Critique: The shrinking Smart Ones Salisbury Steak meal!

This must be the sixth or seventh Salisbury Steak  entree offering that I've critiqued over the last few years. Why I missed this one from Smart Ones is beyond my understanding, so today I am making amends!

This meal came with mac and cheese, so it was a shoo-in at $2.79, (in 2016 I got it for $2 on sale). As one of the Weight Watcher's group of meals, I figured I was making a pretty smart choice!

At just 270 calories per meal deal, I was very tempted to add a side or two to sort of 'round out' the total eating experience. [But, then I realized that I'd already been doing that for some time. One look at my expanding waistline was enough to dissuade me.... this time]. Note also, that by 2016, the meal was just 250 calories... hmm.. the portions must have shrunk!

Preparation was actually pretty straightforward. I've found, from experience, that the smaller the box, the more likely it will be to prepare without much mental effort on my part. I like the smaller boxes a lot for that very reason!

The instructions indicated this to be a 'peel back the corner' class of meal. You peel one corner, nuke it for four and a half minutes, pry open that corner even more so you can stir the contents and then nuke again for about another minute and a half! See! Easy! No mental ability required. That was right down my performance envelope alley!

I got through the requested microwave operations, while pouring myself a glass of ice water. In a few minutes I had an appetizing abet small meal sitting invitingly in front of me at the table.

The Salisbury steak tasted a lot like meatloaf, something I've found to be true in other labeled products by the same name. The mac and cheese was also a real savior because who doesn't love mac and cheese! I gave this meal a sold 7 on a scale of ten and hope to enjoy these more often. Now, I only had 14 hours to go before breakfast..... arrgh!

Update: May 2016 - Circa fast forward and now this meal deal is in separate compartments! So, on one side were the noodles and the other was the 'steak'... My initial take - the cheese side +5, the 'steak' -4. The cheese mac tasted like it should have, while that steak think.. I wasn't sure what the fuck it was... a hard version of a meatloaf? OK, at the sale price of only $2 it was still a pretty good deal. and I found that a breaking up a slice of white bread to use as a sop for the leftover gravy made for a most excellent finish!

Critique: Smart Ones Pasta Primavera!

'Tender bow tie pasta with broccoli florets and julienne-cut carrots in a creamy Parmesan sauce.' That's the description on the cover of this Weight Watchers 250 calories TV dinner! It was on sale for $2.50 and I decided to give one a try. I mean who can resist bow tie pasta?

Like some of the other Smart Ones offerings, this meal comes in at about a calorie per gram. That's a good figure to see in any complex food, if you're thinking of losing weight. In my case, I am trying to consume just 1300 calories per day. At that rate, I am losing about 1.5 pounds per week, a number that most doctors consider safe. It's important, however, that I make sure the foods I'm consuming are

healthy! That translates into a balance mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats! During an average month (July 2014), I averaged 1,267 calories per day. (See the pie chart for the breakout). I managed to lose 6 pounds, and yet, I ate pretty well!

Preparation of the Pasta Primavera meal deal was fairly straightforward – You pull back a corner of the plastic covering. Nuke on high for 3 ½ minutes, stir, recover and nuke for another minute! A simple meal to prepare for a simple person like myself!

The taste was a pleasant surprise. First off the pasta was thankfully al dente – had it been anything other than perfect, I would have shit-canned the meal right there. The Parmesan sauce also brought a lot to the party and seemed to tie everything together. I gave this one a 7 on a scale of 10.

Critique: Smart Ones Chicken Oriental

In my limited view of all things dietary, if a TV dinner has the word 'oriental' somewhere in the description, it's basically a varied version of chicken chow mien! This product from the folks at Weight Watchers was on sale at $2.50 at a local grocery store, and so I scooped one up. You have to give the marketing people some credit as the picture on the front of the package looked awesome! In addition, the 255 gram meal contain only 255 calories and as we all know, if you can score a decent entree that comes in at one calorie per gram, you're on to something good!

This offering had rice, soy sauce, bits of chicken, celery carrots and all the other stuff you might associate with a chicken chow mien styled meal.

Ah so! And, as I was on a life-long diet, I figured it might even fit as something I could supplement with another one or two sides, so I added a small serving of coleslaw and a glass of milk!

The directions were very simple and straight forward. Peel back a corner, nuke on high for 3 minutes 30 seconds, stir and then nuke for another minute. Easy greasy and the kind of TV dinner made for blokes like myself!

TASTE: Surprise! The taste was pretty darn good stuff! A filling meal combined with low calories and which tastes great makes this a sure winner in my book. I plan to buy more in the future! I scored this meal a deal at a healthy 7.5 on a scale of 10!

Update: Sept 2016 - This item was again on sale at only $2! and, as I had some oriental styled left over veggies, I threw them in for good measure with a slice of white bread that had been slathered with butter! The result was all a quick meal could hope to be!