American Beauty Penne Rigate vs Best Choice!

The last time I purchased Penne Rigate at a local store, the American Beauty offering was on sale for just a buck for a one pound (545g) package. A great deal! However, the next time I stopped there, I was forced to purchase a package of Best Choice that also came in at the same weight. The cost, at $1.89, was 47% more costly, however. (Something that caused me to consider buying this stuff only when on sale in the future)!

Am Beauty vs BC

As might be pretty obvious, the Best Choice product (right) had a larger bore diameter more due to the thickness of the wall than anything else. A thicker noodle should take a bit longer to cook and this was reflected in the length of the cooking times; 6-7 minutes for the American Beauty versus 10 to 12 minutes for the BC, (or about the same amount of time it would take to cook regular spaghetti). Each package had a recommended serving size of 2/3 of a cup or 56 grams of product. (I noted that the actual counts of noodles were 69 for the American Beauty and just 57 for the heavier Best Choice).

The question that then came to my mind was one of overall taste and firmness. I prefer my pasta on the al dente (pasta that is cooked to be firm to the bite) side of things, and so aimed for that in my effort at cooking it.

OK. Let the experiment begin!

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Preparation: For this test, I used 6 cups of water in a 2 quart Le Crueset. I added a quarter teaspoon of sea salt, brought the water to a rolling boil and then added the noodles. These were cooked for exactly 10 minutes, with me taste testing the noodles for doneness towards the end of that time. After cooking, I then added about a quarter cup of Hunt's tomato sauce to a sauce pan in which the two were brought together for the first, (and the last) time. That added a minute to the cooking time for the noodles. The only extra ingredient I used was a very light sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. (At ~260 calories, this was a very doable diet styled meal)! Note: I'm not sure where that garlic toast came from!! That, and the tomato juice elevated this meal into the 400 calorie level...

Results: When compared to the American Beauty pasta, I found the Best Choice version to feel a lot more 'meaty'. It went OK together with the sauce and I enjoyed the experience. Still, in the future, I plan to base my selection strictly on the cost factor and will go with the 'lighter' noodle when I can!

Critique: Texas Style Buttermilk biscuits!

While in the midst of yet another failing diet, I of course made the decision to make up a batch of biscuits, Texas Style Buttermilk biscuits to be more accurate from the fine folks at Best Choice! I also figured to make up a small pot of brown gravy, figuring that the two items would be a dandy way to completely sabotage my weight loss efforts.

At a cost of only $1.34 for the biscuits and .79 cents for the gravy, I figured this would make for a great meal on the cheap! And, anyway what could go wrong? And, as it turned out, nothing!

The biscuits took only eleven minutes in the convection oven set to 375ºF and the gravy was also a snap to make. At the last minute, I added a scrambled egg and small glass of tomato juice to the meal and still ended up at only about 400 calories!

The biscuits were pretty near perfect as was the gravy from the people at McCormick! And, my only real worry was just how fast I was going to motor through the other eight remaining biscuits over the next couple of days! The whole deal, including the tomato juice came in at under fifty cents!

Superior dijon? I don't think so!

The Dijon mustard container manufactured by Best Choice out of Canada doesn't work well for me. I think it could be re-engineered so that the mustard doesn't plop out in large chunks. Perhaps a complete redesign is in order.

For my money, I think I'll look at other brands, perhaps even the venerable Grey Poupon glass jar.

Critique: Best Choice frozen beef patties!

As many of my readers might have already guessed, frozen beef patties run in a wide range, as to ease of preparation and overall taste. Schwan's fire grilled Angus beef steak burger #444 is one of the best I've ever prepared or eaten! They are fully cooked and are ready from the microwave in a matter of minutes! Other frozen burgers required time to cook, either in a frying pan, broiled or from the grill. This offering from Best Choice is of the latter variety, but, not by much!

While I do not remember what I paid for these burgers, Value Mart sells them online for $18. Each patty is advertised to be a quarter pound or about 113 grams. That comes to about 1.3 cents per gram while Schwan's came in at 2.5 cent a gram! So, if the cost is a valid factor, it's established that perhaps the Best Choice burgers maybe not as high a quality as those offered by Schwan's on a gram for gram basis.

I choose to prepare my burger in a stainless steel frying pan on an induction plate. (I choose this arrangement due to the fact that induction cooking uses way less electricity that a regular stove top would). I also used a bit of Mrs. Dash steak seasoning. The directions were not very clear as they indicated you needed to cook the meat until the temperature had exceeded 165 degrees. If you don't happen to have a handy dandy meat thermometer, then you are forced to guess. I went ahead and guessed.

After cooking for a number of minutes, I allowed the meat to 'rest' on a paper towel for about a minute. I used that time to slice some onion and grab a few leaves of Romaine lettuce. Then, with some mustard and ketchup slathered on and a side of broccoli, I took a bite...

The taste was not all that bad. Mind you, it was not as good as the meat from Schwan's (could have been the seasoning), but definitely very edible. I gave it a 7 on a scale of 10. And after the package is used up, I'll have a decision to make, won't I.

Critique: Bean with Bacon soup!

Many years ago, when I was younger and even dumber than I am today, my father introduced me to a can of Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup, something I never would have tried myself. Today, it has become one of the very few enduring foods that I really enjoy from time to time.

Today, I cannot afford to buy the name brand product. I have to resort to purchasing a can of Best Choice at $1.29 for an eleven ounce can. Even that's a bit expensive in this Obama economy and so I only enjoy it once or so a month.

Preparation is as easy as it could get; just dump the contest into a small pot, add a can full of water, stir and heat to boiling. Your done and ready to enjoy a unique taste sensation! Each ½ cup serving contain 140 calories and no one I know eats just a cup – the average total servings are 2.5 1/2 cup servings, so I always eat about half or 190 grams at a sitting. This would equate to about 200 calories and that's OK with me. The only down side is the sodium which comes in at an astronomical 980 mg per serving. [That's 41% of a healthy person's recommended daily intake of salt from just this one product]!

On a scale of 10, I gave this a solid 8 and would highly recommend that everyone give it a try!

Critique: Best Choice Scalloped Potatoes!

For someone who is still on a diet (me), I’ve some how been emotionally shanghaied by the desire to eat and critique more of the many variations of packaged potato offerings that are out there. Today, I’ve undertaken to write a post about this offering from the folks at Associated Wholesale Grocers (www.augbrands.com). The 140 gram contents supplies about 100 calories per half cup prepared (there are 5 of these portions per box). That’s the same number of calories as a recent post I did on a similar product made by Idahoan; a similar scalloped potato dish that came in at just a little bit more money and which offers up only 4 - ½ cup servings. Ah, I see some savings here! The thing is I’m not trying to pit one company against the other for just the difference of a few cents! What I am doing is hoping to catch a ‘comfort food’ that makes sense. (For the record, this box cost me $1.79 on July, 2012. It was purchased in Forsyth, Missouri and has an expiration date of May 30, 2013). Ultimately, I want to do a comparison between commercial boxed preparations versus homemade with respect to cost and nutrition.

The instructions on the plain Jane box were pretty straightforward; preheat your oven to 400F, add 2 cups of boiling water along with 2 tablespoons of butter and ¾ cup of milk into a 1.5 quart baking dish. Next, stir in their little packet of ‘cream sauce’! Whatever that is??  Next, you add them dehydrated potato slices and stir the whole thing up. Bake this in a quart and a half oven proof container, uncovered, at 400F for 35 minutes or until them tatters are tender. (Note: if you live in the mountains; set your oven to 425F)! Side note: This package does have directions for the microwave and stovetop, but trust me, just do the oven deal if at all possible…

After baking, here’s the result! Very pleasing to the eye and the taste was on a par with most everything else I’ve tried. Gave this one a score of 8 and due to the extra quantity for a cheaper buck would recommend it to all.

Critique: Best Choice New Orleans Style Rice Mix!

While perusing the isle in my grocery store that has rice products, I came across a package of Rice Mix, New Orleans Style. Well golly, I thought, who doesn’t like a good old plate of beans and rice from time to time? I bought a package for $1.50 that contained 227 grams or 8 ounces of product. I must confess, my expectations were running high.

The preparation of this dish is quite simple using a 2 quart pot with a lid; you add some water (3 cups), a tablespoon of butter and the package ingredients. These are brought to a brief boil then cover and reduce to a simmer for about thirty minutes. Voila – simple as can be.

Since I had some left over ham, I cubed a slab to form a meaty platform for the rice mix. A note of caution. Taste before you add any salt! A cup of this stuff packs a 1,060 mg of sodium. So, it’s already somewhat salty to the taste! As to taste, it wasn’t all that bad! I think the next time I try some, I’ll add a shot or two of Tabasco sauce to liven it up a but, but otherwise it was quite good. An interesting thing about this dish is that when beans and rice are eaten together, they supply all the essential amino acids a body requires. You could actually sustain your life by only eating this mix although that could get a bit boring after a month or so.