Hormel Compleats Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

June 17, 2008 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Photo of Hormel Compleats Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy Price: Free from Hormel
Serving: 1 Container, 10 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 11g
Carbohydrates: 10%, 30g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 Points

Hormel says: Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy. Created for a healthy lifestyle. Ready in 90 seconds!

Matt says: It took me a little while to gather the courage to delve into another Hormel Compleats meal. It is just plain weird to eat a prepared meat dish that was not frozen. Similar to the military issued MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat); peeling off the rubbery plastic cover is akin to opening something made by the Alpo corporation. At that point it is difficult to get excited.

Removing the cover reveals a cafeteria scoop of mashed potatoes viewable under a deep pool of gravy. The actual meal looks a lot different than the cover of the package! Per the cover image the idea is to stir the potatoes into the gravy. I tried this but there is just so much gravy. The gravy is thin in texture. Conversely, the potatoes are thick to the point of being dry. This is good, nevertheless, or else the potatoes would dissolve in the murky brown liquid.

The potatoes are a mild surprise. They are not nearly as good of the TV dinners of my youth but better than the current Swanson offerings. I like that they are on the dry side.

The meat and mushroom content leaves a lot to be desired, however. The mushrooms have the taste and texture of regular canned mushrooms. I counted only four pieces, and I seriously mean pieces, of mushroom in the container. The meat, like in the Compleats Steak & Peppers variety, is tender. That said there is not much of it. Unlike the ample meat pictured on the cover, there was only one rather large piece of beef and then a series of beef bits. “Beef bits” – what a horrible concept. Wait, doesn’t Hormel make bacon bits? There you go.

Ultimately the gravy flavor dominates the dish. Rather than gravy it is more like beef stew broth, or a prepared pot roast broth. It’s everywhere. If one wants to combine this with bread there will be plenty of gravy for sopping. I would be on board for this if the gravy was actually good. There seems to be a dominant spice that I cannot put my finger on. I looked on the package to only find a lot of “flavorings” and preservatives. Wine is an ingredient, which probably accounts for the pot roast echoes. Regardless, everything tastes like gravy.

While it is definitely better than the Steak & Peppers variety, I tasted that gravy for an hour afterward. It is definitely filling, but would be a lot better with a vegetable of some sort. The pot roast parallels call for carrots I think. There’s not enough good here to make me buy this. The shelf life is a plus but the meal just okay. I can see bringing one of these to work for lunch and at noon deciding to get take out instead. It would stay in my desk for months.

comments

15 Responses to “Hormel Compleats Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy”

MaryAnne on June 17th, 2008

My dog would love it.
Chavi on June 17th, 2008

All Hormel meals taste like Hormel Chili to me.

Negative stars come to mind.
Lisa on June 17th, 2008

That looks like something I’d only eat after a natural disaster.
Adina on June 17th, 2008

ew
KevinJ on June 18th, 2008

The only time I ever ate one of these was when I was given one from a food pantry. Believe me, they’re nasty.
Katy on June 18th, 2008

I imagine it does taste something like MRE roast beef with gravy, which I agree smells waaaaay too much like dog food. Every Hormel product I’ve ever tried — at least the beef ones — regardless of variety — all taste like Dinty Moore Stew, which also smells like dog food.

On a related note, I just noticed none of the HER reviewers have offered up their opinion on any Dinty Moore products. How sad.
Jess on June 18th, 2008

Matt is a brave brave man, who will do almost anything Abi tells him to. Really. She operates him remotely using intense IM language, peer pressure, and 5 guys temptations.
Rob on June 18th, 2008

I like Dinty Moore brunswick stew from the can.
Rose on June 19th, 2008

The two different ones I had from this line were almost like this, except the beef was actual slices, about as big as the container. but still tasted like gravy. and I’m not a fan of gravy unless it is white. so I definitely didn’t like these.
I agree though I’d only willingly eat them again after a natural disaster.
Laura Roeder (Shortcuts Online Marketing Blog) on June 22nd, 2008

I really cannot believe you ate that. I keep looking at the picture over and over again in disbelief!
Red on June 23rd, 2008

They are really pushing these at wal-mart. It makes me wonder who they are trying to appeal to.

The only utility that these offer for the price is being shelf stable. And shelf stable meat scares me.
Tracy on June 24th, 2008

I tried two different varieties of these things, one like this (beef in gravy with potatoes) and a “chicken alfredo”. They tasted identical. I mean, shouldn’t alfredo sauce at least have a different flavor than beef gravy? Interestingly enough, I didn’t dislike the flavor. It just wasn’t GOOD.
Evil9 on June 27th, 2008

These meals are all pretty much very blah tasting. Aside from the Dinty Moore beef stew, the Compleats are quite disgusting. In the beef varietys, I agree the gravy is brown water and the ‘mashed potatoes’ are just one big white patty clump. The stuff is also kinda expensive for a meal that looks the same as when it comes out.
Heather on August 6th, 2008

What do you expect for a dry meal? People actually think this ‘box of meat’ will be delicious?
It’s really not that bad I tried it - I actually thought it was going to taste much worse but the actually flavor of it was pretty good - similar to campbells chunky soups with beef in it.
April on August 18th, 2008

I’m at my computer eating one of these right now. I decide to look at reviews on it to see if people “Actually” liked it (Cause by Golly Miss Molly I DON’T!)

The meat doesn’t taste like meat to me. Somehow it has this off meat taste, like it was cloned or something. Potatoes aren’t smooth - they still have “Potatoe Chunks” in them. The Gravey is really strong. All together it has this blasting, nasty, bland after-taste that sticks to the throat for hours.