Archive for the ‘Beef’ Category

Banquet Beef Pot Pie

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Banquet Beef Pot Pie - Ad

Banquet Beef Pot Pie

Looks: I struggled mightily to free this pot pie from its cardboard baking pan so as to have it resemble the boxpie as much as possible, but I was not successful. Then, I tried to cut out a wedge from the top of the crust like on the package, but the roof caved in, and I was not successful. Finally, I tried to show the contents spilling out as on the box, but I couldn’t find any pieces big enough, and thus, I was not successful. The majority of the filling was gravy, as contrasted with the meaty chunks shown on the packaging. The color of the crust is about the only thing they got right. 1 out of 5

Taste: This pot pie was really more of a gravy sandwich, and that’s what it tasted like – crust, gravy, crust, with a few bits of meat and vegetable that got in the way. I shouldn’t have been surprised – according to the box, the main ingredient in the filling is gravy, while containing “2% or less” beef, carrots, and potatoes. Can you really call it a “Beef Pot Pie” when “beef” is an also-ran in the ingredients list? 1.5 out of 5

Wendy’s Junior Bacon Cheeseburger

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Wendy's Jr Bacon Cheeseburger - Ad

Wendy's Jr Bacon Cheeseburger

Wendy's Jr Bacon Cheeseburger - Inside

Looks: As is normal for fast-food burgers, the sandwich was pretty squished by the time I got home. (That’s how it was given to me; I didn’t set anything on top of it or anything.) The lettuce isn’t substantial enough to hold up the tomato and bun like in the picture, but all of the colors and general proportions of the ingredients are right on. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: For the $0.99 that this burger costs, it very well may be the best value for the money in all of fast-food land. The tomato and lettuce are crisp and cool, but the burger and bacon are meaty and warm. The entire ensemble comes together for very tasty, chewy, comforting mouthfuls, and there’s nothing I would change about it (except for making it free and available everywhere). 5 out of 5

Taco Bell Blackjack Taco

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Taco Bell Blackjack Taco - Ad

Taco Bell Blackjack Taco

Looks: It has about 50% of the meat it should, and the same goes for the sauce. (Sorry that the picture doesn’t show this, but it was Halloween night and there were trick-or-treaters at the door. And yes, I did get this taco for free.) The lettuce and cheese are true to form. The shell is indeed black. AMAZING! 4 out of 5

Taste: It tastes really black. Wait, no it doesn’t, because black isn’t a flavor – it tastes like the regular Taco Bell taco, with a tiny bit more spice from the sauce. (I don’t know how they get the shell black, but it’s not by use of any spices or flavorings.) It was kind of cool to eat though, because besides olives, how many black foods are there? 4 out of 5

Healthy Choice Beef Lo Mein

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Healthy Choice Beef Lo Mein - Ad

Healthy Choice Beef Lo Mein

Looks: This one does ok, with a few caveats: the beef/noodles ratio depicted on the box is backwards (the noodles by far outnumber of beef strips), the big chunks of zucchini pictured are missing, and the dessert consists more of gingersnap topping than peaches. On the plus side, look at those vegetables! Vibrant colors that match the advertisement. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: The vegetables ended up being the high point again: fresh-tasting with a good bite. I had never had edamame (baby soy beans) before, and I liked their clean green taste. In other news, the dessert triangle was overly sweet, with too much crumbled topping, and while the beef/noodle combination started out well enough with ok noodles, the beef was stringy and the sauce was quite gritty and not pleasant-tasting at all. 2 out of 5