Price: $2.00 on sale
Serving: 1 package, 6oz.
Servings per package 1
Calories: 330
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 15%, 5mg
Sodium: 21%, 510mg
Protein: 20g
Carbohydrates: 16%, 47g
Fiber: 4%, 1g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 Points

Eating Right says: Tender diced chicken, creamy garlic sauce, reduced fat cheese, diced garlic and onions on a brick oven crust.

Abi says: What does brick oven crust mean? Does it mean ‘in the style of a brick oven crust’? Does it mean ‘Partially cooked in a brick oven so that you can later finish cooking it in your home?” Does it mean “The words ‘brick oven’ sound cool and remind us of the Rick James song ‘Brick House’ so we use the phrase with the hope that you’ll get it stuck in your head every time you think of pizza.”

I’m going with the middle idea, which equates ‘Brick House Oven’ pizza to ‘chocolatey’ coating on Baby Ruth candy bars. It simply is in the style of chocolate, but it not chocolate itself.

This item is in the style of pizza. It has crust and sauce and cheese and toppings (maybe on the toppings), but it is not something I would actually call pizza. No, this item from Eating Right is an approximation of pizza.

First, the brick oven crust offered no hint of flavor. It was just a bread base made to hold the toppings. And the toppings? They’re awful. The picture on the box shows a moderate-to-skimpy amount of cheese, some herbs and an estimated 17 pieces of diced chicken. Reality reveals a different story: lots of cheese, tons of what I assume are herbs, 9 pieces of chicken and one cube of a completely unidentifiable substance that was probably a chunk of chicken fat.

Considering how generally accepting I am of mediocre microwavable pizzas (evidence: Stouffer’s Corner Bistro Steak Fajita Flatbread, which I should have detested and Lean Cuisine Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza, which is multiple degrees better than this lame imitation), this pizza combined with the time of day and conditions in which I ate it (2pm lunch after having no breakfast and just 15 minutes to eat before yet another meeting) should have made it instantly accepted.

Instead I ate a third of the pizza and tossed the rest, resolving to get to 4pm with only the assistance of a Diet Coke and a granola bar. Yes, that’s all I ate until 4pm: a freaking granola bar. Okay, and a third of this pizza, which is a grand total of 110 calories.

I really wish that I could describe the taste of this pizza for you, but the problem is that it was so bland that there was only one flavor: light garlic. Now, if Eating Right has somehow managed a new method for imparting a light garlic flavor to foods, they should get on the horn with Kashi and help them rescue their Garlic Chicken Pizza. The garlic was so much in the ‘hint’ category that I didn’t worry about heading into 2 hours of meetings after such a lunch.

On the other hand, this pizza also included chicken, imaginary onions, herbs, cheese and crust and I can’t tell you a single memorable thing about any of them.

Price: Free from Hormel
Serving: 1 Container, 10 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 11g
Carbohydrates: 10%, 30g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 Points

Hormel says: Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy. Created for a healthy lifestyle. Ready in 90 seconds!

Matt says: It took me a little while to gather the courage to delve into another Hormel Compleats meal. It is just plain weird to eat a prepared meat dish that was not frozen. Similar to the military issued MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat); peeling off the rubbery plastic cover is akin to opening something made by the Alpo corporation. At that point it is difficult to get excited.

Removing the cover reveals a cafeteria scoop of mashed potatoes viewable under a deep pool of gravy. The actual meal looks a lot different than the cover of the package! Per the cover image the idea is to stir the potatoes into the gravy. I tried this but there is just so much gravy. The gravy is thin in texture. Conversely, the potatoes are thick to the point of being dry. This is good, nevertheless, or else the potatoes would dissolve in the murky brown liquid.

The potatoes are a mild surprise. They are not nearly as good of the TV dinners of my youth but better than the current Swanson offerings. I like that they are on the dry side.

The meat and mushroom content leaves a lot to be desired, however. The mushrooms have the taste and texture of regular canned mushrooms. I counted only four pieces, and I seriously mean pieces, of mushroom in the container. The meat, like in the Compleats Steak & Peppers variety, is tender. That said there is not much of it. Unlike the ample meat pictured on the cover, there was only one rather large piece of beef and then a series of beef bits. “Beef bits” – what a horrible concept. Wait, doesn’t Hormel make bacon bits? There you go.

Ultimately the gravy flavor dominates the dish. Rather than gravy it is more like beef stew broth, or a prepared pot roast broth. It’s everywhere. If one wants to combine this with bread there will be plenty of gravy for sopping. I would be on board for this if the gravy was actually good. There seems to be a dominant spice that I cannot put my finger on. I looked on the package to only find a lot of “flavorings” and preservatives. Wine is an ingredient, which probably accounts for the pot roast echoes. Regardless, everything tastes like gravy.

While it is definitely better than the Steak & Peppers variety, I tasted that gravy for an hour afterward. It is definitely filling, but would be a lot better with a vegetable of some sort. The pot roast parallels call for carrots I think. There’s not enough good here to make me buy this. The shelf life is a plus but the meal just okay. I can see bringing one of these to work for lunch and at noon deciding to get take out instead. It would stay in my desk for months.

Price: $2.00 on sale
Serving: 2/3 cup, 3.5oz.
Servings per package 2
Calories per serving: 50
Fat: 5%, 3g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 5%, 115mg
Protein: 1g
Carbohydrates: 2%, 7g
Fiber: 9%, 2g
Sugar: 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 1 Point per serving

Green Giant says: Broccoli Florets, Julienne Carrots and Red & Yellow Sweet Pepper Strips in a Garlic-Herb Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil Seasoning

Abi says: These Green Giant nutriceuticals are the dietary equivalent of the “For Dummies” book line. Instead of “Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies” or “Heartburn and Reflux for Dummies” we’re being marketed to with “Immunity for Dummies” and “Weight Control for Dummies.” Granted, I still buy this stuff but that’s because it is easy and can sit in my freezer for weeks before being cooked. You can’t say the latter about fresh vegetables.

This vegetable combo steams up significantly better than the zucchini-focused Healthy Vision item, keeping the broccoli tender-yet-toothy and the potentially mushy red and yellow peppers to a minimum. The carrots are in cube/matchstick form, making them less stabbable than other carrot incarnations. This lack of fork-friendliness makes me think that these vegetables are better used as an integrated element in a pasta dish (or with some couscous) than as a stand-alone side.

In other Green Giant products the butter flavorings have always been so overpowering that I haven’t been willing to use the vegetables as an ingredient. In the case of the Immunity Boost pack, the “garlic-herb infused extra virgin olive oil” was negligible. This is bad if you want a lot of flavor, but great if you’re looking to combine your vegetables with other ingredients.

If you’re looking for an easy, healthy way to bulk up those Lean Cuisines, I highly recommend picking up a few packages of Green Giant vegetables when they go on sale. Your eyes and mouth will both enjoy this vibrantly hued, subtly-flavored vegetable mix. And you can leave them in your freezer for weeks without worry.

When I was last in Washington, DC I saw these corn dogs at the (then-new) Columbia Heights Target. I was killing time before meeting folks for brunch (and later a trip to view the Darth Vader grotesque at the National Cathedral), so I wasn’t in the best situation to pick up some frozen food.

As an Information Architect, I’m horrified by their corn dog classification system.

As a consumer I think “Oooh, 37¢ per corn dog!”