Happy Birthday, Heat Eat Review!

April 18, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

In April Heat Eat Review turned two! Yes, we’ve been writing about frozen meals for two whole years. The image above? Well, that’s straight from the birthday card my mom sent. She reads Heat Eat Review every day. Hi mom!

I’d like to share some stats we’ve accumulated in the last year:

466
Reviews on Heat Eat Review

14.8
Percent of reviews that are Lean Cuisine Items (that’s 69, for you non-math folks)
Last year, 19.18% of all reviews on the site were Lean Cuisines

$1165
Estimated amount of money we’ve spent on review food
(We buy things that are on sale)

8
Average number of comments a review generates, up from 4.125 last year

67
Number of comments on Jess’s review of Kashi’s Sweet and Sour Chicken

119,806
Spam comments blocked by Akismet
This year Heat Eat Review received 5 times as much spam as last year

36
Number of Review Contributors
You can become a contributor, too.

I’d also like to share some new and upcoming features:

Dedicated frozen pizza reviews section
That’s right, we have a category just for Frozen Pizza Reviews. I’m more than a bit ashamed that we don’t have more pizza on Heat Eat Review, so one one my goals for the site is to eat more pizza. I know, my life is so hard.
Ability to view all ’sponsored’ reviews
I’d like to improve transparency at Heat Eat Review, so I’m going to create a category for all of the reviews involving food sent to us by companies. This should give you an easy way to see if we’re serious about ethics or if we are just a bunch of corporate hacks.
Gravatars (Globally Recognized Avatars)
Coming soon: Gravatars at Heat Eat Review, meaning that you’ll have a little picture appear next to your comments. The picture is connected to the email address you enter via a Gravatar account. If you don’t have a Gravatar, get one at the Gravatar website.
Video Reviews, now without annoying laptop fan noise.
The next video review will go up on Friday, April 25th. Yes, I got a microphone. Yes, I found Lunchables Tacos. Yes, they are gross. No, I’m not going to tell you anything else about it until the review goes up.

Thanks for reading Heat Eat Review! I look forward to seeing what Year Three brings!

comments

17 Responses to “Happy Birthday, Heat Eat Review!”

Joe Lencioni on April 18th, 2008

Congratulations on the milestone. I’m looking forward to the next two years.
Mindy on April 18th, 2008

Congrats! You have a stronger stomach than I have. Some of the stuff you eat is really scary looking. Take care.
M.M. on April 18th, 2008

Congrats and happy birthday! I only recently discovered the site but I’m really enjoying the reviews here.
Thank you for all the work that goes into this site, it’s one of my favorite reveiw blogs already.
ZZ on April 18th, 2008

Happy Birthday! I started reading when I saw you in the NYT. And may I say, you’re beautiful as well as wise in the ways of frozen food!
Hyrcan on April 18th, 2008

Happy Birthday HER!
Katie on April 18th, 2008

Happy Birthday! Not only have you influenced my shopping habits (and made me appreciate living by a Trader Joes much more), but your site has also made many a slow work day more bearable.
Justin on April 18th, 2008

Happy Birthday! An amazing reference source for bachelors!
Shelia on April 18th, 2008

Happy Birthday!!

I love the site, thanks so much for the work you all do!
VeggieGirl on April 18th, 2008

Happy 2nd Birthday, Heat Eat Review!! Here’s to many MORE years of fabulous, witty, and informative reviews!! :0)
Marvo on April 18th, 2008

Awesometastic!!! Happy Second Birthday, H.E.R.
Crow on April 18th, 2008

Ow, the statistical figures need to be below the descriptions, not above it…
Carlos on April 18th, 2008

Rock on! Good show on eating naught but block food for two years!

And review more booze on imbibable!
Rose on April 19th, 2008

=] way to go.

I had a dream two nights ago that I bought some crappy frozen pizza meal and reviewed it for the site, but I bought it on a date, and my date was all depressed that I hated it. plus, my date wasn’t my fiance’.
Angie on April 19th, 2008

Congrats on the milestone!
Jessica on April 19th, 2008

Happy Birthday! I hope to one day be a contributer!
So Good Blog/News Round-Up 4/21/08 | So Good on April 21st, 2008

[…] Heat, Eat, Review turns two years old. […]
Sara on April 21st, 2008

Happy, happy Birthday! I really enjoy your site, and I think you are very funny!