Safeway Select Thai Style Coconut Chicken

January 22, 2009 | Reviewer: Abi

Photo of Safeway Select Thai Style Coconut Chicken Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1 tray, 9oz
Servings per package: 1
Calories: 310 per serving
Calories from Fat: 110
Fat: 19%, 12g
Saturated Fat: 27%, 5g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 11%, 35mg
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 12g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 37g
Fiber: 5%, 1g
Sugar: 6g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 Points

Safeway Select says: Chef’s recipe simmers coconut milk, lemon-grass extract and chili paste into a rich sauce, then pours it over moist, white meat chicken strips and rice. A Thai feast!

Abi says:The best box blurb is not the one above, but one that is on both the front of the box and the back and reads ‘Exotic Spices, a Hint of Heat, Exploding Taste!’

Seriously, EXPLODING TASTE? I don’t want to eat that for fear of what it will do to my guts. Fortunately, I didn’t see that until this little guy was in the microwave. Four minutes on normal power, a quick stir, then one more minute on normal power. I could inform the next person in line that it would take me five minutes and be done with the microwave jockeying that plagues many an office kitchen. My coworkers were also intrigued by the black box, which reminds me of nothing so much as Dynasty. Yes, I know it is supposed to mean ‘classy’ and ’sophisticated’ but instead I keep picturing Joan Collins being forced to eat these after being locked in a basement by a demented Linda Evans.

This meal also reminds me of a super-old Betty Crocker cookbook that my dad gave me for Christmas a few years back (I asked for it). Why? Because it contains an insane amount of pineapple. And while I went pineapple crazy on my honeymoon (which wasn’t even a month ago), ordering every pineapple-containing creation in the known universe (fried rice, salad, nachos, smoothies, pina coladas, yogurt, ice cream, breakfast pastries, etc), I could still eat more pineapple. In fact, right now I could go for some pineapple

Fortunately for me, this dish contains a heck of a lot of pineapple. Scads of pineapple. Gobs of pineapple. Considerably more pineapple than you’d guess from the ingredients list, which lists tomatoes immediately prior to the pineapple. Amount of tomato in actual dish: 1 tablespoon. Amount of pineapple in the dish: look at those arrows. Those are pointing to visible pineapple pieces.

Aside from pineapple, Safeway Select brings delicious, not-super-processed chicken, a moderately lemongrass-flavored coconut sauce and the weird rice that comes in some microwave meals. They need to get in touch with Lean Cuisine, because Lean Cuisine rice (specifically the rice in the Tortilla Crusted Fish) brings it. This rice does not bring it. This rice is just mushy and boring. Fortunately for all of us, the sauce is so good that I ate every speck of food in the tray.

And my guts were fine.

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comments

8 Responses to “Safeway Select Thai Style Coconut Chicken”

Ginia on January 22nd, 2009

I generally like the Safeway Select frozen dinners, but I can’t buy them because they’re TINY. Granted, I’m the type of girl that can knock back a Hungry-Man dinner, but these little guys feel more like an appetizer than an entree. Could we have a little side of peas, Safeway? Brownie cup? Anything?
Jill on January 22nd, 2009

Haha, Ginia, sounds to me like you should take advantage of the huge sales on lean cuisine at Albertson’s, then you’d get decent rice, a cheap meal, and enough food!
Abi Jones on January 23rd, 2009

Ginia: They ARE tiny. This Safeway Select meal is only 9 ounces. But for two dollars of delicious I’ll take 9 ounces. I followed this up with a Chocolate Coconut Lara Bar an hour later, but probably should have just had some carrots.
Rick on January 23rd, 2009

But for $2.00 you can get two of them! Of course, you would have to be twice as careful to avoid the exploding, but there are always hazards.
Red Icculus on January 23rd, 2009

I am sure it tastes better than Hamburger Helper’s “Asian Helper”. Guh-ross.
christine on January 24th, 2009

That looks pretty good.
Hazel on January 28th, 2009

I really like this one! I think this is their best
lilly on October 2nd, 2009

this is soooooo good! omg. i should have bought more. i just got 2 delivered. (i have vons.com deliver my groceries)and the only vons i know of is waaayyy across town. damn! i am going to try and see if there are any other grocery stores that carry something similar to this. AMAZING! cheap also!