Betty Crocker Bowl Appetit Garlic Parmesan Pasta

July 30, 2007 | Reviewer: Abi

Healthy Choice Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Price: $1.00 (sale at CVS)
Serving: 1 meal, 10.3 oz.
Calories: 300
Fat: 8%, 5g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 18%, 430mg
Protein: 17g
Carbs: 15%, 46g
Fiber: 32%, 8g
WW Points: 6 Points

Betty Crocker says: Penne pasta simmered in a robust garlic-parmesan sauce. Easy 5 minute prep. Just add water & microwave. Great for lunch. No artificial flavors.

Abi says: These aren’t very good, but I like them more than just about any microwaveable pasta in white sauce that I’ve consumed over the course of writing for HeatEatReview.com. In fact, I’ve turned to this CVS (a local drugstore) staple on multiple occasions over the past year.

Perhaps my affinity for these bowls stems from their intensely strong parmesan-garlic flavor. If you had me do a taste test on the bowls, I couldn’t identify the flavor specifically as garlicky or parmesany. Just blatantly odoriferous. Another plus (yes, smelliness seems to have become a plus), they don’t need to be frozen. This means that a) they don’t take up room in my freezer, and b) I can cook the pasta to my preferred state of doneness: just beyond toothy.

So really, the lesson from this review is that blandness is the devil and I prefer al dente pasta. Also, only buy these on sale, because they aren’t worth more than $1.25.

Dumb but true: these are not for vegetarians because they contain chicken fat. Dried powdered chicken fat. Way to reduce your market, Betty Crocker.

comments

7 Responses to “Betty Crocker Bowl Appetit Garlic Parmesan Pasta”

Jess on July 31st, 2007

Bowl appetite is so excellent at being cheap and perfectly mediocre. It’s great for when you are just hungry and poor and don’t feel the need to be impressed. Thanks Betty. Achievement is sometimes overrated.
Crow on July 31st, 2007

“Dumb but true: these are not for vegetarians because they contain chicken fat. Dried powdered chicken fat. Way to reduce your market, Betty Crocker.”

Something tells me that adding chicken fat for taste will attract more people than discarding the 2.8% of Americans that are vegetarian.
Julie on July 31st, 2007

They’re healthier then ramen. Which doesn’t take much.

I honestly wonder who thinks up this weird stuff; dried chicken fat…?
Julia on August 22nd, 2007

I LOVE this stuff! I would have given it at least a 4. It’s quite tasty, and a great midnight snack. I totally taste the garlic and the parmesan. Maybe it’s because I’m just a fan of everything in the onion family (garlic, onions, leeks, chives, et al), but this stuff is quite tasty. I also like the other pasta that they have, which I actually just ate, and it was delicious. Quite possibly, the best frozen pasta meal that I’ve ever had.
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MIc on September 17th, 2008

We found these one day at a Wal-Mart store. My daughter bought 1 of each of 4 flavors available. She absolutely loved the Garlic Parmesan in particular as well as a Pasta Alfredo. Problem is…we can only ever find two types, at best, any more and neither of them are her favorites. They’re wonderful for college kids, like herself as she can take them with her and cook ‘em up almost anywhere AND they’re affordable. Where can we find them????
Bob Eckert on October 17th, 2008

Hey you Betty Crocker pasta-heads! You can order the complete
line of these yummy little bowls of comfort from…wait for it…..
Amazon.com!!! They come in packs of 12 and Amazon carries the
entire line. Amazon is a great place for all kinds of ready to heat and
eat goodies (watch that salt and fat, Betty did cut the fat down amazingly)
As another blogger said, they beat any ramen product hands down and
who knows, with the the baby milk/formula scandal, your ramen
product might just have melamine in it. We used to have a set of
melamine dinnerware when I was a tot - gasp!
Anyway, keep it American, what is more American than General Foods!