Serving: 1 box, 2.25 oz
Calories: 260
Fat: 11%, 7g
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 10g

Michelina says: This authentic dish will delight the cheese lover in you with every bite. Tender rigatoni stuffed with cheese is tossed in a zippy Pomodoro sauce seasoned with crushed red pepper. Then Michelina melts a little extra cheese on top, just to make you smile. Say Pomodoro!

Josh says: This is review is short and to the point. The meal comes in a cardboard box/tray combo which can easily burn your fingers. As for the food inside, there were just seven noodles (box makes it look like there’ll be like 20 or so, but apparently that is a serving suggestion), one little slice of zuchinni, and some watery sauce. Michelina’s Stuffed Cheese Rigatoni tastes cheap, but then again, it is cheap (just $1 at Safeway). I give it 2 stars, because it’s only a dollar and doesn’t actually taste awful…but you’re also risking a hand injury.

Price: $1.00
Serving: 1 meal, 8 oz.
Calories: 450
Fat: 31%, 20g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 7g
Carbs: 15%, 45g
Fiber: 8%, 2g

Budget Gourmet says: Nothing. I can’t find a promotional blurb for this meal anywhere.

Abi says: First, the bad news. This meal (side dish?) contains chicken fat (ingredient #6), margarine (ingredient #7) and beef extract (ingredient #12). Yes, it actually contains chicken fat and beef extract twice.

The good news: this was some deliciously schmaltzy stir fry rice. Dang, if I just needed to add chicken fat, margarine, and beef extract to stuff to get it to taste so buttery and fatty, then I would have been doing that a long time ago.

The bad news: it is twenty minutes later and I have been hit with an extraordinarily serious and uncomfortable case of heartburn.

Oh my God. It is burning my insides.

This rice is not good for people who are vegetarians (it is trick rice!), those taking Orlistat (immense amounts of fat), or those with acid reflux disease.

Oh, my insides…

Price: $1.00
Serving: 1 package, 10 oz.
Calories: 500
Fat: 35%, 23g
Sodium: 41%, 990mg
Protein: 20g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Carbs: 16%, 48g

Michelina says: Try our version of a Nordic masterpiece. Our lean ground beef meatballs are mildly spiced and simmered in a rich gravy flavored with sour cream, vermouth and Worchestshire. Dished up with a helping of tasty pasta, it’s a veritable smorgasbord!

Abi says: While teaching 3rd grade in South Texas, I occassionally ate a Michelina’s meal. I could easily have afforded any other brand of frozen meal, but for some reason I stuck with Michelina’s Lasagna. This explains why I ate a lot of Triscuits and string cheese for lunch.

If only I’d tried Michelina’s Swedish Meatballs back then. They are so definitely worth a dollar that I’m still in shock over how much I enjoyed eating this meal. For a buck you get 5 meatballs, a bunch of plain noodles, and creamy spiced sauce. Michelina’s has the unusual habit of keeping the sauce and noodles separate during the cooking process. This may be because they’re cheap or it may be because it keeps the noodles from getting too mushy.

While the phrase ‘flavored with sour cream, vermouth, and Worchestshire’ doesn’t get the saliva flowing, the actual effect of those ingredients in sauce is more than acceptable. Also, this is not a “veritable smorgasbord”. It is meatballs, sauce, and noodles. Michelina’s, please get a dictionary and note that “veritable” means “real or genuine” and “smorgasbord” means “an extensive array or variety”. When a meal consists of three common items, it is not a “veritable smorgasbord”.

And dear eaters, keep in that while you will be enjoying the one-buck-adventure, others near
you will merely see that you’re eating meatballs in white sauce out of a cardboard box.

So, if a hot guy sits in a cube next to you, perhaps you should avoid this one. No hot guy? Enjoy your dollar lunch and treat yourself to a cocktail or two at happy hour tonight.

Rereading this review, I considered writing the above paragraph like this:

So, if a hot person of the gender to which you are most attracted sits in a cube next to you, perhaps you should avoid this one. No person you may be attracted to? Enjoy your dollar lunch and treat yourself to a beer or cocktail or other non-gender-specific beverage and happy hour tonight.

It doesn’t flow as well, does it?

Price: $1.00
Serving: 1 package, 8 oz.
Calories: 320
Fat: 15%, 10g
Sodium: 28%, 680mg
Protein: 11g
Carbs: 13%, 38g
Fiber: 12%, 3g

Michelina’s says: Get all the fun of baked macaroni and all the hearty flavor of beef rolled into one amazing meal. Then cover it in tomato sauce, add green peppers, jalepenos, and all your favorite chili spices and — viola! You’ve got a healthy lunch or dinner that’ll get you going — and keep you coming back for more.

Josh says: Don’t buy this product unless you are feeding 30 absolutely starving young children and you only have $30. (I’d even consider getting those overcooked Taquito-things from 7-11 first). In every other situation, avoid this bland, wretched macaroni beef combo.