Preaching truth to packaging. Pictures of packaged food, cooked to specifications, compared to the photo on the box.
Looks: Using the shrimps as a measuring guide, the bowl they used on the packaging is only about 4″ (four shrimps) wide, and every shrimp in the meal is pictured on top of the noodles, implying the unkept promise of more shrimp below. (To be fair, the package clearly states “Shrimp Over Pasta,” not “Shrimp Uniformly Intermingled With Pasta.”) 3 out of 5
Taste: Small rubbery shrimp, soft overcooked noodles, bland watery sauce. Just like Mom used to make. 2 out of 5
Looks: Instead of a thick juicy tomato sauce, I see a dry brown bowl of noodles and meat. 3 out of 5
Taste: Bland. The sausage coins were ok, but everything else was just bleh – gritty meatballs, lackluster sauce, overcooked noodles. 2 out of 5
Looks: See those shrimp? Yeah, neither do I – they’re, at best, 50% of the size of the shrimp on the box. The noodles and peas though (which are in there; they just sunk to the bottom) match up pretty closely with the packaging. 4 out of 5
Taste: Respectable. The shrimp were a little rubbery, and for being a “lobster cream,” I didn’t taste anything special in the sauce. The noodles were fine, but the peas, as all peas are, were inedible. 3 out of 5
Clerkerist sends in this week’s reader submission and does a pretty good job of emulating the photo on the box:
This one is pretty much on target. The pie is browned and flaky. The only deviance from the package cooking directions was a little cooking spray in the pan before microwaving. Otherwise you pretty much have to serve the pie upside-down. Very tasty with crisp peas and carrots, all-white-meat chicken, and rib-sticking gravy. 5 out of 5
Wait a minute… “crisp peas and carrots, all-white-meat chicken, and rib-sticking gravy”? Clerkerist, are you an undercover Marie Callender’s rep sent here to counter the effects of my post on your disgusting cheesy chicken and rice? For shame, Marie Callender, for shame.