Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal

June 28, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal
Price: $1.00 (sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 10 oz.
Calories: 380
Fat: 28%, 18g
Sodium: 40%, 980mg
Protein: 14g
Carbs: 14%, 41g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Diet Exchanges: 2.5 Starch, 1 Medium Fat Meat, 4 Fat

Banquet says: Country style gravy and chicken fried beef steak (chopped and formed) with mashed potatoes and corn

Nicole says: In interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that one of my favorite breakfast meals happens to be biscuits and gravy. I am happy to eat my biscuits and gravy at any IHOP or at the New Transit Truck Stop or Honey Bee Diner in my hometown. This predilection weighs heavily on this review.

I was NOT excited about eating this for lunch. As far as I know, I had never tasted “Chicken Fried Steak” and didn’t think it sounded particularly appetizing. “Chopped and formed” on the box didn’t help. My apprehension grew when I removed the meal from the microwave after following cooking instructions to a tee (the minimum recommended times) and saw that the gravy had burned the plastic film covering the meal. Upon removing the film, I saw that more gravy had burned at the bottom corner of the meat section. That’s just not right, man.

These potatoes were a bit less buttery than is standard for Banquet, which I think is kind of a shame but probably good for my health; they are also creamier than I am accustomed to (from Banquet.) Not bad at all. The corn was moister than that of the Salisbury Steak Meal, for some reason-strange. It tasted just fine. Isn’t it a shame these meals don’t have creamed corn?

All of my fears about “Chicken Fried Steak” have been assuaged by this meal. Yes, the processing of the “steak” is a bit disturbing and ensures that the texture doesn’t remotely resemble a “steak”, but the coated ground beef patty tastes fine. I expected the patty to cook up a little crispy at least, but alas, the breading is rather soggy. The gravy is both creamy and oily, with a generous sprinkle of large pepper grains for zing. This meal is tasty enough that I could definitely eat it once a week. Especially for one dollar.

Thank you, Banquet, for proving yet again that all that’s required to make a meal tasty is keeping within the range of one-third of my Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of fat and approaching one-half RDA of sodium.

I licked the remaining un-burnt gravy out of the meat section.

comments

12 Responses to “Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal”

Nicole on June 29th, 2006

Since my experience with the Banquet Country-Fried Steak, I had a portion of real country-fried steak with gravy at Trout Street Bar and Grill in Port Aransas, TX. It was an amazing experience. I have thought about it again and again. This is now among my favorite foods when properly prepared.

Trout Street has a friendly atmosphere and waitstaff, if you’re happening through Port A, stop in for dinner.

http://www.troutstreetgrill.com/aboutus.html
MARK on July 18th, 2006

so let me get this straight, you’d never had chicken fried steak before and you’ve spent (at least some) time in texas in your life?
Abi on July 18th, 2006

Mark- Nicole is from Maryland. I’m the one that lived in Texas. Even though I did spend two years there, I didn’t eat a single bite of Chicken Fried Steak (CFS). I lived on the border about 5 hours south of San Antonio. Why would anyone eat CFS when there were breakfast tacos, chile relleno, and pollo en mole on the menu?
Nicole on July 21st, 2006

My father is from Texas, so I’m only there ocassionally visiting the entended family. Always an experience. Texas is wacky, but Chicken Fried Steak is AWESOME.
Kaitlyn on January 16th, 2007

Clearly you did not follow the instructions to a tee, because the instructions tell you to take the film off everything but the corn before it ever even goes into the microwave. But I agree, this is my favorite (slightly unhealthy) TV dinner that I get!
Dina on March 16th, 2007

I’m sure enough not from TX but the time I tried the CFS (chicken fried steak),I was amazed. My suggestion is to cook it in a conventional oven; doing it this way requires you to ONLY remove film cover from the potatoes. Even though it may take 30min,your mashed potatoes will come out nice and fluffy and the corn will be nicely moist and steamy. As for the gravey–yea it is pretty oily and it does get a little burnt on the sides,but I find it if you blend it well and add some of that to the mashed potatoes and corn,you got yourself a sweet deal Otherwise use a little butter from those potatoes
I searched for CFS recipes and I was delighted to find plenty of them. I found one that suited me best and I’m happy to say I cook a few southern dishes now
Flara on March 25th, 2007

I really enjoyed the chicken fried beef steak! It’s my favorite from Banquet.
Lazy Man Food Plan » Day Two on April 2nd, 2007

[…] an early lunch I had a Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal (probably had to call it “beef steak” because it’s not really a […]
MYE on June 29th, 2007

is this chicken or is this beef? im so confused!!!!
Eym Daniels on June 29th, 2007

i think it’s reptile
Frozen Dinner Connoisseur on September 14th, 2007

I’m not sure why they added “Chicken” to the labeling because this meal actually contains beef. I personally think this is rather misleading. Recently, I had an exceptional dining experience with the “Chicken Fried Chicken Meal” (The REAL chicken fried steak meal by Banquet). The next time I was at the local supermarket I greedily grabbed 5 boxes of what I thought was the Chicken Fried Chicken Meal. I realized when I got home that I had been duped. In my opinion, the Beef Steak variant is not as tasty as its all-Chicken cousin. It could just be me, but the batter on my real Chicken steak had a bit more pepper, which added a slightly spicier theme to the entire meal. In closing, don’t make the same mistake as me. If you’re hungry for some Chicken Fried Steak, pass the beef steak and look for the “Chicken Fried Chicken Meal.”
Drcliffsr on May 1st, 2008

I tried these when they were 2/$1.00 at a local store. I am a senior and find this meal very tasty and fulfilling for my small appetite. The price per meal, if I ate 3 a day, works out to only $45.00 a month for meals. Can’t beat that. Sometimes soggy breading when microwaved, but still very good. Corn tasted like it was just cut. Very fresh tasting. Potatoes were watery in a few, but with proper stirring, they came out fine. Over all, very good and the price was superior.

DrCliffSr