Hall of Shame (Looks) « Food In Real Life

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Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara Cafe Steamer

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Looks: Are those even the same meals? The chicken pieces are deformed, the broccoli looks weak, the cheese is missing, and the sauce (which got mixed into the meal, by direction) was not the right color. 1 out of 5

Taste: It tastes about how it looks. Weak, without any standout flavors. The chicken tasted strange, like it was really ground chicken formed back into nuggets – not at all like “Grilled Chicken Marinara.” Very disappointing for what I’ve always seen as an upper-level brand. 2 out of 5

Posted in Broccoli, Cheese, Chicken, Frozen, Hall of Shame (Looks), Healthy Choice, Marinara, Microwave, Pasta, Penne | 3 Comments »

T.G.I. Friday’s Turkey & Bacon Melt Quesadillas

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Looks: I would love to see how they were able to take the picture for the packaging. It’s not possible that they even used the same quesadillas that they put in the box, because they don’t come out looking anything like the ad. There isn’t as much filling, the tortillas are much flimsier, and I’m not certain that all of the ingredients shown coming out of the quesadilla are even in there. 1.5 out of 5

Taste: Even though they don’t look like the quesadillas on the box, I think you’ll agree with me that they still look tasty, in an “it’s-really-late-and-i’m-starving-oh-don’t-these-look-good” kind of way. They were pretty good: cheesy filling, meaty pieces of chicken, and soft tortillas. I couldn’t taste any bacon, and the cheese was slightly greasy (which might have been from the MIA bacon), but not too bad overall. 3.5 out of 5

Posted in Bacon, Cheese, Frozen, Hall of Shame (Looks), Microwave, TGI Friday's, Tortilla, Turkey | 1 Comment »

Hormel Compleats Roast Beef with Gravy

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Looks: Nothing about the way this looks makes me want to eat it. The gravy is translucent (not thick like on the cover), yet there’s so much of it that you can’t see through it to the potatoes below. The potatoes appear to be a single solid mass, rather than fluffy mounds, and the roast beef slab lurks near the surface like the carcass of a dead Loch Ness monster. None of these things are depicted on the box. 1.5 out of 5

Taste: Craptacular. Even with all that gravy, the beef is so dry that I needed to continually drink bottles of water while I chewed it to avoid dehydration. The potatoes are nasty (closer to modeling clay than vegetable), and the gravy wouldn’t stick to them. I managed three bites of this “Compleat” meal before throwing it away – I didn’t feel comfortable feeding it to my dog. I suppose I should have known it would be terrible; it’s roast beef that you store in your pantry… That’s just not right. 0 out of 5

Posted in Gravy, Hall of Shame (Looks), Hall of Shame (Taste), Hormel, Microwave, Potatoes, Roast Beef | 16 Comments »