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: Oscar Mayer doesn’t specifically advertise the finished version of this product on the box, so you’ll just have to base the visual quality of this product on the picture in your mind when you think “Oscar Mayer Buffalo Chicken Deli Creation.” Not too far off, huh? 4 out of 5
Taste: The bread is soft and chewy, and the chicken is juicy if not a little over-processed. Those two ingredients make up the bulk of the sandwich; the cheese is just barely noticeable, and the sauce is a generic Ranch dressing. The bread really is good though, and in the end, it carries the meal. 3.5 out of 5
Are you tired of making a pizza but having to throw most of it away since you can only eat one piece at a time? If so, you’ll want to check out Red Baron Pizza by the Slice. It’s like a whole pizza, but not!
It cooks in its own little cardboard and silvery-colored container that you stick in your microwave; this cooking method has the benefit of leaving the cheese in the middle of the slice cold but sill overcooking the bottom of the crust so that’s it’s strangely crispy.
If you buy enough of these that you can learn how to properly get it to heat up in your microwave, you’ll find that it’s a good-enough approximation of a normal Red Baron pizza – if you left it in your fridge overnight and then reheated it in your microwave in a little paper tray.
Looks: 2 out of 5 Taste: 2.5 out of 5
Soft noodles and (literally) tasteless sauce. It claims to be “homestyle,” but if my mom was making this “style” of macaroni at “home,” I’d be ordering in every night. Michelina’s is now 0 for 2 on this blog; do I dare institute a “three strikes and you’re out” rule?
Looks: 3.5 out of 5 Taste: 1 out of 5