Preaching truth to packaging. Pictures of packaged food, cooked to specifications, compared to the photo on the box.
Looks: The chicken pieces aren’t as large or as plentiful as pictured, and the sauce is much more prominent. The vegetables and overall portion size are close enough. 4 out of 5
Taste: I liked this one a lot – the rice was cooked just so, and the chicken was juicy. The vegetables were just the right amount of crunchy, but he sauce was maybe a little too sweet. (Although, in all my years, I’ve never tasted the “sour” of “sweet and sour” chicken. Is there something wrong with me?) 4.5 out of 5
These photos and descriptions come courtesy of reader Amy Hill.
Looks: “There’s some room for variation here, since you have packets of sauce/rice/chicken/vegetables and have to put them together yourself, so if the chicken doesn’t get as brown as on the package that might just be your fault for not following directions. Still, it looks almost exactly like the package (note that the IRL photo shows only one serving, while the package shows two).” 5 out of 5
Taste: “Sweet and spicy sauce; good amount of vegetables; not greasy at all. Better than a lot of Chinese takeout, even. My one complaint is that the servings are a bit small for the price.” 4.5 out of 5
If you, like Amy, want to read about your own food on the Internet, send your photos to food@foodirl.com. On the other hand, if you like Amy, that is something I cannot help you with.
Looks: Well, the squash and cranberries look right. Maybe they forget to put the turkey in this one… 1.5 out of 5
Taste: The highlight of this meal was the cranberries that were mixed in with the squash. The turkey was so hard to find in the potatoes that I’m not sure it was there, and the potatoes (or possibly turkey covered in potatoes) were alternately mushy and lumpy, without hardly any flavor at all. 1.5 out of 5
Looks: Like most frozen pizzas, this pizza isn’t cheesed adequately enough to ever have melty cheese string from piece to piece. Apart from that, the shape and color are appropriately depicted on the box. 4 out of 5
Taste: I present to you two facts:
It was very bready, and very chewy. If I ignore the fact that it was supposed to be crispy, it wasn’t too bad for a $1 grocery store pizza, but I have to score it low though due to the missing advertised crispiness. 2 out of 5