Review of Schwan’s Live Smart Roasted Baby Bakers

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. When my wife purchased this product from Schwan’s, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a little bit because I believed it was a big waste of money. Potatoes, at least around here, aren’t exactly an expensive food item and, when I saw what she paid for two bags of these, I instinctively did the math and figured out I could purchase 6 5-pound bags of potatoes at the store.

That being said, I love my wife and gave her the benefit of the doubt. And, as it turns out, this purchase, while a bit pricier than I prefer when food shopping, did prove to have some merits.

I love to cook and, if time allowed for it, would make all our meals from scratch. However, between work, ice skating and various other family commitments, there are simply too many days on our schedule that leave us cramped for time, especially when it comes to cooking a healthy meal. As I quickly learned, this product is perfect for days like that.

While I honestly can’t say I noticed anything special about these potatoes taste wise, the convenience does score a lot of points with me. All I have to do is throw these in the oven, microwave or even the slow cooker (as was the case a couple weeks ago) and they are ready to go. The fact I don’t have to clean them first automatically saves me several minutes.

As far as seasonings go, I do have to admit these aren’t bad. As I said, they aren’t anything special and don’t have any seasonings on them I couldn’t simply add to a potato myself. But, again, it’s one less step for me in a time crunch and they have just the right amount of salt, pepper and garlic. There’s enough to give them some taste without being too much.

One thing that definitely surprised me about this product was how many meals we were able to get out of one bag. When I saw the bags and the size of the potatoes, I figured there would only be enough for one. But, we can usually squeeze two or three meals out of a bag. That does add some value for the money in my opinion and, while I would still prefer to just buy a bag at the grocery store, makes me less hesitant to buy these for days when I don’t have time to go through the extra labor.

As I said, these are a bit more expensive than buying fresh potatoes at the grocery store. But, if you need something that can be made without a great deal of prep work, it’s worth purchasing at least one bag of these to keep in your freezer.

My Grade: A