Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast Lightly Seasoned with Garlic & Herbs

January 9, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi

Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast Lightly Seasoned with Garlic & Herbs Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Serving: 1 pouch, 4oz.
Calories: 270
Fat: 2%, 1.5g
Cholesterol: 25%, 75mg
Sodium: 20%, 490mg
Protein: 24g
Carbs: 0%, 1g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Bumblebee says: This skinless, boneless, and 100% natural white meat chicken breast is lightly seasoned with a savory blend of zesty garlic mixed with the subtle flavor of select herbs, including oregano, basil, parsley and rosemary. It is a delicious way to serve a healthy, fast and simple meal any day of the week! Just heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, add a side dish and dinner is done!

Abi says: I purchased this non-refrigerated chicken breast thinking that it would go well with Pasta-Roni. I love Pasta-Roni. I have a love/hate relationship with meat that does not require refrigeration. One one hand, I don’t eat home-cooked meat very often, so it is nice to get some quick protein without purchasing perishable goods. On the other hand, there’s something a bit weird about non-refrigerated meat. Canned tuna, smoked salmon, even beef jerky all seem a little creepy if I think about it too much.

It is meat! From a can (okay, packet)! It is exclamatorily odd and room temperature and aren’t we all a little haunted by what happened to John Franklin’s Northwest Passage expedition? Perhaps I watch too many Discovery channel shows on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions (I had a Shackleton fascination for about a year) or perhaps my brain already knew what my tastebuds had yet to learn.

Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast Lightly Seasoned with Garlic and Herbs is merely a mealy substitute for real chicken. The cassette-tape-sized “prime fillet” (a term I’ve never seen anywhere else in reference to chicken) tastes like the chicken version of canned tuna, plus some slightly off herbs and spices. I’d have loved to detect garlic and oregano and rosemary, but my nose could only make out ‘insanely strong herb blend’. And not in a good way.

But I couldn’t just toss the chicken. No, I had to combine it with my Pasta-roni. Just like the general improvement that occurs when sausages are sauteed and added to pizza, I thought that sauteeing the chicken first would add a bit of extra flavor and make the meal seem a bit more normal. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a good idea with my cheese pizza.

Instead, I added the sauteed pre-cooked chicken to my Pasta-roni, took a bite, and wept for the pasta I’d desecrated. The chicken was thoroughly mixed into the dish, so all I could do was eat around the chunks of chicken, carefully willing tendrils of Parmesan angel hair Pasta-Roni onto my fork.

If you can eat tuna from the can, you’d probably like this. If you’re a bit squeamish about canned meats, this isn’t the item for you. Unfortunately for George, this experience will not stop me from purchasing the ‘Southwest’ version of this item and pretending that it is chicken I’ve made myself. I’ll let y’all know how that one goes.

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comments

10 Responses to “Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast Lightly Seasoned with Garlic & Herbs”

sir jorge on January 9th, 2008

Everything is in a bag now! scary.
rob on January 9th, 2008

I liked the bagged tuna when we were having hurricane scares every weekend three and four years back, as “OMG WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” food goes, it isn’t half bad.
DJ on January 9th, 2008

For some reason, I can eat canned tuna just fine (although I don’t eat at a lot). Any other canned meat, or even tuna in one of those god awful pouches, makes me dry heave. CAN NOT DO IT! The pouches remind me too much of the food I used to buy for my cat, I think…
Michelle on January 9th, 2008

I’m so confused! This sounds disgusting and yet it’s three stars?

If you want meat in a bag, my grocery store has pouches of tuna fillet that are delicious. Mmmm.
Abi Jones on January 10th, 2008

@Sir Jorge – I like the bags. They don’t require a can opener, one of the devices that did not make it to California when I moved out here.

@Rob – That’s a good idea. I can’t believe I live in an earthquake-prone area and don’t have an emergency kit (with tuna). My fiance contends that ‘Stanford will take care of us’ and I think he has no idea what he’s talking about.

@DJ – So, you have a psychosomatic reaction to tuna?

@Michelle – If you want meat in a bag is probably the best all-in-one conversation starter/stopper I’ve seen.

Pouch chicken is weird and some people might consider it disgusting, but it wasn’t weird or disgusting enough to keep my from picking up other varieties. I think that for people who are okay with pouch meats, this is a good option.
Rose on January 11th, 2008

The idea of meat in a shelf stable bag scares me. I don’t eat tuna, or fish at all. but my fiance regularly takes a can of tuna, drains it, mixes it with mayonaise and eats it on crackers. this disgusts me..thoroughly.
Adina on January 12th, 2008

god i love pasta roni
Alisoon on January 12th, 2008

Are you sure this has that many calories? I thought it was more like 110 per pouch.
sklig88 on January 13th, 2008

shackleton IS fascinating. a museum near me had a huge exhibit on him and it was amazing.
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