You might not have even heard of the winning brand!

These are the two that tasted the most homemade!

We're especially excited about these plant-based dips!

Here's what I bought and what I made.

Egg nog wine! And so much butternut squash!

Leaf-shaped corn tortilla chips! Cauliflower risotto with butternut squash! And more!

There's frozen Indian meals that are better than takeout, marshmallows, plant-based butter, and more!

Here's what I got and what I made with it all.

We got breakfast, lunch, and dinner out of it for an entire week.

Hint: They're all in the freezer section!

Go ahead and get that seven-pound tub of Nutella. Just think twice before you put any of these other things into your cart.

These are the best crispy-crunchy-fiery-tangy options to choose from.

Including our first pumpkin-spiced find of the season!

We've got a pick for all sorts of preferences.

These things are NOT to be missed.

Boozy pops! Taco kits! Fresh, chewy rolls! Etc!

We tried 50 new groceries. These were the best ones!

We planned the ultimate barbecue menu using smart shortcuts from TJs.

Including, yes, Cool Ranch Doritos.

Here's what one writer — and some chefs! — think of the meatless "beef" patty.

There's more to the menu than just hot dogs, pizza, and chicken bakes.

Guacamole is so easy to make that it’s almost silly to buy it from the store. But sometimes you just don’t have 10 minutes to chop and mash your way to homemade. Maybe you’re heading straight to a party from work, or grabbing some snacks on the road while heading for the beach, or maybe you’d rather focus your efforts on making an entrée and not an app? Besides, you can’t always get your hands on perfectly ripe avocados right when you need them.

Aside from the price and the label, there are a few key differences.

A clear pattern emerged.

There’s a special magic to tater tots. Like french fries, they’re crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but their chubby little nugget shape offers an entirely different eating experience. And they’re the key ingredient to my favorite punny snack, tot-chos (nachos made with tots instead of chips). Adding to the brilliance that is tater tots, some frozen food brands have taken the concept and applied it to veggies with a bit more nutritional oomph than pure potatoes.

We walked the aisles of our local TJ’s to see which groceries there could be improved by a stint over some fiery flames.

When I was a new mom, finding time for a quick shower was a challenge, let alone finding time to make a meal. And I needed lots of meals. Somehow breastfeeding gave me an insatiable appetite that probably could have put a high school football player to shame. That why, of all the gifts I received, the one I remember most fondly was a care package a mom friend dropped on my porch.

If you're not enjoying #2 on the list, what are you even doing in December?

Have you tried any of these hot items this year?

I used to think that all cream cheeses were the same. Each one, just a white brick (or frosting-like tub) of a creamy spread so mild in flavor it seems almost silly to call it cheese. Cream cheese, to me, is either an ingredient (i.e., cheesecake) or a vehicle (i.e., lox and bagels), but not something to be savored on its own, like, say, a great aged cheddar or even a creamy chevre.

There are few things more disappointing than sub-par bacon. You get your tastebuds all revved up while you’re cooking it — because all bacon smells amazing when it cooks — but then you take a bite and instead of smoky-salty-porky bliss, you get greasy flab or dry, bland cardboard. It’s a classic bait-and-switch! To find out which brands are worth gracing your Sunday morning brunch spread, I took a deep dive in the bacon aisle at several supermarkets.

When you’re cutting out dairy (or just trying to consume a little less of it) and you want to find an alternative to milk that tastes just like the real thing, almond milk is your friend. It has a natural sweetness and creamy texture that’s incredibly similar to dairy milk, and some brands don’t retain any of the nut’s natural flavor at all.

Whether you need something keto-friendly to put in your coffee, or just want to avoid animal products, lots of us are looking for alternatives to dairy milk these days.

I can’t imagine my life, let alone my fridge, without pickles. I love them all. Tart ones, funky fermented ones, classic dill, hot and spicy, bread-and-butter. Right now in my fridge I’ve got jars of relish, spears, sandwich slabs, and coins, not to mention all the non-cucumber stuff like Indian lime pickles and kimchi. And for a while now, I’ve been seeing dill pickles go far beyond the jars, flavoring everything from potato chips to sunflower seeds.