President’s Choice Chinese Cashew Chicken

July 8, 2009 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

President's Choice Chinese Cashew Chicken Price: $3.69 CDN ($3.05 USD)
Serving: 365 g., 12.9 oz.
Calories: 410 per serving
Fat: 15%, 10g
Cholesterol: % Unknown, 40mg
Sodium: 56%, 1350mg
Protein: 22g
Carbohydrates: 20%, 59g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 POINTS

President’s Choice says: Seasoned chicken pieces, vegetables and cashews in a sauce made with Chinese 5-spice, with long grain rice on the side.

Ridley and Avi say: This frozen Chinese-style meal looked good as we peeled off the plastic, but was disappointing on the fork or between the chopsticks.

The rice, as often with frozen Chinese meals, was slightly gooey and tasteless. It looked good, but didn’t stand up to the tooth test. The sauce had a welcome mild spicy-ness, but a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. While not quite chemical, it certainly seemed unnatural, which is the last thing we want from a dinner. The sauce also seemed not able to make up its mind: Sweet? Salty? Perhaps a vegetarian oyster sauce wannabe?

The chicken (which you can’t even see in the picture of our meal) was relatively tasty, but most pieces were structurally unsound and fell apart while we ate. More chicken (even reconstituted like this seemed) would have been welcome.

While some of the vegetables were decent, the celery reminded us of the time Ridley tried to drink soy sauce – a little taste is OK, but any more and you’ll gag. The red peppers added welcome colour and were sweet, if soft. The snap peas were a real mistake: funny texture, no taste, and a yucky watery splurt when we bit into them. There was barely a piece of onion to be found.

The namesake nut of this dish, the cashews, were a highlight, tasting almost like real cashews, though a bit soft from being microwaved. We were definitely looking for more of these babies.

It’s worth noting the chicken seasoning contains milk and fermented wheat protein. The sauce includes wine. And for those who live in a community with plastic recycling, the tray is made of plastic rated “1″.

It is also worth noting that this meal is not one of the President’s strongest Choices.

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comments

3 Responses to “President’s Choice Chinese Cashew Chicken”

Shannon on July 8th, 2009

THANK YOU! Canadian content! I’m so happy to see a brand I can buy.

Now if only it sounded better…
Abi Jones on July 8th, 2009

Hey, I know you have Stouffer’s in Canada!

I’d like to feature more meals from around the globe on Heat Eat Review, so if anyone out there knows about some special Australian Lean Cuisines – or has access to the fantastic ready meals of England, I’d like to have you review here!
Jamie on July 10th, 2009

I’m also thrilled to see Canadian content here as well! I buy a lot of the President’s Choice frozen dinners…. and there are a lot i’m interested in trying as well….. so its always nice to see what others thought as well