Price: $2.50 on sale
Serving: 1 package, 16oz.
Calories: 620
Fat: 37%, 24g
Cholesterol: 17%, 50mg
Sodium: 66%, 1580mg
Protein: 33g
Carbs: 23%, 69g
Fiber: 26%, 7g
Weight Watchers Points: 14 Points

Boston Market says: We start with white meat chicken, dipped in a seasoned batter and cooked to a golden brown. The chicken is placed over a bed of freshly-made spaghetti and covered in a marinara sauce made with diced tomatoes. A layer of real mozzarella cheese is sprinkled on top to finish the dish.

Abi says: While I’ve been in Oregon (arrived Saturday, leaving today) the temperature has hovered around 45 degrees during the day and well below freezing at night. As a newly minted Californian (okay, so I’m still studying for my driving test), I find this horrifying. Sure, it is fun to be in the hot tub while there’s ice outside, but at the same time that means freezing your buns on the way from the house to the tub.

On days like these, I want a meal that is warm and filling. I want the epitome of heartiness. I want something that is fried and contains pasta. I want chicken parmesan.

Boston Market seems like the right beacon to steer my boat of neeeding food toward, but it turns out that this item is fraught with peril. While I don’t doubt that Boston Market starts out with white meat chicken, I do think they are missing several steps in their meal description. The impressively large piece of chicken is disconcertingly spongy and made an odd sucking noise while I cut it into pieces.

The pasta was ho-hum, floppy, and flavorless. The sauce was never anything more than watery, generic tomato sauce. I know that I shouldn’t except gourmet when I eat a Boston Market frozen meal. But I should expect hearty and hearty this sauce was not. The flipping and mixing required in the cooking process also meant that any hint of melty cheese quickly disappeared.

I’ll definitely stick with the Michael Angelo’s Chicken Parmesan, a clear winner over this dud from Boston Market. Rebecca only gave it three stars, but that doesn’t stop me from picking up a box whenever I see it on sale.

Price: $2.50 (on sale)
Serving: 1 entree, 14 oz.
Calories: 470
Fat: 19%, 12g
Cholesterol: 26%, 80mg
Sodium: 54%, 1310mg
Protein: 31g
Carbohydrates: 20%, 59g
Fiber: 11%, 3g

Boston Markety says: We start with tender, juicy cuts of Beef Sirloin mixed with a savory mushroom gravy. Pour it over freshly made buttered egg noodles, and you have a delicious steak entree with the Boston Market touch.

Nicole says: Boston Market is all about accurate representation. The lighting in the room where the box picture was taken is a bit softer and has more yellow in it, but this picture does fairly represent the amount and size of the meat, noodles, mushrooms and the little green herb flecks in the gravy and on the noodles.

Actually, there is a tad bit more meat in the meal than what the picture on the box expresses. And it’s not reconstituted meat product. In fact, a couple pieces of beef sirloin are actually marbled. Like steak. And it tastes really good. Crazy.

The gravy is on the watery side, quite salty in taste (my one warning), and features a hint of spiciness. The mushroom slices are each the size of a postage stamp, a tiny bit rubbery but quite moist, and taste mushroom-y. The noodles are soft and thick.

This is a pretty straightforward meal. Meat, noodles, some sauce with a couple veggies pretending to round out your food pyramid desires. It’s also 14 ounces, so a “hearty portion,” according to Boston Market and my standards.

I can’t wait for the next Boston Market sale. Of course, when I say that I will buy a meal again, it means in the far distant future, because I’m always searching out NEW meals to try and am too committed to the mission of warning your taste buds to settle into a comfortable routine of dependably yummy fare.

Price: $2.00 (sale)
Serving: 1 entree, 15 oz.
Calories: 360
Fat: 31%, 20g
Cholesterol: 21%, 14mg
Sodium: 65%, 1570mg
Protein: 24g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 21%, 5g

Boston Market says: Tender cuts of turkey breast, homestyle mashed potatoes & gravy, with carrots and green beans.

Nicole says: (I'm sorry. I took a bit of veggies before I took the picture. So really, there were more than you see here by just a bit.)

This meal seems to be missing something. Like STUFFING. If you have turkey and mashed potatoes, it's fairly standard to give us some stuffing, too. But the veggie side of carrots and green beans is colorful, hearty, not too mushy, and sits in a light butter sauce. So I will forgive you. One day soon, but not today.

The turkey tastes and feels like turkey. Real, Thanksgiving Day turkey - except it's simpler to eat due to the "medallion" shape versus slices. No messy attepts at cutting turkey slices with the side of your fork. The gravy does not overpower the actual flavor of the meat, which is fabulous (the meat and the gravy). I begin to think I'm seeing double, as I keep eating but there is still all this meat left! 10-12 medallions ranging from the size of a quarter to the size of an oyster. The potatoes share the compartment with the turkey and gravy, and after natural mixing that occurs while heating, the gravy takes away some starchiness and leaves you with the creamy, lumpy essence of Grandma's house. It is a standard helping of potatoes, nothing special, but it adds to the serious fulfillment you'll get from this meal.

So we've established that Boston Market's Turkey Breast Medallions meal is pretty stellar in the arena of enjoyment. How about health? It's pretty low-cal at 360 calories for a 15 ounce serving. However, this tasty meal packs a punch of 65% RDA sodium. No wonder it tastes so good. Not that it was super-salty, just delicious.

If all the cheese in the world, and all the ingredients necessary to make cheeses, were somehow tainted, rendering all cheese deadly, and I for some silly reason chose life, then I would strongly hope that everything tasted like turkey, potatoes, and gravy. Grandma's or Boston Market's.

Price: $3.00
Serving: 1 meal, 9.2 oz.
Calories: 410
Fat: 25%, 17g
Cholesterol: 17%, 50mg
Sodium: 48%, 1140mg
Protein: 20g
Carbohydrates: 15%, 46g
Fiber: 6%, 2g

Boston Market says: Our juicy chunks of chicken are honey-roasted and complemented with a sweet and tangy sauce made from balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and brown sugar. It’s served up with a side of our signature Au Gratin Potatoes

Nicole says:

Dearest Darling Boston Market:

How do I love thee? Let me pay tribute.
Aroma from the microwave so sweet
And savory I could not wait to meet
Your cheesy sauce and honey Dijon soak.
I love thee among frozen meals no dispute,
Bland sauces and low-fat cheese can’t compete.
I love thy luscious, tender chicken meat.
I love its zesty aroma en tout.
I love the potatoes covered, no ruse,
In the creamy thick cheese bath like a cloak.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With all the mediocre frozen meals.
If forever I had to simply choose
Just one, Boston Market, our souls I’ll seal.

The only complaint I could possible make about this meal is its size - not even ten ounces, with a two larger chicken pieces, about five small ones, and a child’s fist of potatoes. Some might shy away from the sodium content, I know. And, no, you won’t get all your food groups. But it’s all worth it. This is probably the tastiest thing ever to go into the microwave frozen. Boston Market was already a heavy-hitter with me, but this meal is a home run.

The skin-on roasted potatoes were an unbelievable complement to the chicken. And that chicken? It was texturally perfect, swimming in amazing Dijon mustard/balsamic vinegar/brown sugar concoction. The cheese sauce cooks up creamy, with beautiful shreds visible before the meltiness comes on.

Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished.