Looks: Do you see, on the box, where it says “Enlarged to show quality”? It should really say “Enlarged because there’s hardly any food in this box,” because the “quality” they were showing doesn’t exist in real life. The breading on the fish sticks was slipping off, the macaroni noodles are not the proper scale, and the pudding is dark and lumpy, not smooth and creamy. 3 out of 5
Taste: Disappointing. The fish sticks were chewy, which I didn’t know was possible, because it’s minced fish meat – how can that be chewy? The macaroni was watery and tasteless, and there was so little pudding that I couldn’t find a spoon small enough to fit into the little bowl. (I’m obviously kidding about that; I just couldn’t think of any words to describe the pudding’s taste.) I would never buy this meal again. 1 out of 5
ok that makes sense. but to be fair, its pretty easy to miss the tags. it should really be included in the article text. but thanks for pointing that out.
I do tag each entry with the cooking method; you can see that this one was tagged “microwave”.
the secret to making these cheap banquet meals good is to fix them in the oven — they have oven directions on the back. it takes quite a lot longer, but the quality is 1 million times better. give it a try and maybe write another review. (PS, in future reviews, please include the cooking method you used)
I think I’d like a shirt: “Enlarged to show quality.”
lol – that little lump of food looks so lonely!
Uhh are we even reading the same blog? The whole point is to critique the false advertisements.
I feel that if a meal doesn’t match up to what is advertised, it should get lower than a 3/5.
PS: 1/5 in taste isn’t applicable to what I’m saying, so thanks for bringing it up.
I actually quite like a lot of Banquet meals. The chicken tenders/nuggets, fish sticks, brownies, mac and cheese. What’s important to remember isn’t that it’s supposed to be a good meal; it’s supposed to be a hot but mildly tasty tray that you buy when you only have a dollar to spend.
The spaghetti, though, is revolting.
Banquet meals are the worst–usually just a bite or two of each item. I always avoid them
I had one a few months ago. Would also never buy again.
When i microwaved it, everything was soggy and rubbery (the the macaroni and cheese was watery and rubbery. ( I was able to slightly reduce the sogginess and rubber like feel of the fish sticks by reheating them in the toaster oven)
Lucky for me I only lost $1 because it was on sale
the pudding was slightly sweet and bitter at the same time, very hard to describe the taste.
He gave the looks of the meal a 3/5. He gave the taste of it 1/5. Just because the meal is smaller than it appears and isn’t necessarily what’s show on the box doesn’t grant it an immediate 1/5. Just about every company falsely advertises their meals on the front of the box somehow.
IMO, Banquet is the WORST for this kind of stuff.
If you get around to it, go buy some Banquet Ready-Serve sausage links. I did once. I’m a hotel front desk clerk. We have those snazzy make-your-own waffles as part of our continental breakfast. I’m always going in there and grabbing various things for breakfast. I thought it’d be neat to go buy some sausage that I could stick in the freezer at work, to go along with a waffle. So I bought Banquet brand. MISTAKE. Very GROSS.
How can fish sticks be chewy? They’re probably 50.01% fish and 49.99% soy protein isolate or textured vegetable protein. Soy can be fine in moderation for people who don’t have hormone-dependent cancers and who aren’t allergic to it, but the manufacturers should be more upfront about what they’re selling.
Question: If you have no good things to say about the meal (breading isn’t right, noodles aren’t right, pudding isn’t right), then why are you giving it 3/5? I think you give far too many high ratings, when they are not necessitated.
I am very disappointed in my frozen fish stick meal. The fish were hard and the macaroni was very dry. I had them before but never like this.
“Enlarged to show quality” makes it legal. What it SHOULD say is “Enlarged to make it look larger than it really is”. In a meal like this, the weight should give it away. In a Banquet pot pie weighing 7 oz, and showing a picture of big chunks of meat and potatoes spilling out of a pie, it should be ILLEGAL for the meat, potatoes, and peas to only make up ONE OUNCE (yes, I weighed them!). At least the picture correctly showed 3 peas – the whole pie did have 3 peas.