Hungry-Man Jumbo Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

November 3, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Price: $2.00 (sale at Giant)
Serving: 1 package, 1 pound
Calories: 620
Fat: 25%, 16g
Sodium: 58%, 1380mg
Protein: 28g
Carbs: 28%, 84g
Fiber: 24%, 6g

Hungry-Man says: Rigatoni Pasta with Hearty Meat Sauce Topped with Mozzarella Cheese with a Garlic Bread Stick

Nicole says: Are the rigatoni supposed to be jumbo or is the serving size of rigatoni supposed to be jumbo? The former would be a false claim, the latter would be right on. I’d say that this pasta-sauce-cheese serving is three times the size of those in Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice meals (the tray is not only wider but deeper,) and over twice the size of a Stouffer’s or Boston Market pasta serving.

This Hungry-Man meal also comes with garlic bread. We all know that microwaving bread for too long is not good. Don’t worry, you don’t add the bread to the microwave tray until the last 45 seconds of cooking. Yes, it stills turns out a bit soft and squishy, but it is palatable. I’d recommend a quick trip to the toaster oven for the garlic bread, if available.

The first thing I noticed after heating the meal was that the rigatoni around the edges was dried out and hardened. Even after stirring the cooked meal and waiting a few moments, these pieces (about 4) could not be properly revived. I still ate them in all of their chewiness. The cheese portion on top of the noodles is reasonable. I would use more cheese if I were making something like this at home, but I think we all know that I don’t MAKE any food at home. I heat it up. The sauce is tomato-ey and not too watery. The meat in the sauce actually impressed me - it is spiced with a bit of hot and a bit of sweet. Quite tasty, especially when you can tell just by taste that your meat sauce uses sausage-like meat versus plain old ground beef.

This meal tastes good and fills me up!

comments

6 Responses to “Hungry-Man Jumbo Rigatoni with Meat Sauce”

Nicole on November 3rd, 2006

I’d just like to state for posterity’s sake that this past weekend, I DID cook. And it was a disappointment. I made “Mild Miso Soup” and Shabu Shabu. The miso soup was costly to make a measly two servings (what was supposedly 4 servings, but only for models) and turned out very heavy and bitter (using the prescribed amount of red miso.) I’ve had better miso from a packet of dehydrated soup purchased at the store. And I wouldn’t recommend the Shabu Shabu without a fondue pot, as it was impossible to keep the (virtually flavorless) cooking broth hot enough to cook the meat at the table. Boo to cooking.
Matt on November 3rd, 2006

Nice, thanks for the heads-up, I’m always in the market for a quick pasta meal I can heat up.

-mattie
Kate on November 3rd, 2006

Is that the garlic bread or is that a potato?
Nicole on November 4th, 2006

That is the garlic bread. I guess you could say it’s more of a roll.
Chuck on November 11th, 2006

I just had this for dinner tonight. Pretty darn tasty although the chewy rigatoni at the edge was a bit annoying. I did use a toaster oven for the garlic roll and it tasted all right, but not really like a fresh roll would. Overall very good though. For some reason I’m on a pasta kick this week; I’ll probalby try the Lasagna by Hungry Man tomorrow night.
Evie on January 2nd, 2008

very good rigatoni with meat sauce, but hard to find here . found it a couple of times and haven’ seen it since