Price: $3.99
Serving: 1/2 package, 5oz.
Calories: 200
Fat: 27%, 17g
Cholesterol: 14%, 45mg
Sodium: 22%, 540mg
Protein: 5g
Carbohydrates: 2%, 6g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Deep Foods says: Paneer prepared in the tandoori style and simmered in an authentic and richly-spiced sauce

Abi says: I’ve never been to India, so I don’t know how authentic from-India food tastes. Sure, I’ve eaten at a lot of Indian restaurants, but I have no idea whether I’m eating real food or the Indian version of Taco Bell.

But I don’t take authenticity too seriously when something is so freaking delicious. This paneer makhani contains only pronounceable ingredients* and is bursting with the rich and subtle flavors that highlight my favorite Indian foods. My mouth is watering just thinking about how much I enjoy this dish now that I’ve taken it out of the running for lunch and made it a part of a simple, delicious dinner.

In the photo you can see a rotisserie chicken, couscous and the paneer. It isn’t a well balanced meal because it is completely lacking vegetables, but I’m not too worried about that because it took all of five minutes to put together this meal.

Yes, five minutes. Thank you Whole Foods chicken.

Each dish of Paneer Makhani contains 2-3 servings, making it a simple way to round out a meal in need of spice. If you’re worried about the extreme amount of fat in each serving, you can definitely use this as a sauce instead of a side and split it four ways. The tomato-based (or should I say cream-based?) sauce is mellowly spicy, making it flavorful without being overwhelming. The sauce and cheese combination is extraordinarily rich, so you’ll want to steer toward plain accompaniments. There are about 12 cubes of cheese per package and while that seems like very little to be sharing with others. Everything in the tray is so delicious that I wish Deep Foods just sold this sauce in little foil pouches I could pull out of the cupboard at any time.

*Ingredients: Tomatoes, Water Onions, Cream, Paneer (milk, part skim milk, vinegar, salt), Canola Oil, Cashews, Spices, Milled Cane Sugar, Sea Salt, Garlic, Butter, Oleoresin of Paprika, Turmeric, Fenugreek Leaves

Price: $2.31 + tax
Serving: 6 1/8 oz.
Calories: 310
Fat: 15%, 9g
Cholesterol: 7%, 20mg
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 16g
Carbohydrates: 15%, 44g
Sugar: 7g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Crunchy French bread topped with a flavorful tomato sauce accented with basil, garlic and onion. Topped with mozzarella cheese, savory Italian sausage, zesty pepperoni, mushrooms, and red and green bell peppers.

Becky says: I will fully admit that pizza ranks very highly on my list of favorite foods, right behind sushi. And when I realized that I haven’t bought this Lean Cuisine before, I was a bit taken aback. A pizza I haven’t tried?!

I get a little nervous about putting French bread in the microwave – it has a tendency to overcook into a rubbery dough brick very easily. However, I was surprised this time – the entire thing was cooked perfectly – crunchy (but not TOO crunchy) on the outside, and soft on the inside. The sauce was a surprise, too – a nice hearty tomato sauce, not sweet at all. And there was lots of it! That made me happy.

The actual toppings left a little to be desired, though. I had a hard time with the fact that there was one bite of the pizza that had cheese on it, and the veggies were pretty much non-existent (I saw green pepper, but had no idea that mushrooms were even there until I saw it on the box when I went to type this!) The sausage and pepperoni were plentiful, though – was glad to see that!

Will I get this again? Definitely – although it’s not superb, it is the best microwavable ‘healthy’ pizza I’ve found so far!

Price: $3.99
Serving: 1 tart, 3.3oz.
Calories: 300
Fat: 20%, 13g
Cholesterol: 38%, 115mg
Sodium: 3%, 70mg
Protein: 4g
Carbs: 13%, 40g
Fiber: 2%, <1g
Sugar: 30g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 Points each

Trader Joe says: Refreshingly tart lemon filling in a flaky buttery crust. Simply defrost and serve Trader Joe’s Lemon Tartes, or decorate with berries and whipped cream. These tartes are the ideal pastry to serve at the end of any meal, whether rustic or elegant. If you love the idea of afternoon “high tea,” these treats would be the perfect sweet for that occasion, as well.

Abi says: In the last several months Trader Joe’s has added several fantastic items to the frozen dessert section, including the chocolate croissants and the gluten-free peanut butter cookies. The duds have thus far been limited to the no-prep brownies.

Unfortunately, these Lemon Tartes are joining the Pre-Made Brownies in the hall of Trader Joe’s bad dessert infamy. I look forward to dessert, so I defrosted these tartes in the refrigerator for 6 hours (the package recommends at least 4 hours of defrosting) and shortly after dinner plated them with no accoutrements. Yes, the photo on the box shows a dollop of whipped cream, but a bit of sweet dairy wasn’t going to counteract the ‘meh’ of these desserts.

These lemon tartes feature tart lemon filing, bursting with bright yellow flavor, but each bite is also accompanied by bland, dense pastry. After a few forkfuls of POW-ZAP followed by ‘ugh’ of pastry. I tried to eat a bit of the lemon filling on its own. At that point I realized that lemon filling by itself is not a delicious dessert, but a component within a delicious dessert. Lemon filling by itself is sort of like torture by citric acid, and this is an opinion coming from a girl who enjoys sour Skittles.

After this experience I’m not sure I’ll be trying any of Trader Joe’s pre-made no-bake pastries. The chocolate croissants and chocolate chip cookies are just way, way too good to go fooling around with these tarts.

Serving size: 1 Tray, 10 oz
Calories: 280
Total Fat: 6%, 4g
Saturated Fat: 5%, 1g
Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 13%, 40mg
Sodium: 23%, 550mg
Carbohydrates: 14%, 41g
Dietary Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 36%, 20g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Hormel says: Santa Fe Style Chicken with Rice, Black Beans & Fire Roasted Corn.

Nicole says:

I know that reviews are supposed to be objective, but they are also supposed to be honest. The idea of shelf-stable meats outside of a can (soup, tuna) scares me. I have tried it before, and it was . . . okay . . . but definitely not “good”.

And that was not chicken.

There was initial comfort: when I tried to poke “several slits” in the heavy plastic seal on this meal with my fork, it proved impossible. This is a good seal. I had to use the knife we keep in the office for ice cream cakes.

Note about cooking: the alternative to microwave coking this meal is to simmer it while sealed in a pot of boiling water. I suggest you campers keep this in mind.

The aroma of the cooked meal (90 seconds is a REALLY quick cooking time) was heavy with tomato sauce. And the flavor is very heavy on tomato - it even overpowers the beans, which I expected to taste as the primary but they just peek through the sauce, though they are nicely cooked - firm enough to have texture but not hard - no “mush” there.

The corn has completely taken on tomato flavor, but it has retained it’s crunch. And I know you’re going to ask - yes, it it blackened in spots since it’s “fire roasted”.

The chicken is the thing I really don’t want to think about. In reality, the texture is better than the chalky texture that results from some microwaved frozen meals or the hard edges from others. This is moist, and it tastes like tomato sauce.

The rice is just saucy rice. All ingredients (there are actually two types of beans) are fairly represented throughout the meal, including a couple chunks of stewed tomato.

There is nothing wrong with this meal - the one major complaint would be that all the ingredients have the same flavor, though they distinguish themselves texturally. It’d be nice to taste corn and chicken as well.

But it is more than that. Hormel is going to have to work hard for the average person to conceive realistically of grabbing a plastic tray of chicken and rice off the shelf, heating it for less than two minutes, and consuming it. Maybe it’s not actually different than a can of soup, but we’ve been eating out of cans since people were speaking Aramaic, or nearly that long. I am sure there were cowboys eating out of cans before the Hollywood cowboys did so. We are in a plastic age, but have we advanced mentally far enough for it to preserve all our foods? Kudos to the technology, but I can’t get into it yet. It’ll take several more experiments and a couple more years before it feels “right”.

Or, please just put it in a can. Doubly beneficial, as I know I can recycle a can - this plastic tray is polypropylene, and I’m not sure if my building accepts it. And my stomach will be far more welcoming. Sure, I’ll need to pour it into a dish to cook it, which means there will be dishes to do, but I’d rather dirty dishes than slight nausea throughout lunch.

This isn’t a bad meal. It’s not bland, though it is one-note. It’s reasonably filling for it’s size and caloric content, likely because it has rice and beans and chicken (though also because my stomach shrinks when it’s afraid - sorry.) If you can mentally put aside the packaging and you like simple canned soups, you would most likely enjoy this meal. And it’s sooo healthy compared to even many of your Lean Cuisine meals. I just can’t handle it.