You can’t control the players, the referees, or the weather on Super Bowl Sunday. But you can throw a great Super Bowl party for yourself and your fellow fans on Feb. 11, when the San Francisco 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. From TVs that let you see every detail on the field to small appliances that will help you serve up tasty snacks, check out these top-performing products from CR’s tests.
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• Food-Prep and Storage Essentials
• Melamine Dinnerware
• Standout Snacks
• Crowd-Pleasing Beverages
• TVs on Sale
Food-Prep and Storage Essentials
Make preparty food prep a snap with a trusty set of storage containers. Instant Brands’ versatile set of glass containersachieved top scores in our tests for storage, seal quality, durability, and ease of use. You’ll find containers round, rectangular, and square in capacities that are small, medium, and big (specifically, 8-ounce, 16-ounce, and 32-ounce). So there are plenty of options, whether you’re packing up soup for one or a batch of chili for tailgating. The plastic lids feature snap-and-lock flaps and a rubber gasket, though the gasket isn’t removable. With this many storage options at a low price, you’ll never find yourself trying to squeeze a lid shut on a too-full container again.
For more options: Best Food Storage Containers
TheMeater Plusis a darling of the barbecue world, and it’s easy to see why. For starters, it has exceptionally robust alarm settings. It will ping you when your food is ready and also let you know if the ambient air temperature of your grill drops too low. (This comes in handy when you need to adjust your dampers or add more charcoal.) The app also chimes again when resting time is complete.
For more options: Best Smart Meat Thermometers
If you’ve been thinking about hopping on the air fryer trend, the big game may just be the time. TheDash Digital Tasti Crispis small but mighty. At a measured capacity of 1.9 quarts and an overall size of less than a square foot, this 6-pound model is one of the most compact air fryers in our ratings. Still, it ranks among the best. It earns strong scores for controls and cleaning, and excels in our noise test. It has a one-year warranty, which is typical for air fryers.
For more options: Best Air Fryers
Whether you’re toasting up a batch of your nana’s famous chili cheese puffs or reheating snacks later, a trusty toaster oven can be quite the kitchen workhouse. With a temperature range of 120°F to 450°F, the 1,800-wattBreville Smart Oven BOV800XLdoes a nice job of baking food, reheating leftovers, and turning out a batch of even, medium-brown toast. More praise: It’s a cinch to operate and easy to clean. Plus, CR members gave the brand high praise for reliability and owner satisfaction in our most recent survey.
For more options: Best Toaster Ovens
Get that game-day chili just right with the Breville Fast Slow Pro 6 qt. BPR700BSS Multi-Cooker. It has a pressure-cook mode and aces our test of that function. It’s also one of the best at slow-cooking, earning top marks. Our beef stew turned out tender and ready to eat in 5 hours, and the chili was tender and delicious in 7 hours. Steaming is top-notch because this 1,100-watt cooker doesn’t use pressure for that mode. (Unlike other models, the lid on this Breville doesn’t lock during steaming, so you can monitor your broccoli’s shade of green and avoid overcooking.) The ceramic nonstick coating is a cinch to clean and didn’t show any scratches after testing.
For more options: Best Multi-Cookers
Tia Mowry’s celeb cookware line is called Spice, and the color ofthis one is saffron. Now you can serve rice the same hue as the pan you cooked it in! But that’s not the main reason we like this pan. It heats up quickly and bakes bread with a crispy crust, earning the highest score possible on both tests. It’s almost as good at simmering sauces and heats evenly. Best of all, it’s a cinch to clean. It weighs almost 14 pounds and has a cooking surface that’s 8 inches in diameter.
For more options: Best Dutch Ovens
Perhaps you don’t have time for chopping, slicing, and dicing the multiple toppings that adorn your legendary nachos. Enter the food processor. TheCuisinart Custom 14 DFP-14BCNYgarners top marks for chopping, meaning it consistently chopped onions and nuts into midsized pieces. And it’s one of the quietest models we’ve tested. It has a 14-cup capacity and stands almost 16 inches high. Many of the food processors we’ve evaluated operate with touch buttons, but this one has levers—one for on, the other for pulsing and off. The warranty covers three years, five for the motor. It’s available in brushed stainless, copper, and stainless mixed with black or white.
The Ninja Master Prep Professional QB1004 chopper has a slightly smaller 2.5-cup capacity but is still very versatile. Included in this set are a larger 5-cup processing bowl and a 6-cup blender jar. The chopper features a top-mounted motor that you push down to operate. It earns impressive scores for chopping and turning out nicely chopped veggies and nuts in our tests.
For more options: Best Food Processors and Choppers
Melamine Dinnerware
Certified International Talavera 12-Piece Melamine Dinnerware Set
Serve up snacks with some pizazz with these melamine dishes. This 12-piece set’s beautiful, medium-weight plates and bowls are ideal for almost any situation that might require unbreakable plates, from Super Bowl parties to dining alfresco. Our at-home testers found them neither especially heavy nor flimsy. They sit evenly, have a smooth, unblemished glaze, and aren’t scratched by knives and forks. They made a loud clatter when dropped but didn’t break.
Zak Designs Melamine Dinnerware Set
This set, reminiscent of a confetti cake, is great for outdoor brunches, picnics, and parties. These melamine plates and bowls are lightweight, easy to carry, and resistant to breaking or scratching. The design, while child-friendly, would look right at home during casual outdoor get-togethers with your (adult) guests.
For more options: Best Melamine Dinnerware
Standout Snacks
Frozen Pizza
Red Baron Classic Crust Four-Cheese Pizza
Not everyone wants or needs to cook for a party, which is exactly why frozen pizza exists. In our recent evaluation, this Red Baron pie was a crowd-pleaser, with a balance of flavors and textures that are just right. You get the distinct taste of crust, sauce, and cheese in each bite. “Overall, this one exceeded my expectations,” said Lauren Friedman, who heads up CR’s health and food team. As it says on the box, the crust isn’t too thick or too thin. The sauce is the standout here. “It’s very peppery and gives the whole pizza a more well-rounded and interesting taste.”
For more options: Best Frozen Pizzas
Beef Hot Dog
Nathan's Famous Skinless Beef Franks
The original. The best. The pinnacle of hot dogs. This one comes from one of the oldest hot dog companies in the U.S. Its founder, Nathan Handwerker, was a Polish immigrant who worked at aConey Island hot dog standuntil he was able to scrounge up enough money to open his own business in1916. That full century of expertise is evident in this hot dog, which one evaluator, Paul Hope, a Consumer Reports home and appliance reporter and food writer, called “the Goldilocks of hot dogs: crisp skin, subtle spice, uniform texture, and juicy.”
For more options: Best Hot Dogs
Vegan Sausage
Beyond Meat Bratwurst
These bratwursts are spectacular: juicy and garlicky, with a tiny bit of sweetness that’s balanced by a rich savoriness that places them firmly in the lunch or dinner category. (Despite that hint of sweetness, they don’t taste like your traditional breakfast sausage.) This sausage is “rich and aromatic, with notes of fennel and a deep umami flavor,” says Paul Hope, a CR food writer. “They clearly worked on this formula and it shows!”
For more options: Best Vegan Hot Dogs and Sausages
Crowd-Pleasing Beverages
Boxed Wine
Château Montaud Côtes de Provence Rosé
The rosé enthusiasts at your party will certainly appreciate this blend from Château Montaud, which impressed our tasters in an evaluation of the best boxed wines. One of them found it to be a juicy, medium-bodied wine with a silky mouthfeel and subtle tannins. With notes of summer dew melon, strawberries, and honeysuckle, this wine is rich and complex but still easy to drink. Though we tried this wine from a box, it also comes in the bottled version for under $25.
For more options:Best Boxed Wines We’ve Tasted
Mocktail
Hella co*cktail Co. Spritz Aromatic Bitters & Soda
This drink is hella intense. It’s a gorgeous ruby red, and the taste is like a rave in your mouth: vivid, overpowering, bitter, sweet. Like several other nonalcoholic co*cktails we tried, it’s flavored with clove, allspice, and star anise, though this one has a heavy dose of sugar, making it one of the sweetest sparklers in the bunch. On its own, it’s a bit much. But mixed with alcohol, it works, though it does defeat the purpose of a nonalcoholic co*cktail. Though we haven’t tried it ourselves, it’s possible this would be equally delicious with nonalcoholic bourbon or gin as with the real stuff. You could also just add sparkling water to tone things down.
For more options: Best Ready-to-Drink Mocktails
Canned Spirits
Cutwater Tequila Paloma
Our CR evaluators dubbed Cutwater’s Tequila Paloma “the party pick” in a recent evaluation of canned co*cktails. It’s a mild—if faithful—version of a bar paloma that’s refreshing, lightly citrusy, and not unbearably sweet. It’s a great option for parties because the price is reasonable, it’s widely available, and it’s almost impossible not to like. This also means it won’t really stand out; you drink it to chill out and have fun with friends, not to contemplate the subtle hints of black pepper and agave from the brand’s proprietary tequila, which is used in this co*cktail. Buy this instead of the hard seltzer you usually get for your house parties.
For more options: Best Canned co*cktails
TVs on Sale
TheHisense 75A6H, currently at the lowest price we’ve seen,is an entry-level 4K TV in the company’s 2022 TV lineup. It doesn’t do as well as other Hisense TVs we’ve tested, with only decent overall picture quality and sound, and subpar HDR performance. It uses the Google TV smart system with Google Assistant built in.
The 65-inchRoku 65R6A5R—a 2023 model made and sold by Roku—delivers top-notch overall picture quality and very good sound. Its HDR performance is only decent, though, and the viewing angle is narrow. This model is in the step-up Roku Plus series of QLED TVs, which are sets that use quantum dots to produce a very wide range of colors. They also have full-array LED backlights with local dimming, support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR, and come with an advanced Roku Voice Remote Pro. This set is now $50 more than the best price we saw last year.
TheInsignia NS-55F301NA22, a model in Best Buy’s store brand, offers very good overall picture quality. But like many less expensive models, it doesn’t provide a satisfying HDR experience. It uses the Amazon Fire TV smart system, with Alexa built in.
For more TV discounts: Best Super Bowl TV Deals
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Mary Beth Quirk
Mary Beth Quirk is the managing editor of shopping at Consumer Reports. She has been with CR since 2011, covering the consumer marketplace to help readers shop smarter. Mary Beth earned a master’s degree in magazine journalism from New York University. A native Wisconsinite and avid cheese enthusiast, she is now based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Follow Mary Beth on Twitter @marybethquirk.
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
As an expert in hosting Super Bowl parties, I can provide you with information related to all the concepts mentioned in this article. Here are the search results that I found:
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Food-Prep and Storage Essentials:
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Instant Brands Snapware 24pc Glass Food Storage Container Set: This versatile set of glass containers achieved top scores in tests for storage, seal quality, durability, and ease of use. It comes in various sizes and shapes, providing plenty of options for storing different types of food. The plastic lids feature snap-and-lock flaps and a rubber gasket for secure closure [[1]].
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Meat Thermometer MEATER MEATER Plus with Bluetooth Repeater: This meat thermometer is highly regarded in the barbecue world. It has robust alarm settings and can notify you when your food is ready. It also monitors the ambient air temperature of your grill. The accompanying app provides additional features and alerts [[2]].
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Air Fryer Dash Tasti-Crisp DCAF260: This compact air fryer is highly rated for its controls, cleaning, and noise level. It has a small capacity but performs exceptionally well. It comes with a one-year warranty, which is typical for air fryers [[3]].
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Toaster Oven Breville The Smart Oven BOV800XL: This toaster oven offers a wide temperature range and is suitable for baking, reheating, and toasting. It is easy to operate and clean. Breville is known for its reliability and owner satisfaction [[4]].
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Multi-Cooker Breville Fast Slow Pro 6 qt. BPR700BSS: This multi-cooker excels in both pressure cooking and slow cooking. It has a pressure-cook mode and performs exceptionally well in slow-cooking tests. It also features a steaming function and a ceramic nonstick coating that is easy to clean [[5]].
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Dutch Oven Spice by Tia Mowry Savory Saffron Enameled Cast Iron: This Dutch oven from Tia Mowry's cookware line is highly regarded for its heating capabilities and even heat distribution. It is also easy to clean and has a durable enamel coating [[6]].
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Food Processor Cuisinart Custom 14 DFP-14BCNY: This food processor is known for its chopping capabilities and quiet operation. It has a large capacity and comes with levers for easy control. The warranty covers three years, five for the motor [[7]].
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Food Chopper Ninja Master Prep Professional QB1004: This versatile chopper comes with multiple processing bowls and performs well in chopping tests. It is lightweight and easy to operate [[8]].
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Melamine Dinnerware:
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Certified International Talavera 12-Piece Melamine Dinnerware Set: This set of melamine dishes is medium-weight and suitable for various occasions. They are resistant to breaking and scratching and have a smooth glaze [[9]].
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Zak Designs Melamine Dinnerware Set: This set features lightweight melamine plates and bowls with a colorful design. They are easy to carry and resistant to breaking and scratching [[10]].
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Standout Snacks:
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Frozen Pizza Red Baron Classic Crust Four-Cheese Pizza: This frozen pizza is known for its balanced flavors and textures. It has a distinct taste of crust, sauce, and cheese. The crust is neither too thick nor too thin, and the sauce adds a well-rounded and interesting taste [[11]].
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Beef Hot Dog Nathan's Famous Skinless Beef Franks: Nathan's Famous is a well-established hot dog brand known for its quality. These hot dogs have a crisp skin, subtle spice, uniform texture, and juicy flavor. They are highly regarded by hot dog enthusiasts [[12]].
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Vegan Sausage Beyond Meat Bratwurst: These vegan bratwursts are juicy, garlicky, and have a rich umami flavor. They are praised for their taste and aroma, with notes of fennel. They are a great option for those looking for plant-based alternatives [[13]].
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Crowd-Pleasing Beverages:
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Boxed Wine Château Montaud Côtes de Provence Rosé: This boxed wine offers a juicy, medium-bodied taste with notes of melon, strawberries, and honeysuckle. It is rich and complex, yet easy to drink. It is also available in bottled form [[14]].
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Mocktail Hella co*cktail Co. Spritz Aromatic Bitters & Soda: This nonalcoholic drink is intense and flavorful, with a sweet and bitter taste. It is flavored with clove, allspice, and star anise. It can be mixed with alcohol or sparkling water for different variations [[15]].
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Canned Spirits Cutwater Tequila Paloma: This canned co*cktail is a refreshing and lightly citrusy version of a bar paloma. It is widely available and reasonably priced. It is a popular choice for parties and gatherings [[16]].
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TVs on Sale:
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Hisense 75A6H: This entry-level 4K TV offers decent overall picture quality and sound. It uses the Google TV smart system and has Google Assistant built-in [[17]].
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Roku 65R6A5R: This 65-inch Roku TV delivers top-notch overall picture quality and very good sound. It is part of the Roku Plus series and features QLED technology for a wide range of colors. It also comes with an advanced Roku Voice Remote Pro [[18]].
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Insignia NS-55F301NA22: This model from Best Buy's store brand offers very good overall picture quality. It uses the Amazon Fire TV smart system and has Alexa built-in [[19]].
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I hope this information helps you in planning a great Super Bowl party! Let me know if you have any other questions.
