The SeaPak wild-caught clam strips were the only appetizer I found at Aldi that didn't come from one of the supermarket's house brands.

The clam strips, which cost $5 for an 8-ounce box, took on a great crunch from my air fryer and packed a nice, mildly briny seafood flavor.

Seafood options at fast food restaurants — like the Popeyes Flounder Fish Sandwich or Burger King's just-spicy-enough Fiery Fish Sandwich — are becoming increasingly common, but there's still nothing on the market quite like the old-school McDonald's Filet-O-Fish. Comprised of a steamed burger bun, tartar sauce, a breaded Alaskan pollock fillet, and a slice of American cheese, these few components add up to a sandwich that just hits different. 

Unless you live somewhere on the coast with a thriving fishing industry nearby, you probably consume frozen seafood. While nothing beats eating a fresh catch right out of the ocean, frozen seafood often doesn't get the respect that it deserves. Freezing technologies and the seafood packaging process have seriously improved with time; most seafood is immediately flash frozen after it's harvested, which preserves quality. Even juicy salmon filets and plump shrimp from the seafood counter at the grocery store were probably frozen and thawed before being put in the display case. Freshness is favored for a reason, but the reality is that frozen seafood can still make a wonderful meal.

If you’re among the hoards of people who are all aboard the Air Fryer Express, you’ll see many members of The Kitchn on that same train. Of course, we food editors are busy creating recipes for all sorts of foods to make from scratch in our favorite new appliance, the air fryer. We tend to overlook one of its most well-suited applications: heating up frozen snack-y foods.

You put the same dozen or so items on your grocery list each week, and after a while, that routine can go from comfortable to snoozy (spaghetti and meatballs, again?). Mix things up by adding something new to your cart—virtually or when you’re shopping IRL—with one of these new releases. PureWow editors got the scoop on more than 75 products launching (or being restocked) this season, then narrowed it down to what we’re deeming the buzziest, coolest foods and drinks of summer 2024. Fire up the grill and your group chat—your next cookout is going to be epic.

Whether you are turning up the heat at a summer cookout or preparing a weekend brunch spread, these surf-and-turf favorites are sure to impress. They're packed with both protein and flavor.

What should you expect from the best frozen spring rolls? Well, along with the promise of wealth and abundance when consumed in the first 14 days of the Chinese New Year, they should check the following boxes: crunchy veggies that provide texture and nuance with every bite; a delicate, thin wrapper that crisps up nicely in the oven; and a fragrant, refreshing filling to balance out the light greasiness of the fried dough.  

I’m not kidding when I say I’ve spent the last year eating through the freezer aisle at my grocery store. No, I didn’t eat everything — that would certainly take longer than a year. Instead, I was on a hunt to find the best healthy freezer essentials to have on hand. I tasted a lot of different freezer foods to determine which ones are worth taking up space in your precious freezer. The kind of foods that make for easy healthy meals when you need something quick — whether it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a tasty mid-day snack.

As food and health editors, we have the privilege of being able to test all kinds of new delicious products in the grocery market. While there are the occasional groceries that didn’t exactly make the cut for our own pantries, every now and then, we taste a product that we can’t help but wonder how we ever survived without it. Between healthy snacks to stock up on or frozen meals to have on hand when you need something in a pinch, we’ve discovered quite a few grocery products this year that we feel deserve to be considered the best-of-the-best. Whether they were released in 2023 or within the past few years, these are the items we loved this year — and are absolutely worth making room for in your pantry and fridge.

I don’t know what sort of inbreeding is going on down in the ocean, but it’s surprising and comical how so much seafood has the same fishy taste. That can make enjoying any sort of seafood hell on dry land when you don’t like fish to begin with. I’ll keep it real with you, many of the items on this list are battered and fried (and, yes, some of them are indeed fish), but that really is the best way to dip your toe into the waters of wonderful flavor seafood has to offer if you don’t like fish. Here are a few options that aren’t claw-fully fishy for those who don’t like fish but want to give seafood a try!