Price: $1.75
Serving: 8 oz.
Calories: 280 per serving
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 17%, 410mg
Protein: 10g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 41g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 POINTS

Michelina’s says: Penne pasta with sweet Italian sausage, juicy tomato pieces in a homemade marinara with peppers.

Nicolea says: Just when I thought that Michelina’s had another winner in the freezer, my expectations went unmet.

Where is the sauce?

Michelina’s laid the pasta on thick but this marinara sauce stinginess placed the meal a little on the dry side. Making matters worse, the marinara was thin and watery. All was not hopeless when checking out other aspects of this meal: there was a lot of pasta, which I enjoyed. The peppers, onions and sauce also add an acceptable degree of flavor. There were maybe seven not-to-small pieces of sausage and they were rather satisfying, with a delightful seasoning. This meal could have been given the benefit of the doubt for its limited supply of sauce if only each of the above-mentioned items were slightly better in quality.

Somewhat surprisingly, Michelina’s Budget Gourmet Penne and Italian Sausage is a little spicy. 30 minutes late I endured the remnants of spiciness from that meal. But I’m not mad about that experience because those peppers (the few that were sprinkled in there) tasted great. Any standard spaghetti sauce at the grocery store could have been added to this meal to make it better. And any standard frozen meal at the grocery store could include more sauce to make it better.

It is not my job to add more sauce to a pre-packaged meal. Frozen meals are supposed to substitute for food preparation and other tasks that are involved in cooking food at home or at the office. If I wanted to mess around with spaghetti sauce, I would have made my own Penne and Italian Sausage dish. However, I paid $1.75 for immediate gratification at dinnertime.

I was cheated out of sauce and left with some dry penne pasta. Yet, this meal is still somehow worth a medium rating because of its satisfying flavors. This meal has the potential to be something great.

INGREDIENTS: COOKED ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WATER, DURUM SEMOLINA [ENRICHED WITH NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID]), WATER, DICED TOMATOES (TOMATOES, TOMATO JUICE, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, CITRIC ACID), ITALIAN SAUSAGE (PORK, SPICES, WATER, SALT, DEXTROSE, GARLIC, PAPRIKA), TOMATO PASTE, BELL PEPPERS, LESS THAN 2% OF ONIONS, GARLIC (WITH WATER AND CITRIC ACID), CELERY, MARGARINE (LIQUID AND PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, BHA AND BHT ADDED TO PROTECT FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE AND VITAMIN D ADDED), MALTODEXTRIN, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SALT, SPICE, OLIVE OIL, XANTHAN GUM.

CONTAINS: SOY, WHEAT

The new Healthy Choice ad campaign (which is costing somewhere between $90 million and $100 million) features actors from the oeuvre of Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show).

Sorry, I’ve been trying to include the word ‘oeuvre’ on this website for a long time.

Anyways, I’ve seen a couple of the ads and thought “Wow, these are brilliant.” and “This doesn’t make me want to eat Healthy Choice foods. At all.”

You can see all of the Guest-directed ads as they come out on Spokesperson Wanted. The second one out ‘Let them eat Potstickers’ is better than the first. Or, if you’re not into these sorts of commercials, you can be like the person who wrote me this email, thinking that I in some way have control over ConAgra’s multi-million dollar ad budget:

Charkes wrote:
Recently, I say a new TV advetrizement of your product. The presentation was with two women sitting at a table. One woman was eating a Healthy Choice selection and she was chewing on the outside of her mouth. It was a disgusting display of sickening manners and I do not believe I am interested in your product!!!

So what do you think about this ad campaign? Is it brilliant? Frightening? Do you just want more Christopher Guest?

When the a link titled World’s Largest Lean Cuisine Collection popped up on my Twitter feed via @SeriousEats, I thought ‘Is that a post about Heat Eat Review?’

Sadly, it was not about this site. Instead, it is about a freezer that belongs to the parents of one of the two unnamed male authors behind Epic Portions. And yes, it is the world’s largest collection of Lean Cuisines. Check it out.

Price: FREE from Stouffer’s
Serving: 8oz.
Servings per container: 4.5
Calories: 330 per serving
Fat: 20%, 13g
Cholesterol: 13%, 40mg
Sodium: 36%, 860mg
Protein: 18g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 36g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 6g
Weight Watchers Points:

Stouffer’s says: Freshly made pasta layered between mozzarella cheese, seasoned beef and a rich garlic tomato sauce.

Nicole says: First thing to address with “family-sized” meals is the “serving size” used for its nutritional information. They always list the serving size for a six year old. And obviously not an American six year old, because we are all well aware of the obesity epidemic among American children.

Eight ounces a “meal” does not make. I suppose if you were making this for a family, you’d make a side dish. This box contains “4.5″ “8″ ounce servings. But that detracts from “Easy Express”, doesn’t it? My co-worker/co-eater (Bonnie) and I decided that at best, you could stretch this as a standalone meal for two adults and two small (under 6) children. Can children under six eat Stouffer’s these days? There are so many new rules to child-rearing these days. I ate 2.5 of those 4.5 servings. My co-eater had 1.5 (she’s a big snacker). 0.5 servings went to waste, because it’s hard to give away part of your frozen lunch.

Also, for dinner,”18 MINUTES” sounds awesome. But it’s a long time at lunch in a microwave shared with many others. Oh, well. I would definitely say don’t but this if you don’t have a microwave - 75 MINUTES! You could cook several meals in that time. I was shocked and delighted that it cooked all the way through, a common problem with frozen lasagnas. It also burned on some edges, but me and my co-eater love burnt lasagna edges.

The main point of this meal is that it is NOT what you’d expect from a lasagna meal. The box hints at this, but the taste screams it. “Garlic” is a serious odifier of the meal name, and serious flavor - if you don’t like it, don’t get this. If you like garlic, as I do, it’s pretty exciting. But not a good date meal, if you’re the type to “cook” your date a dinner that comes from a Stouffer’s box. The sauce is not remotely similar to the oregano-rich tomato sauces of most frozen meals. This is garlic sauce.

The “cheesy” in the name is also serious. This is cheesy, and contains mozzarella instead of lasagna’s standard ricotta. It is a nice change, but again, NOT what you expect. The ingredients are surprising, including burgundy wine and soy sauce. I say CHANGE is coming to America and it is good.

The beef is totally unexciting. I have no negative or positive comments - it was simply the ground beef that is in the flavorful cheesy garlic sauce. But I love my protein, even if it doesn’t stand out in any way.

Both Bonnie and I liked the refreshing flavors of this meal, and it’s perfect for a small family or if you have a roommate and it’s your turn to cook. My 2.5 servings were very satisfying and delicious.