“This meal was the first non “healthy” frozen meal I have had in a long time. And you can tell the difference. The chicken is fried, and covered in a creamy cheesy goodness…”

Price: $2.00
Serving: 1 meal, 16 oz.
Calories per serving: 650
Fat: 45%, 29g
Sodium: 42%, 1000mg
Carbs: 22%, 66g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Protein: 31g

Marie Callender says: At Marie Callender’s, we serve our golden-breaded chicken breast with a chunky homestyle marinara sauce, all on a bed of tender linguini.

Carolyn says: This meal was the first non “healthy” frozen meal I have had in a long time. And you can tell the difference. The chicken is fried, and covered in a creamy cheesy goodness. The sauce has some flavor to it aside from the requisite sugary tomato base. Everything in the tray tastes rich That being said, the noodles congregated into a single bland, sticky lump. From that sentence you can probably gather that I didn’t eat much of the pasta. The clumpiness was not aided by being permanently hardened to the edge of the tray due to the 6.5 minutes of required cooking time. The veggies weren’t bad and I could detect a faint amount of seasoning, but not much. I was confused, wondering if this seasoning was meant for the veggies, or was instead supposed to live on the chicken portion of the meal.

Marie Callender’s Chicken Parmigiana is not a bad meal, but there are healthier others I’d recommend before I’d tell you to go buy this one.

Marie Callender’s mac and cheese is probably the best frozen mac and cheese in existence…

Price: $2.50
Serving: 1 cup, 8 oz.
Servings in tray: about 2.5
Calories per serving: 350
Fat: 23%, 15g
Sodium: 47%, 1130mg
Protein: 16g
Carbs: 12%, 36g
Fiber: 12%, 3g

Marie Callender says: I blended tender elbow macaroni with a rich, creamy cheese sauce made with real butter.

Bale says: Marie Callender’s mac and cheese is probably the best frozen mac and cheese in existence. Not only is it a very large portion (20 ounces if you eat the whole box), the texture of the noodles is very good . . . not too soft and not too hard. The best thing about this side dish as a meal is the flavor of the cheese. You couldn’t ask for anything cheesier unless you make a pan of macaroni and cheese from scratch. That’s the only thing that would give this meal a run for its money.

The HeatEatReview.com staff has also reviewed:
Banquet Macaroni and Cheese;
Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese;
Annie’s Microwaveable Mac and Cheese; and
Kraft Easy Mac Cups.

“While Marie’s statements are true, I also take exception to her meal. First though, I will explain the excellence of the chicken…”

Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 14.75 oz.
Calories: 590
Fat: 43%, 28g
Sodium: 48%, 1140mg
Protein: 38g
Carbs: 15%, 44g
Fiber: 24%, 6g

Marie says: At Marie Callender’s, our slow-roasted, juicy chicken is topped with a tangy BBQ sauce and served with a homestyle cheesy potato bake and sweet corn on the cob.

Abi says: While Marie’s statements are true, I also take exception to her meal. First though, I will explain the excellence of the chicken. It was a real piece of chicken that wasn’t minced and reformed! I could see and feel the grain of poultry muscle. I know that probably sounds gross, but it was a deliciously welcome change from the cubed chicken that appears in other meals.

Even though the barbecue sauce carried a hint of tang (nice!), I wasn’t completely happy with its performance. It required a separate container for heating, which is a complete pain in the booty. The point of the meal is convenience, not figuring out how many other things you’ll have to get dirty because they’re not just putting the sauce in there with the chicken. Yeah, it probably turned out better this way, but the sauce packet separateness is the reason Marie Callender’s Chicken Parmigiana has been sitting in my freezer for months.

The homestyle cheesy potato bake is the nutritional downfall of this meal. It contains a variety of cheese products, including American cheese. I would have preferred mashed potatoes. Even better would have been potato salad with a viniagrette dressing (rather than mayo). That would have been a great counter-point to the sweet corn. Maybe it could come
in a little detachable container and there could be a freezer pack of flash-frozen fresh herbs too. Yum.

Ok, back to reality and the corn. The corn was delicious. I believe that it was cooked in a vat of butter. Ooooh, butter. This meal is insanely full of fat, which is probably why it tasted pretty good. Pick it up on sale (just $2.00!) and you won’t be sad. You won’t be healthy either, but that’s a choice you’ll just have to make.

Price: $2.50 on sale
Serving: 1/2 pie, 8oz.
Servings Per Box: 2
Calories: 530 per serving
Fat: 46%, 30g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 37%, 880mg
Protein: 16g
Carbohydrates: 16%, 47g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 13 per serving
26 Weight Watchers Points Per Pie

Marie Callender says: Made with All White Meat and Real Honey

Abi says: What the heck is in this that makes it so bad for you? I threw away the box, otherwise I would be able to answer that question.

Please note that the calories and fat above are for one serving. one serving is half of the pot pie. Who eats half a pot pie? Not any American I know. Maybe other cultures are better at denying themselves and only eat half a pot pie. Probably Canadians. They’re sensible.

Marie Callender’s Honey Roasted Chicken Pot Pie is very hot when it comes out of the microwave. Unnaturally hot. So hot that you will probably burn your tongue on the scalding fatty gluey honey-gravy and not be able to tell a pea from a chunk of chicken. Except that they have slightly different textures.

If you’re trying to be health conscious, your fat limit for the day is somewhere near 66 grams. That’s if you stretched your fat limit to the max on a 2000 calories/day diet. If you eat a whole pot pie, then you’ve just consumed 58 grams of fat. That’s 88% of your fat for the day. I’m happy to say that I actually at this pot pie several months ago (Fall 2005) and I haven’t had another one since then.