Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Penne Primavera

October 16, 2006 | Reviewer: Jess

Dollar meals. How do they stand up against a dollar menu? Do they fulfill the claim of being an actual meal or should you be shopping around for $3.00 worth of fast food? Jess explores these topics with Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Penne Primavera.

Michelina's Lean Gourmet Penne Primavera

Price: $1.00
Serving: 1 bowl, 8 oz.
Calories: 240
Fat: 11%, 7g
Sodium: 22%, 520mg
Protein: 9g
WW Points: 5 Winning Points

Michelina says: Whole wheat pasta with vegetables in a light Alfredo sauce

Jess says: This meal kind of tastes like plastic, which is surprising since it is cooked in cardboard with a cardboard flap, so the plastic must be a special ingredient, not merely packaging essence. Still, it isn’t bad and was entirely edible. In fact, it made me wonder if I could eat plastic were I to be stranded on a tupperware island, though that must be hell on the digestional tract.

Of course, the meal isn’t good either. The sauce is blah and the portion is meager. In fact, the one thing that I can say about this meal is that is uninspiring. My cup usually overflowth while writing food reviews, but this meal has dried my mental inkwell.

If you only have one dollar to your name (and I guess some pocket change for tax), go get a sundae from the McDonald’s dollar menu. If you are lactose intollerant, get fries. If you don’t have any money to your name, but you have a microwave and someone gives you this meal, go ahead and eat it. It will do the job.

Strangely, Hungry-Girl raved about it.

comments

15 Responses to “Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Penne Primavera”

Heather on October 16th, 2006

Fascinating. Maybe the taste buds of those lovely ladies over at Hungry Girls were just so starved for attention after eating the other variations that by the time they got to this one, plastic just seemed fantastic! On a related note, I’m amazed given your description that you gave this one three stars. I must be a really miserly hander outer of stars.
Abi Jones on October 16th, 2006

Yeah, maybe I should have doublechecked that star rating with Jess. I’d love to learn more about the Hungry-Girl review process.
Colleen on October 17th, 2006

Hungry-Girl is pretty darn easy-going on anything low in calories.
MaryAnne on October 17th, 2006

I love the Hungry-Girl website and their email updates. In fact, I think it’s the way I found this website. Sometimes I don’t agree with their ratings, but I don’t think they are easy-going at all. However, I think they put health before taste and incorporate that in the rating.
Ace N. on October 17th, 2006

Hungry Girl is a great site, even for a hungry guy like myself, but they’ll reccomend anything that’s healthy and insist that it’s just as good as the original. Maybe they sincerely believe it, but vegetarian buffalo wings aren’t even the same category of food as the real thing in my book…

Anyway, I’ve had a few Michelina meals and all of their ones with white sauce DO taste like plastic. The unnaturally textured pasta probably has something to do with it as well.
Abi Jones on October 17th, 2006

While HeatEatReview.com features healthy items (mixed in with the enchilads and fried chicken), we’re really concerned with taste, convenience, and price. Take a look at Hungry-Girl’s ‘About‘ page and ours and you’ll see that there are distinct differences between the sites. I browse HG from time to time, while the uber-diet focus isn’t my thing, I do like seeing their opinions on convenience foods.

Heather - I think that Jess was taking price into account for this meal. It was just a buck.

Colleen - They were pretty honest/accurate in their Mac and Cheese reviews, but the recipes for HG’s Super-Duper Cocoa-rific Coffee Malt! make me shake my head in shame for the self-esteem, excercise, and food hang-ups of our nation.

Ace - Thank goodness I actually prefer Morningstar Buffalo Wings to the real ones. It comes down to delicious homemade honey-mustard sauce. My recipe: mix together honey and mustard. That and my family never ate b-wings when I was growing up, so I didn’t acquire that taste. Also, blue cheese (and blue cheese dressing) is gross.
tanya on October 17th, 2006

I have tried a few Michelinas Lean Gourmet - but not this one. I like a few and some I don’t like, but I must admit that I lower my standards for that $1 price tag!
Colleen on October 18th, 2006

Serisously, look at today’s (Tuesday, 10/17/06) entry of Hungry Girl that encourages you to buy Better ‘n Peanut Butter. Sure its half the calories, but I’ve tried that stuff and the taste doesn’t even resemble peanut butter. At all. Not texure, in no way taste. I can’t believe they recomend ever using that as a subsitute. Plus, it also has half the protein and a tiny fraction of the (mostly healthy) fats, so you have to eat twice as much to feel half as full anyway. Bad call, HG.

Not to totally bash them though, it is a nice site with plenty of insider’s tips and consistant updates. But they seem to me to have a huge calorie bias that affects what they taste of all foods. I think all of their taste tests should be done blind and on a variety of random subjects.
Brooks on October 28th, 2006

Its a hot meal for a dollar that cooks fast did you think it would tast great?
Abi Jones on October 29th, 2006

There’s always hope.
Anne on March 16th, 2007

I am a big fan of Hungry Girl, although some things such as eating only 2/3 of a hamburger bun is pretty ridiculous. But getting to the meal- I’ve eaten this and it’s okay. The noodles are cooked decently and the sauce is pretty bland, but I was happy with the veggies. You get some chunky squah, zucchini, and broccoli florets- no stalks.
While it’s not “Gourmet”, it’s not terrible. But remember, it’s only a buck.
Maxine Brown on April 16th, 2007

Dear Customer Service,
I just recently purchased one of the Gormet Meals this weekend,( Salisbury Steak and Mashed Potatoes). I was very dissapointed to realize that the meal had a terrible taste, very awkward from anything that I have tasted before in reference to your product. When I cut a peice of the meat, I noticed that I appeared to be molded. It had a gray color to it. Right away, I disposed of the product. I did not even return the item to the store for a refund. This has really upset me, and I would like to be compensated for the money that I lost- trying to prpare a quick dinner for myself.
Thank you
Maxine Brown
katie on June 5th, 2007

i think that they are good!
im on weight watchers and
i eat one every night for dinner
although i prefer
healthy choice
i think these taste good too!
Anna on June 16th, 2007

I don’t care if people think I have no taste or that my taste buds are out of order - I like it! And unlike most things, I feel full afterwards. If you don’t have anything cooked and aren’t in the mood to, or simply don’t have time to, this is a great fix.
Heather Bennett on January 21st, 2008

I have to say that I have been using a different variety of the lean gourmets for the last month for dieting and I think for the price,You just cant beat it…….Me and My Hubby and 3 girls have really enjoyed trying all the different ones they have out….