So at my local supermarket there are two frozen food aisles. One contains all the usual stuff, the frozen dinners, stir-frys, vegetables… all the usual stuff. The other is a sort of hidden “half frozen half not” aisle that contains mostly bulk items, hamburger meats, and if I remember correctly, frozen pizzas. Into this hidden aisle I strolled and immediately came across these Albertson’s Frozen Fish Fillets.

After a halfway decent experience with the Banquet Fish Stick Meal, I thought I might try to bypass the whole frozen dinner and go straight for the gusto. Fish Fillets for everyone! 12 Golden Crunchy Fish Fillets, and note how large the words “golden crunchy” are on the packaging. They don’t want anyone to forget that outer breading which of course can make or break a fish fillet like this.

The major reason I picked up this package is because of the price… as an Albertson’s store brand, it is significantly cheaper. Generic store brands are a tossup though. Certain items seem to be a better buy than others. At $2.99 for 12 fillets it was definitely worth a shot.

Taking these fillets out the cardboard box, I was sort of surprised to see that they aren’t wrapped in the interior in any sort of extra packaging, like plastic wrap or a plastic bag even. The fillets are just shoved into the box as they are, they sort of rattle around in there. I guess they are just trying to save money and they are rock solid frozen after all so they’re not going to break.

Another thing is that the fillets are SQUARE. Interestingly, they remind me a bit of McDonald’s Filet ‘o Fish except smaller. Well, I went ahead and put 5 of them on a cookie sheet in the oven for the required time. It’s required to flip them about three quarters of the way through which is a bit tricky, but I think it’s necessary for crunch. Here’s a picture, the greens on the bottom are just some shredded cabbage to help soak up the copious grease.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the outcome and at a price of about a quarter per fillet, this seems like not a bad deal at all. The breading was once again the crumb kind, and was really crunchy. The quality of the fish? Well, there was definitely more actual fish inside of it than the Banquet Fish Sticks, and according to the box they are “made from whole fillets” as opposed to minced fish. I actually think that they probably cut up a normal white fish fillet that is rectangular into a square and then grind up the leftovers to make fish sticks… whadaya say, a good supposition?

The taste of the fish was fine, and I actually had some leftover tortillas so I made some makeshift tacos with the last 2 fillets using the cabbage on the plate. Not half bad! I’d definitely consider keeping some of these around in the freezer for a quick snack, or even a fast lunch.

Cheap Eats Score: 7/10