This $2.79 ALDI Find Always Sells Out Fast—It's My Favorite

It helps make my meals more flavorful with less prep work.

If you shop at ALDI, you know the store has these “here today, gone tomorrow” specials.

As an ALDI super shopper, I seldom miss these specials, but last year, I got to the store too late to purchase one of my favorite cooking superheroes: Season’s Choice Pre-Portioned Garlic or Basil Cubes.

Not this year, though, and as long as they're available, I’m stocking up.

What I Love About Season’s Choice Pre-Portioned Garlic and Herb Cubes

I absolutely love using fresh garlic and basil in my cooking, but as it gets colder, it gets harder for me to find locally grown herbs. While it’s not hard to get garlic, it’s a pain to chop up, not to mention a bit time-consuming, and when I’m time-crunched, it’s not something I can do.

The other thing about buying fresh herbs is that unless I’m making a big batch of pesto, I usually don’t use up all my basil in one cooking session. If I don’t plan correctly, it goes bad in my refrigerator, and I end up wasting it. 

Enter frozen herbs. I usually stock up on these babies at a specialty gourmet market, and they cost about $5 a pop. ALDI's Season’s Choice brand, however, costs only $2.79 for 3 ounces or 24 one-teaspoon servings of pre-packaged frozen garlic or basil. 

Season’s Choice Pre-Portioned Garlic and Basil Cubes

• Price: $2.79 for 3 ounces (24 one-teaspoon cubes)
• Why I Love Them: There's no peeling or chopping required, so they help make dinner more flavorful in a jiffy.

How I Use ALDI's Pre-Portioned Garlic and Herb Cubes

Because the cubes are small, they thaw quickly—10 minutes or less on the counter or 15 seconds in your microwave. Or, pop them, still frozen, in a hot skillet or pot of soup, and away you go. There's no chopping or peeling required!

I recently substituted two garlic cubes for garlic cloves in a honey pecan vinaigrette for a broccoli salad recipe I was trying, and it was perfect.

I’ve used both of these cubes before for all sorts of Italian sausages, but I’ve also used the garlic ones for steak, chicken, and salmon. The garlic is also fantastic in shrimp scampi.

The basil is perfect for bruschetta, vinaigrettes, and even spicing up a tuna salad. 

These pre-portioned garlic and basil cubes are perfect for whipping dinner in a jiffy. Whether it’s a quick marinara sauce, baked chicken, or even meatloaf, they’re an easy way to add flavor. 

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