I had gotten them with the thought that Hubs could take them to work for lunch, since they do have access to a microwave in the cafeteria. It would save us some $$ if he didn't have to buy lunch everyday and could eat these instead once in a while, right?
So I thought I would play the guinea pig and try one before I insisted he take them for lunch. I chose the reduced-calorie Sesame Chicken meal.
Looks fairly good, doesn't it?
Makes you wonder how many Hormel would sell if they put THIS PICTURE on the outside of the package?
I'm gonna guess about.....zero packages! lol
If you can get past the dog food appearance(just shut your eyes and eat it!), it doesn't taste that bad. Much better than it looks is what I'd say!
The 'sauce' is a tad sweet for my taste but acceptable.
The worst thing is the texture of the noodles. They are waaaaay overcooked and almost at the "mush" stage. This dish would be alot better if Hormel didn't boil the noodles to death before adding the veggies and sauce. On a better note, there were much more hunks of chicken than I expected and the pieces were firm and meaty. You could tell you were eating chicken.
I believe that if you dressed this Sesame Chicken meal up with rice, or chinese noodles or even more stir-fry type veggies(or all 3), it wouldn't be a half bad lunch meal.
In the end, I have mixed feelings about this Hormel product. It's quick and easy to fix but lacking a bit in the flavor/presentation. At free, the price was right but doesn't totally overcome the shortcomings.
I doubt if I'd pay money for this product unless the other varieties are better.
Have you ever tried these Hormel Compleats? How was your experience with them? Leave a comment and give us your feedback!
Sluggy
I tried one....once..... I thought it was awful and now won't even get them if they end up free.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, my MIL thinks they are good.
I purchased 3 breakfast types and for the first time in my life i absolutely needed to spit out the Apple Oatmeal. I like oatmeal a lot and will never eat another Hormel product if I can help it. The Egg products looked bad so I tossed them out. BTW there was no contact info on the packaging. I'm not surprised. Yuck.
DeleteOn average I eat four Compleats meals every work week (not on weekends). I've basically tried all or most of them (once). I have three selections that are great (even though my like for those three is waning after five years - but I still eat them). What prompted be to add my two cents worth today is that I just opened a chicken breast with mashed potatoes and the chicken breast was one inch thick and approximately two inches long with maybe a small tablespoon of potatoes and lots of gravy. It was tasty but tiny. I really wanted to complain to Hormel but can never see to find a website or mailing to send complaints to. No need to respond, but thanks for listening - lol.
DeleteI used to buy these once in while when I was a corporate drone. I haven't bought any in years, though.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a roast beef, gravy and mashed potatoes, I think it was by Dinty Moore, which I think is/was Hormel. It was actually quite good, IMO. I think I also tried a chicken and noodles or chicken and dumplings meal that wasn't nearly as good.
The only ones I buy now, to keep my desk drawer stocked in case I forget to bring something, are the turkey or chicken with stuffing. And they aren't the "healthy" (ie, low-cal) ones :) but they are very tasty. I agree - none of these shelf-stable meals like Hormel and Chi-Chi's would sell if they put a true photo of the innards on the package cover.
ReplyDeleteI've started picking them up for lunch. Having tried the Mac and Cheese, the Chicken and mashed Potatoes ,the Chicken with stuffing and the spaghetti with meat sauce,I've liked them all. Granted they aren't as good as a home cooked meal,but for a quick and cheap lunch,I don't think anyone could go wrong.
ReplyDeleteOh come on, these are not that bad. I mean, I'd never get that sesame chicken one or any stir fry type because I know that those kinds are usually the grossest of the whole bunch. The chicken and mashed, the roast beef and mashed and the spaghetti are not all that bad for a quick lunch at work. Better than those frozen Banquet meals.
ReplyDeleteI am a truck driver and I buy these for my meals on the road when I get to a stop or shut down for the night where a place to eat is unavailable. I must admit these are not the greatest but it is better than going hungry, which I have done plenty in the past. Very fast and convenient is just the thing my lifestyle calls for. As far as I'm concerned, 2 thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteI've been tying the various flavors (the stores rarely carry the entire line or change the line-up of what they stock)and certain ones are better/worse than others. My hands down favorite is Chicken Alfredo -chicken cubes with penne pasta in an alfredo sauce. Among the worst are the breakfast entries--the eggs are yuck, and there's a penne pasta and some kinda bacon sauce that was memorably awful. and yeah, after heating and opening, stir/fluff up the bowl--it distributes the sauce and makes it look more appealing.
ReplyDeleteI received a free one at a grocery store promotion. I overpaid. It was basically inedible.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago i used to take these for my lunch at work and even though they didn’t taste like grandma’s home made they were not bad for a quick lunch but as of 6/2017 it had been 3 of 4 years since i had had them but last week i bought a couple and stuck to the meals that i used to eat since i knew they were ok but on the first day i heated up the beef stroganoff and the first thing i noticed was the terrible smell that was nothing like it used to be and didn’t even smell like food and the taste was terrible like some chemical for glueing wallpaper of something and every bite seemed worse than before and i couldn’t finish it so the next day i took good ole roast beef with mashed potatoes and thought theres no way they can mess up such a simple dish but when i was heating it up it smelled just like the beef stroganoff i had the day before and had the same chemical taste too. so it is obvious that they along with a lot of others are doing things to cut cost with customer be dammed.
ReplyDelete