Michael Angelo’s Italian Meals

April 4, 2007 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

Grandma Foti

Next week HeatEatReview is going Italian with five straight days of Michael Angelo’s entrees. Yes, this means that all of you Lean Cuisine haters can stop whining about how all we ever eat is diet food. Sure, Michael Angelo’s meals could be included in a healthy diet, but you’d never know it from the immense amount of cheese they contain.

We spent a week gorging ourselves and now we’re ready to report back on a variety of hearty, tomatoey, potentially Italian meals. For now, feast your eyes on this list:

Monday - Eggplant Parmesan
Tuesday - Vegetable Lasagna
Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan
Thursday - Baked Eggplant and Chicken Bolognese Sauce
Friday - Family-sized Meat Lasagna

Question for readers: Do you like the ‘upcoming reviews’ announcments or would you rather just be bombarded with five straight days of one type of meal? I’d like to hear your thoughts. - Abi

comments

10 Responses to “Michael Angelo’s Italian Meals”

Andrew on April 5th, 2007

I kinda like the warning. I think without explanation, five days of the same brand would look kind of odd. I suppose you could just slap this disclaimer (or something like it) at the top of each entry over the course of a theme week, too.
Angie on April 5th, 2007

The warning is nice, but I’m always slightly disappointed when I get that instead of a review.
Colleen on April 5th, 2007

^I agree with Angie. I would rather you give us the announcement on the same day that you have the first review and just include in the announcement to look below for the review.
Jenny on April 6th, 2007

Bombarded!
Stephanie on April 6th, 2007

Please do continue the announcements- it’s nice to have something to look forward to:)
Kathy on April 6th, 2007

I like the “Week in Preview” approach. Keep up the good work…I refer to your site on the on-line Weight Watcher Boards constantly.
MaryAnne on April 6th, 2007

Eggplant!
emily on April 6th, 2007

i like the upcoming events
Abi Jones on April 7th, 2007

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I’ll probably keep posting the previews on the Thursday before the focus week. Now, more specific feedback to satiate your egos:

AndrewAfter a few of those ’sponsored’ review weeks, I prefer putting the notice at the bottom of the review rather than the top. From the moment you read the reviewer’s name and the ‘x says’ part, I want you to think about the meal with his or her voice.

AngieAw, that warms my heart. I don’t think I ever considered that people would be disappointed thinking there was a new review when really it was just an announcement. I’ve felt the exact same way about other sites (see Go Fug Yourself and the George Clooney letter responses. Ugh.)

Colleen I’m worried about doing something like that because while the reviews can appear chronologically, you can also view them by a variety of categories. Suddenly, the reference to ‘read below’ wouldn’t make as much sense.

Jenny Maybe you just shouldn’t read HER on Thursdays. I think that’s the day I’ll post announcements. Of course, some announcements might be about interesting things, like choosing which of three gross things you’d like me to review.
Amber on April 8th, 2007

I kinda like the announcements, because, in my mind, I begin to speculate about which ones were only barely edible in the technical sense and which ones were OK. (I never assume there’s a 4 or 5 star in the bunch–I mean…come on.)

And then I cackle a little to myself, knowing that I wasn’t the one who paid money and endured burnt fake cheese/rubbery chicken/mushy veggies in a sickeningly sweet sauce or whatever horrible-ness that arises from frozen dinners these days. I’m trying to retire from frozen dinner mistakes, but new ones keep calling out to me. I can hear them from the ice cream aisle while I’m trying to decide which Ben & Jerry’s flavor to take home.