Hormel Compleats Santa Fe Style Chicken
May 9, 2008 | Reviewer: Nicole
Serving size: 1 Tray, 10 oz
Calories: 280
Total Fat: 6%, 4g
Saturated Fat: 5%, 1g
Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 13%, 40mg
Sodium: 23%, 550mg
Carbohydrates: 14%, 41g
Dietary Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 36%, 20g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points
Hormel says: Santa Fe Style Chicken with Rice, Black Beans & Fire Roasted Corn.
Nicole says:
- Nicole: Have you eaten the hormel santa fe style chicken?
- Matt: Not yet
- Matt: I only had the beef one
- Nicole: It seems my camera (phone) has decided it is completely non-operational
- Nicole: Might you share your photo when you do eat it?
- Matt: I will
- Matt: Did you see my review of the beef peppers?
- Matt: It’s NASTY
- Nicole: Yes
- Nicole: I’m scared
- Matt: It’s more like Fear Factor then Heat Eat Review
- Nicole: You are making things worse for me right now
- Nicole: I’m about to eat shelf stable chicken
- Matt: Shelf stable?
- Nicole: As in, sits on a shelf versus frozen food, which is a preservation method I am much more comfortable with.
- Nicole: Seriously, the idea of eating this is giving me pain and slight nausea
- Matt: I hear ya
I know that reviews are supposed to be objective, but they are also supposed to be honest. The idea of shelf-stable meats outside of a can (soup, tuna) scares me. I have tried it before, and it was . . . okay . . . but definitely not “good”.
And that was not chicken.
There was initial comfort: when I tried to poke “several slits” in the heavy plastic seal on this meal with my fork, it proved impossible. This is a good seal. I had to use the knife we keep in the office for ice cream cakes.
Note about cooking: the alternative to microwave coking this meal is to simmer it while sealed in a pot of boiling water. I suggest you campers keep this in mind.
The aroma of the cooked meal (90 seconds is a REALLY quick cooking time) was heavy with tomato sauce. And the flavor is very heavy on tomato - it even overpowers the beans, which I expected to taste as the primary but they just peek through the sauce, though they are nicely cooked - firm enough to have texture but not hard - no “mush” there.
The corn has completely taken on tomato flavor, but it has retained it’s crunch. And I know you’re going to ask - yes, it it blackened in spots since it’s “fire roasted”.
The chicken is the thing I really don’t want to think about. In reality, the texture is better than the chalky texture that results from some microwaved frozen meals or the hard edges from others. This is moist, and it tastes like tomato sauce.
The rice is just saucy rice. All ingredients (there are actually two types of beans) are fairly represented throughout the meal, including a couple chunks of stewed tomato.
There is nothing wrong with this meal - the one major complaint would be that all the ingredients have the same flavor, though they distinguish themselves texturally. It’d be nice to taste corn and chicken as well.
But it is more than that. Hormel is going to have to work hard for the average person to conceive realistically of grabbing a plastic tray of chicken and rice off the shelf, heating it for less than two minutes, and consuming it. Maybe it’s not actually different than a can of soup, but we’ve been eating out of cans since people were speaking Aramaic, or nearly that long. I am sure there were cowboys eating out of cans before the Hollywood cowboys did so. We are in a plastic age, but have we advanced mentally far enough for it to preserve all our foods? Kudos to the technology, but I can’t get into it yet. It’ll take several more experiments and a couple more years before it feels “right”.
Or, please just put it in a can. Doubly beneficial, as I know I can recycle a can - this plastic tray is polypropylene, and I’m not sure if my building accepts it. And my stomach will be far more welcoming. Sure, I’ll need to pour it into a dish to cook it, which means there will be dishes to do, but I’d rather dirty dishes than slight nausea throughout lunch.
This isn’t a bad meal. It’s not bland, though it is one-note. It’s reasonably filling for it’s size and caloric content, likely because it has rice and beans and chicken (though also because my stomach shrinks when it’s afraid - sorry.) If you can mentally put aside the packaging and you like simple canned soups, you would most likely enjoy this meal. And it’s sooo healthy compared to even many of your Lean Cuisine meals. I just can’t handle it.
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7 Responses to “Hormel Compleats Santa Fe Style Chicken”
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these meals competely disgust me. for some reason there were some in the house for…months and months, in the cupboard with the rest of the usual goodies like chips. I avoided it until there was nothing left in the house. I think mine were meatloaf. and then maybe..roast beef? idk. it all tasted like crappy gravy and reminded me of dog food.
Be wary with the Compleats fans, I gave one a bad review and I was skewered for it. They may be a good idea for a dystopian future in which all lunch breaks are under ten minutes, but not for modern cuisine.
Speaking of shelf stable meats, I purchased a giant box of military MRE rations a while back and must say that while some shelf stable meats are okay, others are clearly worse than dog food. The meatloaf in particular has the consistency of spam but the taste of “brown.”
I actually really like the chicken and rice one… great with a slice of bread and butter for sopping up said chicken and rice!
“And that was not chicken.”
Was! It! Sparta!? Or Yahoo!?
ok, is it just me, or does that stuff look completely gross? I don’t mean the picture on tha package, which sorta looks like food, but the actual product. I simply couldn’t eat it.
I saw these at the store and they just didn’t look good to me. Thanks for sparing me the $$. I will stick to my lean cuisines.
The beef and mashed potatoes one … whatever it was called … was not HORRIBLE (like the asian chicken one). However, I agree. They all seem to have a dog foody taste to them.