Price: $2.29
Serving: 1 package, 8oz.
Calories: 310
Fat: 12%, 8g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 25%, 610mg
Protein: 16g
Carbs: 14%, 42g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Whole Kitchen says: Filled with natural, sustainably farmed chicken, our Whole Kitchen Chicken Enchiladas are convenient, quick to fix and perfect for a delicious, wholesome meal. Our enchiladas are handmade using authentic corn tortillas made with natuaral masa and topped with a savory, traditionally spiced sauce.

Kelly says: I am clueless when it comes to good Mexican food. I like Mi Barrio, a run down place near the freeway and I like Chipotle, a mega-super-chain once owned (90% of shares) by McDonalds. Obviously my standard is ‘Does it taste vaguely foreign?’. You might laugh, but as I woman of Eastern European descent who was raised in the Midwest, I grew up eating hot dishes (casseroles for all you coastal people), not tacos and enchiladas.

But with the ATL commuting issues and lots of paperwork at the office, I don’t ever have time to slip out for some incredible tacos al pastor. I have to plan ahead. And believe me, picking up fresh Mexican food at breakfast time doesn’t mean you’re going to have that same degree of freshness at lunch. When I saw these enchiladas at Whole Foods for just $2.29 I thought ‘Woooo! Finally a somewhat inexpensive all natural Mexican-type food that I can eat in the office. Lean Cuisine Fiesta Chicken gets old fast and a lot of stuff out there that looks good isn’t so good for me.

It turns out that these enchiladas aren’t so good for me either. They pack 310 calories into 8 ounces of crusty tortilla barely covered with bland tomato sauce. I only ever eat mild salsa (yes, even medium is too strong for me), but the mole in these enchiladas is a joke. As far as toppings go, there was a smattering of cheese, but it was more of a decoration than an actual ingredient. What a bummer.

These Whole Kitchen Chicken enchiladas do have meat, but it isn’t the memorable chunks of tender chicken I find in Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde Enchiladas. These measly, bland pieces were each about the size of a small marble. Dear Whole Foods, there’s this awesome thing called ‘marinade’. I suggest you look into it.

I wish I had something nice to say about this meal. For the price and the naturalness, I was looking forward to making this a lunchtime staple. If it magically appeared in my freezer or was free or I forgot to bring my lunch and a friend had one sitting around I would eat it again. But I don’t think I’ll pay money for another box. Back to the drawing board freezer section, I suppose.

Price: $2.99
Serving: 1 package, 12.3 oz.
Calories: 470
Fat: 17%, 11g
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 11g
Carbs: 28%, 85g
Fiber: 41%, 10g

Whole Kitchen says:Our Whole Kitchen chana masala is made in the traditional Indian fashion. Garbanzo beans are enveloped in a savory spiced sauce and served with white Basmati rice. This vegetarian taste of India goes from freezer to table in about 5 minutes.

Heather says: Well, hello there, fellow lovers of convenience and cheap frozen meals. Thanks for having me. This will be the first of my considerably biased and editorialized reviews of vegetarian and – when I’m feeling really virtuous – vegan products. Like you, I love food. And like you, ostensibly, food reviews. They not only entertain me but also serve to save me a buck or two now and then. And being a destitute graduate student, I certainly appreciate a dollar saved.

Now then, let’s get started, shall we? For my first review, I pounced upon what looked like a safe old favorite: Whole Kitchen’s Chana Masala. I love Indian food in general, and chana in particular. I’d never tried this particular product but have been pleased so far with the Whole Foods product lines, so I thought it might be at least moderately edible.

I would sum up this product thus: Blech.

I suppose I had high hopes for this meal, because I love chana so very much. I even stirred it around and fluffed the rice a bit in an attempt to make it look better for its online debut. Sadly, my efforts didn’t improve its taste in the least. The lovely Basmati rice had clumped together
awfully and was, by and large, crispy. There was also not nearly enough sauce, which just highlighted how icky the rice turned out. Not that it would have helped much, for the masala itself was lackluster. The chickpeas were soft, as they should be, but the sauce was unremarkable. The only thing I could think to do to improve upon its taste was add salt, and yet — judging by the nutritional information — that would be inadvisable.

All in all, this meal was a bit of disappointment. In general, I don’t make much Indian food at home, precisely because it ends up tasting exactly like this meal…blah. But I will say this much for my cooking - at least I can make a batch of non-crispy Basmati rice.

Price: $2.29
Serving: 2 enchilada, 8 oz
Calories: 330
Fat: 15%, 10g
Sodium: 29%, 690mg

Whole Kitchen says: Our enchiladas are handmade using authentic corn tortillas made with natural masa and topped with a savory, traditionally spiced sauce.

Abi says: When in college, I dated a guy who was also part hispanic. I say part-hispanic (even though hispanic is a ridiculous term) because he had an anglo mom and a dad of mexican heritage just like me. One Saturday we took a road trip to visit his family. Sure, it was a little early in the relationship for a step like that, but I was interested in meeting the parents of a person who had a similar background. And at the time I liked this guy who later turned out to be an unfit boyfriend and would randomly call me for Trivial Pursuit challenges even though I had an unlisted number.

Future craziness aside, it turned out that this was not just a trip to meet parents. I ended up in his grandmother’s kitchen helping her make enchiladas and discussing the area of South Texas from which my family hails.

The whole time we cooked I was worried that my enchiladas would turn out just like the Whole Kitchen ones that I ate today. The picture on the box shows oozing cheese. The cheese does not ooze. It is actually absorbed and hardened within the corn tortillas, creating an aromatically cemented masa crust covered in a mediocre sauce. While the Amy’s Kitchen enchiladas did give Jess indigestion, at least they tasted good. Yes, the Whole Kitchen ones are cheap. They are cheap and would be embarassing if you made them with your boyfriend’s grandma.