Archive for the ‘Tomato Sauce’ Category

DiGiorno 200 Calorie Portions

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Digiorno 200 Calorie Portions - Ad

Digiorno 200 Calorie Portions

Looks: They didn’t add enough cheese for it to melt all the way to the edges, the tomato sauce more closely resembles a thin sheet of red paint, and the green peppers by far outnumber the chicken bits. (It’s called “Chicken with Peppers”, not “Peppers with Chicken.”) 3.5 out of 5

Taste: The crust is chewy right out of the microwave, but it becomes crackery if you let it cool. The chicken, cheese, and sauce were all passable (on the high end for microwave pizza), but I definitely would have appreciated more of them. (Although then I suppose they’d have trouble calling it a “200 calorie portion.”

One word of warning: don’t take the “recommended cooking instructions” at face value. There are two 200-calorie portions in each box, and for the first one, I cooked it exactly how long the box recommended I cook it based on my microwave’s wattage (2 minutes). For the second portion, I left it in the microwave for only 1:20. Can you guess which is which?

Digiorno 200 Calorie Portions - Comparison

So if you cook it under close supervision and stop the microwave when the cheese melts, you’ll be ok. 3.5 out of 5

Marie Callender’s Rigatoni Marinara Classico

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Marie Callender's Rigatoni Marinara Classico - Ad

Marie Callender's Rigatoni Marinara Classico

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

Lean Cuisine Cheese Lasagna & Chicken

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Lean Cuisine Cheese Lasagna & Chicken - Ad

Lean Cuisine Cheese Lasagna & Chicken

Looks: When you take into account the fact that I didn’t properly plate this meal, it’s very well depicted on the packaging. (There’s a second chicken patty underneath the sauce.) 4 out of 5

Taste: Much better than I expected – I expected soggy chicken and tasteless lasagna, but the chicken was firm and juicy, and the lasagna’s ricotta filling was very apparent. The lasagna noodles weren’t overcooked on the edges either. This is one of the few microwave lasagna meals I’ve tried that I would buy again. 4 out of 5

Tony’s Crispy Crust Cheese Pizza

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

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Tony's Crispy Crust Cheese Pizza

Looks: Like most frozen pizzas, this pizza isn’t cheesed adequately enough to ever have melty cheese string from piece to piece. Apart from that, the shape and color are appropriately depicted on the box. 4 out of 5

Taste: I present to you two facts:

  1. This pizza is “Tony’s Crispy Crust Pizza.”
  2. I’ve never eaten a less crispy pizza in my life.

It was very bready, and very chewy. If I ignore the fact that it was supposed to be crispy, it wasn’t too bad for a $1 grocery store pizza, but I have to score it low though due to the missing advertised crispiness. 2 out of 5