Food In Real Life

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara Cafe Steamer

Looks: Are those even the same meals? The chicken pieces are deformed, the broccoli looks weak, the cheese is missing, and the sauce (which got mixed into the meal, by direction) was not the right color. 1 out of 5

Taste: It tastes about how it looks. Weak, without any standout flavors. The chicken tasted strange, like it was really ground chicken formed back into nuggets – not at all like “Grilled Chicken Marinara.” Very disappointing for what I’ve always seen as an upper-level brand. 2 out of 5

Announcement: Hall of Shame

Remember the announcement about the Food In Real Life Hall of Fame? Remember how a bunch of people asked for a Hall of Shame?

Well, I had already planned on doing that, so don’t think you got the jump on me or anything, but it’s finally ready: The Food In Real Life Hall of Shame: A list of every meal that has gotten 1 or fewer points in the looks department, automatically updated every day. (RSS feed here for you technologically advanced readers.)

I have a few other features up my sleeve that will be unveiled over the next few weeks. The first commenter to guess what any of them are wins a gold star!

Digiorno Steak and Fire Roasted Vegetables Flatbread Melt

Looks: While it’s not as bad as the TGIFriday’s Quesadillas, it’s still pretty far from what the box pictures. (Although, with this product, you can actually tell that it’s the same food.) The bread is much thicker and doesn’t brown the same, the filling is not as extensive, and the cheese is nowhere to be seen, at least not without unfolding the melt. 2.5 out of 5

Taste: Very good flatbread for being frozen and microwaved. It was soft, chewy, and not soggy or cold at all. The filling, although not as bulbous as the filling on the packaging, was very good as well. It would have been nice to have as much steak and vegetables as the box promised, and the discrepancy might be a deal breaker for some people. 4 out of 5

Healthy Choice Meat Loaf

Looks: If I had plated it like it is plated on the box, it would have matched up nicely, except for the dessert. The colors are all very similar, and the portion sizes are the same. The apple cranberry crisp, however, doesn’t look like what they show on the box at all. It doesn’t contain any cranberries (that I could find), and the apple pieces are way too small. 4 out of 5

Taste: Let me paint you a picture: You like meatloaf. You buy some meatloaf. You cook the meatloaf. You sit down to eat the meatloaf. You take a bite of the meatloaf. You chew the meatloaf. You spit out the meatloaf. Why did you spit out the meatloaf? Probably because there was a piece of what you can only hope was gristle the size of a baby’s tooth in your first bite. (The rest of the meal was ok, but this first impression made it impossible to enjoy the other food quadrants.) 1.5 out of 5