Archive for the ‘Lean Cuisine’ Category

Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken - Ad

Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken

Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken - Closeup

Looks: Besides the chicken pieces lacking grill marks and the noodles being just a little too thick, I don’t see anything wrong with this meal’s looks. I’m particularly struck by how accurate the colors are. 4.5 out of 5

Taste: It’s pretty good; the vegetables aren’t soggy, the chicken isn’t dry, and the noodles are substantial. I especially liked the sauce – sweet, but with a meaty undertone. I don’t have much else to say except that this is one of the few “noodles plus vegetables” frozen meals that I’d buy again. 3.5 out of 5

Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken - Ad

Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken

Looks: The chicken is soggy, not crispy, and there aren’t any sesame seeds on it. Additionally (or subtractionally), there aren’t as many vegetables in the noodles as the box pictures. Everything else is pretty close, except that I couldn’t find the chopsticks in the box and had to go buy my own. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: The main detriment to this meal is the soggy chicken breading. It would be close to perfect if not for that, although I don’t think I’ve ever had crispy chicken come out of a microwave. The noodles are substantial, but they don’t have much of a flavor, and I would have liked to see (and taste) more vegetables. (The plum sauce beneath the chicken and noodles was surprisingly good though.) 3.5 out of 5

Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs - Ad

Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs

Looks: Besides the meatballs, nothing on the box matches what’s in the package. The noodles are much thicker (and much softer) than pictured; the sauce is Snicker-bar brown, not Twinkie yellow, and the ratio of noodles to balls is way too low. 2 out of 5

Taste: The noodles were soggy and the gravy was bland. The meatballs were just ok, although I did appreciate getting six of them. (I’m looking at you, Banquet!) 2 out of 5

Lean Cuisine Grilled Chicken Primavera

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Lean Cuisine Grilled Chicken Primavera - Package

Pre-Stir:

Lean Cuisine Grilled Chicken Primavera - Pre-stir

Lean Cuisine Grilled Chicken Primavera - Stirred

Looks: Better luck next time. The vegetables are more of a cafeteria-green-bean green than a summer-meadow green, and the cherry tomatoes didn’t even survive being stirred into the noodles. The consistency of the entire dish is closer to a casserole than the light mixture of pasta and vegetables depicted on the box. 2 out of 5

Taste: While it didn’t make me cry, I wasn’t happy to be eating it either. The chicken was very dry, the noodles were cooked about 50% past al-dente, and the vegetables didn’t have a taste (or texture) at all. The painted-on grill marks on the chicken were convincing though. 2 out of 5