Archive for the ‘Hall of Shame (Looks)’ Category

Marie Callender’s Cheesy Chicken & Rice

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Marie Callender's Cheesy Chicken & Rice - Ad

Marie Callender's Cheesy Chicken & Rice

Looks: Like someone had already chewed it and spit it back into the bowl. Where are the nice big strips of chicken? Where are the fresh broccoli florets? Where is the creamy cheese sauce? Nowhere to be found. The biggest piece of chicken was perhaps a third the size of the pieces pictured on the box, and even before cooking, the cheese sauce was mixed into the rice. I almost didn’t eat it because of how it looked. 1 out of 5

Taste: Even worse than it looks. I was able to stomach four bites before I threw the rest out; because of the way that the cheese sauce gums up the rice and traps the chicken and vegetables in a web of disgusting cheeserice, the entire dish tastes and feels the same – like crap. 0 out of 5

Jeno’s Pizza

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Because I am not a machine, here is another reader submission, this time from Razor512:

Jeno's Pizza - Ad

Jeno's Pizza

“For $1.69 I picked up a box of Jeno’s pizza (total waste of money). This pizza if probably one of the blandest pizzas I have ever tasted. The crust is very thin, it looks thick due to it mostly being hollow on the inside. There is very little cheese and the sauce has very little taste and there is very little sauce (it the sauce it pretty much a part of the crust it is like the factory spilled sauce on the pizza and then tried to clean it all off leaving behind only the stain of sauce that used to be there). Overall for taste, I give it a 1 out of 5 and for look, I give it a 1 out of 5 also.”

Thanks, Razor512. (I especially enjoyed the phrase “stain of sauce.”)

If you’d like to submit your own Food IRL, head on over to the Reader Submission Form. Include a photo, and optionally (but ideally), a description of how the food tasted.

SmartOnes Ravioli Florentine

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

SmartOnes Ravioli Florentine - Ad

SmartOnes Ravioli Florentine

Looks: You see how on the box, there’s one ravioli that’s cut open to show off the filling? You see how the one that I cut open fluffs up too to show the substantial filling? No? Yeah, that’s because there’s not nearly enough filling to get it to stay open like that. Other failings: the herbs look nothing like the fresh sprigs on the box, and the sauce is… lacking in texture, to say the least. 1.5 out of 5

Taste: Better than it looks. (SmartOnes meals are usually decent, so this isn’t surprising.) The filling is a dry ricotta mix, and the ravioli noodles have a decent bite to them. 3.5 out of 5

LightLife Smart Bacon

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Another reader submission today, this one from Liz King:

“Smarter to just buy the real thing…

This ‘smart bacon’ tastes about as good as it looks – like cardboard. It’s dry, and as you can see in the picture, I could only stand to take 2 small bites before throwing the entire thing in the garbage. EW! I’m a meat eater who LOVES bacon, and I was looking for a healthier, easy-to-cook alternative. Never again!”

Looks: This product has the honorable distinction of being the lowest-scoring entry in Food IRL’s history. “Bacon” that looks like cardboard (and not even attractive cardboard)? 0 out of 5