Critique: Healthy Choice Beef Strips Portabella!

According to the package, this must be some sort of wild West dish: 'Tell your taste buds to saddle up because it’s time to ride. Tender and juicy beef strips covered in a savory portabella mushroom sauce, served with fluffy whipped potatoes and a fresh mix of green beans and carrots. Then finish up with a sweet caramel-apple dessert that’s close to perfection.'

At just 280 calories, I was all ears, er... make that all mouth..as in watering. This creation by the same folks who brought us Weight Watcher meals, has all the things I like in a TV dinner style meal a deal! There's beef, veggies, fungus in the form of mushrooms... And oh my! Is that a heap of mashed pertaters I see on the package. Man-o-man! You get all that AND dessert! There's just got to be a catch.

Well, it wasn't the price! I paid a paltry $2.99 for this and the nutritional panel also indicated it was not going to blow out an aortic gasket when I ate it. So, I figured it'd have to be the taste! If there's one thing I've learned in life, there ain't no such thing as a cheap TV dinner that was good for your body AND tasted good. Nope! Just not in the cards.

I was beginning to suspect that the folks at ConAgra Foods may just have gotten their act together when they decided to come up with this line of products! The instructions were a breeze; just cut away the plastic over the dessert and nuke for about five and a half minutes on high. Man, it don't get no more easy than that! I followed these simple directions and then headed over to the dinner table to dig on in. In the background, I put on an old Roy Rogers number to help set a western mood.

The beef, the sauce and the mashed potatoes were good to excellent. I wasn't as happy about those carrots and green beans, however.. so, I gave them lower marks. I saved the apple dessert for last. Oops, the apple were a tad bit al dente. Good tasting, but they need to work on that some more. Overall a very decent low calorie, low salt meal that is head and shoulders above many similar offerings on the market. I gave this one a sold 7 on a scale of 10.

Critique: Banquet Pepper Steak Meal

First off, I have to say that the meat patty in Banquet’s Pepper Steak meal is rather tiny. As in dinky, not really there and where the F is the beef? This dollar-a-meal offer by Banquet is perhaps ‘all it cannot be’! For something that comes in at just 260 calories, and which costs a buck (.97), it’s not a horrible deal, mind you. But, keep in mind that you pretty much get what you pay for these days. Q: What does a buck buy in 2012? A: Not very much!

You just can't fix ugly!

This offering, from the folks at Con-Agra, advertises a ‘seasoned patty made with chicken, pork, beef in a pepper sauce over rice’. (Not really a steak). The reality, as you can see in the picture at right was pretty lame. Made me think of my last septic tank inspection, for some reason! Nothing at all like the package artwork.... And, there’s also enough sodium to qualify it as a preservative in its own right! (Turns out the extra salt is all that save this meal a deal).

Yet, I must remind myself that these are hard times under Obama's regime, and so when I run low on funds, I will often visit the 'commoner’s food trough' from time to time. If I close my eyes tight, this stuff does taste OK. However, next time I can scrap together enough mullah, I’m gonna buy the upscale version. Maybe something from Marie Callender or even Healthy Choice! [Updated in Nov 2014]