Critique: Lean Cuisine's Sweet & Spicy Koren-Style Beef!

Other than going for the longest name ever on an entree, I wasn't sure about how I'd like this offering by Nestle USA Inc out of Ohio. First of all, were they talking North or South Korea. I didn't want nothing to do with anything Kim Jon-Un might have had his fat little hands on. So, I assumed it was a south Korean dish and therefore somewhat safe to consume..

At 320 calories, this offering was not bad, assuming it would fill me up. Also, the 650 figure for sodium was a livable amount. At least the food wasn't soaked in salt!

After performing the rather simple preparation deal in the microwave, I noticed that the meal didn't look much like the picture displayed on the box, but it was close! It also helped a lot that I was hungry as this food was a wee bit too sweet for my pallet. If this is what they eat in Korea, I could better understand why everyone is skinny. It wasn't something I'd ever order seconds of... that was for sure! Of the visible vegetables, I was certain of the carrots and only guessed that what looked like zucchini really was. The cook prime beef steak was OK and I never really made out the green onions or the host of ingredients like whey solids, molasses or succinic acid. Not sure that was really a bad thing. In the final analysis, this meal was sort of like what I thought K-rations must have tasted like in WWII. You ate the stuff and then didn't feel too bad about going off to die.

I rated this entree a 4 on a scale of 10 and honestly do not intend to purchase it again in the future... unless we have another war or something...

Critique: Lean Cuisine Steak Portabello!

At a sale price of just $2.50, this frozen entree from Lean Cuisine sported a couple of words that I really relate to; the word steak and the bastardization of the word portabelly. I love anything that's steak and happen to sport the other around my waist! And just check out that picture! (How can a mere mortal like myself NOT want to embrace such a sumptuous meal)?

So, I brought this 'incred-a-deal' and got it home post haste. And even though the package looked, how can I say it... a bit on the petite side, I was sure that it would satisfy the hungry man inside me. Well, shouldn't it?

At first glance, the 150 calorie content was bliss to a man on a diet, and while the sodium was a bit high at 450 milligrams, I was still a go! (I just figured that out there in the land of cheap deal meals, they had to use a lot of salt to make it taste...edible). Was I wrong to think that?

The Land of Reality

OK, here is what the dinner looked like after following the simple instruction of making a slit in the plastic and nuking on high for four and half minutes! Sweet! And you know what, I actually liked what I saw! Sure, the amounts were very small (especially the steak), but the taste was all that I could hope for. This creation gets a solid 8 on a scale of 10 and yeah, I'll plan to buy it again in the near future.

Critique: Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs

I think this is the second critique I've done on a TV dinner entree that contained meatballs swimming around in a sea of pasta. The other one concerned an offering from Banquet; a meal that cost just a buck, but which hit you over the head with 440 calories (about half of which comes from fat), 1020 milligrams of sodium (½ the daily recommended intake) and 80 mg of cholesterol! Compare that with the much more svelte figures from Lean Cuisine of 290 calories (70 from fat), 670 mg of sodium and just 35 mg of cholesterol and you can sorta figure out why you'd be paying more ($2.50) versus a buck for the Banquet product. You see, everyone, it's all about symmetry! You evidently have too pay more in order to eat well. A 'good food' costs about a penny per gram of a food that delivers about 1 calorie of nutrition. 'Bad foods' generally are cheaper but you then get hit over the head with higher calories, more salt and cholesterol reading that are through the roof! It took me quite some time to figure that out.... Note: In 2016 the price had crept up to $3!


That said, I found this offering also to be both tasty and filling! Those little meatballs were done to perfection and the pasta was al dente the way a good pasta should be. Even the sauce passed muster as far as my taste buds were concerned. Overall, a good investment in your health fro m the folks at Nestle. I gave this meal a 7 on a scale of ten.

Critique: Lean Cuisine’s Herb Roasted Chicken!

Talk about a tale of two cities. Whereas my review of the Glazed Chicken offering from the folks at Nestle (no longer exists as of 2015) was less than sterling, this meal was a horse of a different color! I was so very pleasantly surprised that I made the decision to buy more of this at the store while it was still on sale for $2.50. But, before I get to gushing too much, let me cover one oddity.

When you prepare this in the microwave, you are instructed to make a slit in the plastic covering (no biggie) then place it in the microwave and cook it AT HALF POWER for nine minutes! Say what! I wasn’t even sure how to set the power on my microwave. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a power setting. But, after I finally figured it out it was no problem. What I don’t quite understand is why the dish need such treatment. Perhaps I’ll write the company to find out.

Back to the taste. This mix of chicken, potatoes and other veggies is offered in a white cream sauce the combination of which is very similar to a meal my mom made when I was a child. Total comfort food here. Also, at only 170 calories, I could enjoy some additional sides without messing my diet up too much. Bonus points for that!

I give this meal a 9 on a scale of ten and urge everyone to give it a try!

Update: Here is the response from ConAgra concerning the need to use 50% power: "
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about LEAN CUISINE® Herb Roasted Chicken. We welcome questions and comments from loyal consumers such as yourself and appreciate this opportunity to assist you.

We have read your email. This is how we tested this particular product for the best quality. With some microwaves, 50% power is synonymous with power level 5, medium, medium-low and in some instances, defrost. If your microwave only has a high setting, you can cook the product on high power for half the amount of time. If the product is not thoroughly cooked in that amount of time, continue cooking on high but check after a minute or so to prevent overcooking."

Update: In 2015 the cooking instructions had been changed to simply, place in the microwave and cook for 6 1/2 minutes!

Critique: Lean Cuisine Glazed Chicken!

Seeing as this TV meal deal was a ‘Chef’s Pick’, I just had to avail myself of the opportunity to purchase one. At $2.50 for a 240 gram meal which yields only 240 calories or about a calories per gram, I thought it just might live up to the company logo. (by way of contrast, potato chips yield close to 5 calories a gram).I felt if I could make this the major part of a dinner, I could get myself back on track to losing some weight!

At first glance, I found the concept of a glazed chicken somewhat distasteful. Glazed, in the manner of which they are speaking, generally refers to some sort of sweet marmalade that covers the meat.  In this case, they are referring to a ‘savory lemon tarragon sauce’ which doesn’t sound too bad. Also, as I looked at the package cover, I’m guessing those little green sprigs were supposed to represent the tarragon. Rounding out this presentation, we have white rice, green beans and cashew chips.  (Sounded absolutely yummy to me). So, onwards to the preparation.

Assuming you have a microwave (you do have a microwave don’t you?), the directions are as simple as can be; take the meal out of its box, throw it into the microwave and nuke it for 5 ½ minutes on high. (Something even I couldn’t screw up)! After the dinger dinged, I removed the meal, sat it in front of me and stripped off the plastic cover and prepared to eat.

This meal made by Nestlé (you know - the chocolate milk people) tasted only so-so. Frankly, I was disappointed by the experience. The chicken was chewy and the rice tasted undercooked. Overall, I gave this meal a sad score of 6 on a scale of 10.