Looks: Well, the squash and cranberries look right. Maybe they forget to put the turkey in this one… 1.5 out of 5
Taste: The highlight of this meal was the cranberries that were mixed in with the squash. The turkey was so hard to find in the potatoes that I’m not sure it was there, and the potatoes (or possibly turkey covered in potatoes) were alternately mushy and lumpy, without hardly any flavor at all. 1.5 out of 5
Looks: The turkey lurks, just below the surface, peering out like a cloudy pupil-less eye. What lies beneath? Only time will tell:
This is going to surprise you, but that was actually a picture of the food before I ate it, not after I chewed it and spit it out. To be fair, the turkey and gravy look close enough to the picture on the package, but the stuffing literally looks like canned dog food. Stay tuned for the next paragraph, where I actually put this stuff in my mouth! 1.5 out of 5
Taste: WHY DID I EVER PUT THIS IN MY MOUTH? After trying the roast beef Compleat, I never should have even opened this. The turkey was gritty, the gravy was chunky, and the stuffing was the worst excuse for a bread-based product I’ve ever tasted in my life – soggy, goopy, with no discernable texture. The benefit of this meal looking and tasting like dog food was that my dog had no problem finishing it off for me. 0 out of 5
Looks: I would love to see how they were able to take the picture for the packaging. It’s not possible that they even used the same quesadillas that they put in the box, because they don’t come out looking anything like the ad. There isn’t as much filling, the tortillas are much flimsier, and I’m not certain that all of the ingredients shown coming out of the quesadilla are even in there. 1.5 out of 5
Taste: Even though they don’t look like the quesadillas on the box, I think you’ll agree with me that they still look tasty, in an “it’s-really-late-and-i’m-starving-oh-don’t-these-look-good” kind of way. They were pretty good: cheesy filling, meaty pieces of chicken, and soft tortillas. I couldn’t taste any bacon, and the cheese was slightly greasy (which might have been from the MIA bacon), but not too bad overall. 3.5 out of 5
Looks: I’ll say this: the vegetable mix looks *exactly* like it does on the box. The cherry crisp isn’t far off either (some of the oats migrated to the corner during the freezing process), and while it’s a little jumbled (and hard to see in the picture), the turkey + stuffing + gravy looks very much like the box. Not bad, Healthy Choice! 4.5 out of 5
Taste: Hands down, the best frozen turkey I’ve ever had. The first bite was moist and flavorful, the second bite (and third and fourth…) was downright juicy. The gravy had a meaty, peppery taste, and the stuffing wasn’t soggy. It even had raisins in it, which I love. The cherry crisp could have used some more crisp – it was mostly cherries, but the taste was fine – and in accordance with the FDA’s new “Respect the Veg” program, I am obligated to mention that the vegetable mix was “delicious” and “mouth-watering” and not at all “bland” or “lame.” 4 out of 5
Preaching truth to packaging. Pictures of packaged food, cooked to specifications, compared to the photo on the box.
