The Versatile Aldi Frozen Seafood Blend That Brings Variety On A Budget

Good food doesn't have to cost a fortune. Even seafood. You can make amazing meals on a budget, even if your menu includes a dish that incorporates variety into the meal — the kind that only comes from a combination of seafood like shrimp, scallops, calamari, and mussels. Each of these brings its own flavors and textures to a dish, but if you want to put them all into one cohesive meal, you might spend a small fortune buying all the different components. And if you were to buy each type of seafood frozen, all those packages can take up quite a bit of space in your freezer — not to mention the risk of freezer burn if you don't use them up quick enough after opening.

That's exactly where a frozen seafood mix comes in handy. When you've got a little bit of everything in one package, you can make meals that are never one-note. We found just the thing at Aldi with the Fremont Fish Market Frozen Seafood Mix. This 16-ounce package is less than $8, which isn't surprising since the German-based grocery chain is known for $2 budget-friendly items like bakery bread and so much more. This seafood mix includes shrimp, bay scallops, calamari, and mussels, all of which are easy to cook and can blend beautifully in recipes. Of course, you can use this variety by buying individual packages of each seafood, but you'd wind up spending a lot more money and have way more seafood than you probably need.  

When you have an assortment of delicate and delicious seafood at your disposal, you're kind of spoiled for choices when it comes to what to make, especially since the seafood pieces in Aldi's frozen blend are just the right size to thaw fairly quickly (as long as you do it safely by air or cold water thawing). The sky is basically the limit, since you can incorporate a blend of seafood into so many different dishes. 

A classic way to use a blend like this is a hearty cioppino, a dish that, despite its Mediterranean flavors, was originally created in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. The dish, which can include everything from chunks of fish, clams, and mussels to shrimp, scallops, and calamari, is a great comfort food dish for a cold night and works well as a tasty appetizer before the main course. The different types of seafood each bring its own flavors to the broth which, in turn, add to the complex flavor profile that cioppino is known for.

In addition to making a hearty seafood stew, Aldi's seafood blend can be cooked any way that suits your needs. You can steam, boil, bake, or saute the delicate pieces of seafood to create your favorite meals, a casserole, or seafood scampi served over a dish of pasta. You can even bread and deep fry them for a mixed seafood po' boy that goes beyond the classic fried shrimp sandwich or serve them with some cocktail sauce for a seafood appetizer.