Microwave – Page 14 – Food In Real Life

Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cup

Looks: I’ve always been wary of Velveeta macaroni products, if only for the reason that after you add the cheese sauce (but before you stir it in), it looks like Chester Cheetah has taken a dump on your lunch. But I do have to say that after stirring the cheese “sauce” in and waiting the recommended two minutes, the macaroni inside does look very similar to the shells on the package. Maybe a little waterier, but very close. 4.5 out of 5

Taste: About eight years ago, I tried Kraft Easy Mac for the first time, and I hated it. Ever since then, I’ve completely avoided microwave macaroni and cheese cups. There must have been great scientific advances in the field of microwave macaroni since then, because this Velveeta Shells cup is actually very good. There’s not very much of it (only 220 calories worth), but it tastes as good as if you made it on the stovetop. 4.5 out of 5

Healthy Choice Country Breaded Chicken

Looks: Once you account for plating the meal the way they have it on the box, the food looks pretty close to the packaging. The cherry dessert isn’t as thick as its representation, and the carrots are underrepresented in the vegetable triangle, but the rest stacks up pretty well. 4 out of 5

Taste: Disappointing. The potatoes were gluey, and the chicken tasteless (and soggy where it touched the potatoes). The cherry dessert was sickly sweet, and I certainly didn’t find any “vanilla crisp.” The vegetables sure did taste like vegetables though! (Note that scores of 1 out of 5 or lower are mainly reserved for meals I couldn’t finish or wouldn’t finish. I finished this, but wasn’t very happy about wasting an eating opportunity on it.) 2 out of 5

SmartOnes Lemon Herb Chicken Piccata

Looks: A little soupier than pictured, and without the fresh grillmarks on the chicken. Besides that, most of the colors were right on (especially the vegetables, which is usually a crapshoot), and the ratio of food amounts is as pictured. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: I did not expect to like this dish, given my experience with the last chicken and rice dish I tried, but much to my surprise, I loved it! The chicken wasn’t dry, and the vegetables still had some crispiness to them. The sauce was especially good, with a strong chicken flavor but with light lemony aftertones. I’ll definitely be buying this again. (As with its looks, the soupiness was the main drawback.) 4 out of 5

SmartOnes Artisan Creations Pepperoni Pizza

Looks: The pizza on the box holds much more pepperoni, herbs, and cheese. That’s 0-for-3 on the main components of the dish; it gets one point for having a crust, and one point for being the right size: 2 out of 5

Taste: Given the average taste of the regular SmartOnes Pepperoni pizza, I expected the same from this pizza. And given the fact that I wrote the previous sentence, you can assume that is not what happened. This pizza reminded me of the pizza rectangles they used to serve at my grade school, but not as good. (I had no idea my school was serving “artisan creation”-grade pizza.) The sauce is gummy and close to ketchup; the cheese and crust are tasteless. Blech. 1 out of 5