USER SUBMITTED REVIEW

When I went to the local grocery store today, Healthy Choice meals were 50% off, so I took the opportunity to stock my freezer. What’s a frozen foodie to do with this abundance? Review them, naturally!

My first foray was Beef Tips Portobello. This is advertised as one of their “Complete Selections” with a “Real Fruit Dessert.” Yes, a real fruit dessert is always preferable to a fake fruit dessert. Yeeesh. What this actually meant was that the meal came in a 3-section tray. One section held the beef tips and mashed potatoes. A second section held a “vegetable medley. The last section was the caramel apple “crisp.”

Cooking instructions were standard – remove plastic from fruit and slit plastic over veggies. Microwave on high for 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 minutes. Let set for 2 minutes. When I peeled back the plastic I was hit by an odd smell. I sniffed again and finally placed it . . . the combined odors of caramel and gravy. I can personally tell you that this is not a combination that should exist together. Brown sugar and beef *hurk*

My thoughts on each section . . .
Beef Tips and Mashed Potatoes – While the beef tips were decently sized (about the size of a spoon), there were only three of them. Where the gravy didn’t cover the meat it looked very dry. The pieces were surprisingly tender, though. These were actual chunks of beef with a fairly processed flavor. The gravy had an odd vinegary/cheap A1 sauce flavor to it. There were large pieces of limp mushrooms as well. For microwaved beef, quite good.
Mashed potatoes were rather bland. Mixing in the gravy definitely helped.

Vegetable Medley – Not much of a tune here. Four slightly crisp broccoli florets and 2 1/2 limp carrot sticks. No seasoning.

Caramel Apple Crisp – Ugh. They tried to mimic an apple crisp by topping canned apple chunks with thin caramel and uncooked oats. The contrast between Granny Smith Apples and caramel was off-putting. The uncooked oats turned into a gummy, chewy mess.

All in all, a very disappointing meal. I wouldn’t buy it full price. Two stars.

Nutritional Facts:
Serving Size – 1 meal
260 calories
60 calories from fat
6 g total fat
2 g saturated fat
1 g polyunsaturated fat
2 g monounsaturated fat
45 mg cholesterol
600 mg sodium
830 mg potassium
33 g total carbs
8 g dietary fiber
13 g sugars
18 g protein

Price: $1.91

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