Price: $3.19 (or free because I had a coupon for a free meal)
Serving: 1 oz.
Calories: 260 per serving
Fat: 14%, 9g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 42g
Fiber: 32%, 8g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 5

Kashi says: All Natural Tuscan Veggie Bake. Yellow squash, roasted eggplant, red onion, and sweet potato. Zesty basil tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes served inside Kashi seven whole grain noodles.

Samantha says: Kashi, what happened? I love your pizza, cereal, and tasty granola bars and then you come out with this?!

First, the cooking time on this meal is a little long and complicated to be taking over the office microwave-a total of 11 minutes! Bake for 5 minutes at 50% power, heat an additional 3 minutes at full power, let stand in microwave for 3 minutes. I don’t know about anyone else’s office politics, but taking over the microwave for 11 minutes leads to your name being dropped at the water cooler around here.

I took the fully cooked and rested meal back to my desk, carefully peeling back the plastic sheet. It looked like any other frozen “lasagna” based noodle frozen meal-square with sauce on top. It smelled good. The veggies had the “fire roasted” lines. The red sauce was plentiful and thick.

I have to say I was excited to try this meal. I have heard wonderful things about Kashi frozen meals “texture, flavor, nutritious!” and I love everything else they make. Oh this had texture all-right. I took my plastic fork and cut my first bite of the noodles and veggies, placed it in my mouth. The meal was pleasant and flavorful. I could taste the fire-roasted and the intense tomato sauce. Then I began to chew. All I kept thinking was “What is that hard pebble feeling in my mouth?” I turned over the box and read the label among the ingredients, all the way at the bottom, “brown lentils”. I am a big lentil fan, love to cook with them and eat them…however I prefer mine fully cooked, not in crunchy, partially cooked form.

Just seconds later there was another strange texture, chewy and yet soft. This I discover is the eggplant. I am not convinced eggplant should be anywhere near a microwave, but there it was, sandwiched between two whole grain noodles. The noodles were a bit chewy for my taste. The most surprising part of the entire meal was the mysterious white, cream sauce I found in the meal. I went back to the ingredients to investigate. I believe it was the “cannellini beans” in some form. Not too sure.

Overall, I was not impressed by the Kashi Tuscan Bake and feel let down. I gave it two stars because I am full, but will not be purchasing this one again.

Price: $2.50 (for pack of 2, with coupon)
Serving: 1 bowl, 7oz.
Calories: 190 per serving
Fat: 3%, 2g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 8%, 180mg
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 33g
Fiber: 28%, 7g
Sugar: 21g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Points

Kozy Shack says: Since 1967 Kozy Shack has been dedicated to providing wholesome, natural and great tasting products to our consumers. In continuing that tradition, we are pleased to present Kozy Shack Ready Grains, a ready to eat all natural multigrain cereal.

This unique and healthy cereal combines three whole grains: oats (steel cut oats, and rolled oats) brown rice, and barley that deliver a creamy texture and truly satisfying taste.

Can be enjoyed HOT or COLD any time, any where!

Daria says: I was first introduced to Kozy Shack products by a coupon some months ago. I’d never purchased them before, and tried their sugar-free tapioca pudding. It is truly excellent, as far as packaged tapioca pudding goes; just the right balance of sweetness with nutty tapioca granules, and its calorie count is very reasonable. I’ve been a fan ever since that coupon came into my life.

I found another Kozy Shack coupon recently in the newspaper, and took the plunge on breakfast. Kozy Shack has continued their line of great puddings in the Ready Grains product. To me, after heating for 30 seconds, stirring, then heating 30 seconds more, this had the texture of a warm, slightly runny oatmeal-maple pudding. Which is not a bad thing! I wouldn’t choose this for breakfast every day, but it is an interesting change for sure.

Ready Grains Maple Brown Sugar is quite sweet, and the natural flavor listed in the ingredients is most likely a real maple flavor – this Maine girl knows her syrup when she tastes it! The brown sugar also comes through nicely and thankfully the list of ingredients is short. Lowfat milk is first, second comes a number of different grains: steel cut oats, brown rice, pearled barley, and rolled oats. (Pearling does remove the fiber from the barley, but it results in a smooth texture). Water, inulin (an insoluble fiber) and eggs follow, then more starches, sugars, and flavorings. No high-fructose corn syrup is present, and the only item that indicates that this was made in a factory is modified food starch. That and carrageenan (a natural thickener from seaweed) contribute to the pudding texture. Kozy Shack’s ingredients are natural, and their tasty products reflect that.

The convenience of this product rates it highly in my book, and the natural ingredients boost that rating. I would buy this again, probably not this week, but definitely before my other coupon expires. They have three other flavors: original, apple cinnamon, and strawberry, and calorie counts for those flavors vary. However, if you are not a lover of the texture of pudding, you might want to think twice about this product.

A couple weeks ago the friendly folks at Hungry Man’s PR department sent my former coworkers a box packed with their new ‘Wild Man’ meals. This is one of those times when I can say that I’m glad I started having all of the free food shipped directly to other reviewers. Sure, I’ll take free pizzas, but free Hungry-Man? No thanks

For those of you who (similar to Nicole) enjoy Hungry-Man meals, you’ll be delighted to learn that we’re featuring them for all of next week. Yes, an entire week of Hungry-Man.

The new product line includes:

• Monday - Hungry-Man Country Fried Bison Steak: No need to haul out the skillet. Treat yourself to our country fried bison steak, with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. That’s one pound of tastebud-pleasing food.
• Tuesday - Hungry-Man Salisbury-Style Ostrich Steak: Take one bit of our tender Salisbury-style ostrich steak and you’ll be one happy customer. It comes with mushroom and onion gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. That’s one pound of tempting, terrific food.
• Wednesday - Hungry-Man BBQed Rattlesnake: This down-home dish is popular for good reason. You’ll enjoy rattlesnake patties in barbecue sauce, with mashed potatoes, and corn. That’s 1 pound of tongue-tingling, flavorful food.
• Thursday - Hungry-Man Boneless Wild Boar: Smokin’ sizzle! You’ll appreciate a home-made flair in our grilled wild boar steak strips, with onions and peppers in a zesty bourbon sauce, and mashed potatoes. That’s over one pound of fantastic food!
• Friday - Hungry-Man Sports Grill Beer-Battered Alligator: Enjoy favorite fan foods while watching your favorite team on TV. You’ll love our beer-battered alligator patties, and Cheesefries. It’s one-pound of yummy, winning food.

Meals like these make me wonder just how much market research Hungry-Man does before launching a new product line. Can you see yourself purchasing a box of beer-battered alligator patties and Cheesefries?

Price: $4.29
Serving: 1 tray, 8oz.
Calories: 370 per serving
Fat: 20%, 13g
  Saturated Fat: 35%, 7g
  Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 26%, 620mg
Protein: 14g
Carbohydrates: 17%, 50g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 Points

Amy says: Mac n’ Cheese is a favorite with kids of all ages. We decided to offer it in our first “Kids Meals”. Macaroni with organic broccoli with cheese and a slice of focaccia bread. For dessert, there are two delicious “snacks” filled with honey-sweetened organic apples.

Stacey says: This being a kid’s meal I sought out the perspective of my 8 year old niece, Penny, making this a 4 cents review (her 2 cents and mine). This kid’s meal appeals to the one’s most basic need…the need for Mac n’ Cheese. Amy’s Kitchen does it right by combo-ing it with just-right accessories: broccoli, focaccia and little applesauce pies. The headliner of the show held it’s own with noodles that one could barely detect as “healthy” and a cheese sauce that tasted reasonably like what cheese sauce reasonably should taste like, though it could have been a bit less runny so as to stick to the noodles better. The genius of pairing a broccoli side with mac n’ cheese is that the runny sauce gets to do double duty as vegetable dressing as well, so no harm is done by food-touching, often a hot button issue for kids. Penny and I both would have liked a larger portion of broccoli.

Getting back to the food-touching issue, separating the little apple pie pillows into an inner removable tray shows the kind of attention to detail that makes all the difference in a successful kid meal. My preference would have been to have the focaccia bread also segmented into the removable tray, but Penny used her bread square as a sauce-mop so it was moot to her. The pies themselves were delightful; so tiny and charming the way anything miniature is instantly attractive. I felt the two tasty bites were a just right ending to a well planned meal, but Penny felt there should be more of them, she’d like 5 more, but the negotiator in her will settle for an increase of 2. As for the dénouement, Amy’s kids meals come with a spectacular prize - a temporary tattoo of a one-eyed dog, the wearing of which instantly makes you the coolest kid on the playground or in the conference room.