can't cut it. While the supermarket used to house a 24-ounce package of quality, thick-cut bacon, it's been harder to find lately. Until Kroger's brings it back to stores (or at least until it's spotted more consistently), the measly thin bacon that the market chain has now just can't compete.

The Kroger Naturally Hardwood Smoked Bacon is flimsy and reminiscent of a bacon strip that comes in a Starbucks or Dunkin' breakfast sandwich. These small, delicate strips cook quickly on the stovetop and tend to stick messily in the pan. That is, whatever is left of the bacon once it's done cooking. The regular-sized strips wither down to an incredibly disappointing size once heated. With the price of bacon rising over the past few years, you might as well spend money on a brand that is worth the cost. 

Bacon brands tend to vary based on your region, but the Wright Brand Double Smoked Bacon is noticeably better. Wright's slabs are actually thick and cook evenly on a skillet, making for a much better breakfast. 

You certainly won't have the best soup of your life with a base of Kroger's broth. While the cartons of chicken, beef, or vegetable broth aren't necessarily bad, they're not great either. The cans and small boxes Kroger sells just don't have the rich depth and variety of flavors that come in other brands. 

Of course, nothing beats making homemade broth or stock on the stove. When someone doesn't have the time, though, a carton of store-bought broth makes for a quick and easy substitute. Kroger has plenty of branded options on the shelves, including low-sodium, organic, and free-range broths for only a few dollars. It also sells Swanson brand broth, a popular pick at any grocery store.

But if you want the best broth that Kroger has to offer, try using an organic Kettle & Fire brand bone broth. These are noticeably more expensive than the Kroger brand, but they're well worth the cost if you want a rich, warm, and flavorful soup. 

Kroger's pasta sauce is also the bottom of the barrel among the plethora of good pasta sauces lining the grocery store shelves. It has a sour taste that is unpleasant no matter what other ingredients you add to the pot. 

Made with dried onions and not much else to add to the flavor, Kroger's dark red Traditional Pasta Sauce is acidic and oily, yet still contains a whopping 8 grams of sugar. There are not really any redeemable qualities to this product, unfortunately, which makes it not even worth the $2 price tag. Kroger's elevated Private Selection branded pasta sauce isn't much better, with a watery texture that turns your spaghetti into soup. 

For a premium pasta sauce, try Mezzetta's Spicy Marinara or Tomato Basil sauce. Both are excellent options to spice up your at-home pasta dishes. Alternatively, Rao's Homemade makes an excellent pasta sauce that is used in its extremely popular restaurants in New York, Miami, and Hollywood. The Los Angeles restaurant is a highly rated spot and among some of the most well-known restaurants in California. 

Kroger's Greek yogurt isn't all bad. The extra acidity makes for a nice tangy tzatziki or a handy substitute for sour cream, but it's rather unpleasant by itself or as part of a sweet parfait. The high-protein breakfast food comes in an array of flavors, including vanilla, black cherry, or blueberry. These flavored yogurts are definitely better than the plain version by themselves, but they still give off that same sour taste.

The texture of the yogurt isn't much better, either. The watery layer on top doesn't disappear as you stir the yogurt, making for a thin and liquidy spoonful that feels nothing like those over-the-top yogurt commercials. 

Whether you're buying the single-serve cups or a 32-ounce tub, there are lots of better yogurt options in the dairy aisle of Kroger. Oikos is a solid choice if you want to stick with a high-protein option. If you're simply looking for better taste, try The Greek Gods-branded yogurt or Too Good Zero Sugar yogurt. The latter usually only comes in small cups, but they're an instant breakfast you'll actually look forward to eating. 

Kroger sells brown, white, and jasmine rice in small one-, two-, or five-pound bags. They're convenient and affordable, but you can get a much better bang for your buck elsewhere. While Kroger sells better alternatives for most of the other items on this list, in this case, it's best to leave the grocery store and find your rice elsewhere.

Specialty Asian grocers will have the best quality rice that you can find. Many even have sushi-grade rice that is used by sushi experts at restaurants around the country. They often come in much larger bags for an even better price than you'll find at any Kroger store. If you don't have an Asian grocer around you, Costco can also come in clutch. It sells some of the same brands of rice that you will find in an H Mart, like the Kokuho-branded rice that comes in a large 15-pound bag. You'll pay more for it up front but won't have to run back to the store to buy rice nearly as often.

Another dairy item with an incredibly sour taste, Kroger's spreadable blocks of cream cheese can ruin even the best breakfast sandwiches. They are by far the cheapest cream cheese options at the store, but you truly are getting what you pay for when it comes to these tart toppings. 

There's a very noticeable difference in taste when sampling the Kroger cream cheese next to any other brand on the shelves. Instead of a creamy, slightly salty spread, you instead get a sour and foul-tasting coating that calcifies into solid yellow particles in the fridge. Kroger's whipped, spreadable cream cheese is slightly better but still pales in comparison to other brands. 

Philadelphia is a classic cream cheese that you can't go wrong with. Tillamook, an Oregon-based company that also makes packaged cheese and ice cream, is an even better call if you can find it. Typically, around the West Coast, Tillamook offers various flavors like strawberry or chives.

All of the products on this list have been tried and tested by me. I've shopped at Kroger stores — particularly at Ralphs and Food 4 Less locations — around the Los Angeles area for the past 12 years. Over time, I've picked up preferences and tips on what items are worth the splurge. Admittedly, I still use some of the Kroger items on this list, such as the bagged rice or Greek yogurt, when the need arises. 

Substitutions, likewise, have also been tested. While availability depends on the reader's location, most products should be readily available across the continental United States — or at least wherever a Kroger store operates.