Lean Cuisine - Cheese Ravioli

I always tell myself when I eat this that I don't like the sauce and that this meal is way too small. The sauce is super sweet, and there are 5-6 raviolis included. Yet I've bought this one too many times to count!! I guess it's a dependable meal, and who doesn't like cheese ravioli? I mean, c'mon. The sauce isn't that bad once you start eating it, and ravioli are just fun to eat. So I persist.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Lean Cuisine - Roasted Turkey Breast

This whole "extra-large(r)" lean cuisine, but no funny crumbly dessert? A lean-cuisine disappointment. Just the no-dessert policy, I mean. The rest of the meal was fine. The green beans were good, and the 2 dried cranberries were good as well. The mashed potatoes/gravy was above-average, and the stuffing was a little below average. The turkey was good. This was pretty filling for a lean cuisine, but nothing earth-shattering. Just a solid meal.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Lean Pockets - Pretzel Bread Sandwiches, Grilled Chicken Jalepeno Cheddar

"Pretzel Bread sandwiches, eh?" I thought to myself excitedly as I bought these lean pockets. The pretzel bread was kind of a letdown. It basically tastes like the usual lean pockets bread, only a bit thicker and with supposed salt crystals on it. Eh. But the inside of these was pretty good! It's basically cheese and chicken, but it's pretty spicy! I like a spicy food like this because it doesn't hurt my mouth but it has more flavor than your typical "mushy meat and cheese" frozen pocket food. So that was good.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Eggo Mini Muffin Tops - Blueberry

Oh, dear. These are so bad for you, but so good! They come in these cute little sheets of 4 "muffin tops" which you toast, and then eat by tearing them apart. They're great for a snack but not really for a breakfast. They taste like little pastries, but not like a blueberry muffin. Nonetheless, they're really good. :9

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 9/10

Old El Paso Hard & Soft Taco Dinner Kit

As far as at-home taco kits go, this is my favorite one! The taco seasoning is good, but not too spicy or overpowering, and the hard and soft shells are both good. The taco sauce included tastes like your standard taco sauce, so I usually use it because I don't want to bother buying a jar of taco sauce for at-home use. I recommend pairing this with some delicious yellow&white corn! Yum!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, Spanish Style

This rice is super easy to cook! Wow. It only takes 90 seconds in the microwave and no extra prep or ingredients. So I was pretty skeptical of how said rice would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted pretty good! What's more, it was cooked well. It wasn't mushy at all, but neither was it too firm. This is basically rice and a light spice/sauce coating, along with a few peppers. It makes a decent amount for a meal if you are one of those people who would eat a side dish of rice as a meal (I am one of those people). Good job, Uncle Ben's!

Protip: don't forget to tear the top of the bag to vent if you microwave this.






Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Hershey's Hugs, Raspberry

Hugs! I love regular Hugs. And I love raspberry. But together....I don't love it. The outside of these Hugs is a raspberry flavored mess. It's just too strong and too artificial. The inside is plain milk chocolate as usual. They do look very pretty and festive, though. I'd prefer a regular hug.

Overall:
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Hershey's Kisses, Caramel

What's this? A fancy Hershey's kiss version that doesn't have a nut allergy warning? Yum yum! These are basically rolos in a kiss shape, they have a caramel inside and a thin choco kiss coating. The caramel is pretty gooey/runny, not thick like some other candies. They're quite tasty and probably good for baking, too!

Overall:
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Smarties (US)

Smarties are nut-free! Pretty cool, right? Yep. I like Smarties. They're a less-tart sweet tart. Or a softer, smaller Necco wafer. They are fun to eat and don't make a mess. I get tired of them after a couple rolls because they really are pretty sweet (heh), but I always want them again eventually. A good candy "staple" for people like me.

Overall:
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 7/10

Mars Bar - Caramel

This caramel-only mars bar is basically like a carmello! Or, a bar-sized rolo, if you like. It's just got caramel inside and no whipped filling. Pretty tasty, but ultimately not quite as satisfying as a regular mars bar in my opinion. Still, to have a peanut free option like this is pretty great. Viva la Canada! \o/

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (for US imports anyway)
Taste: 8/10

Lean Cuisine - Fiesta Grilled Chicken

Disclaimer: this has black and pinto beans in it, but I just avoiding eating them and it was fine. Anyway, this is some chicken, rice, and corn in a nice creamy cheese sauce. The same sauce, infact, in the chicken enchilada suiza! And I do love that sauce. The chicken/rice and corn are all fine as well, but nothing special. The sauce really makes this, though, so I like it very much. It's also pretty filling for a lean cuisine, even with me avoiding 1/5 of it because of beans. I wish there were more sauce, in fact.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Tai Pei Teriyaki Chicken

So the quest for delicious packaged chinese food remains! This wasn't very good, and it also made me pretty itchy, despite having no apparent peas/beans/nuts/fish in the ingredients. The chicken in it is very good, but the rice is a little too tough/grainy and the sauce is way too sweet and prevalent. I didn't even eat it all! However, this is a significant portion size, so if you really like the sauce or something then this is a good bargain! It tastes like red pepper/orange juice sauce and it's kind of thick.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 4/10

Lean Cuisine - Traditional Deluxe Pizza

If you've ever had a frozen pizza, that is what this tastes like. Pretty darn generic! It's not huge, but it's not too small to be a filling meal. The toppings and crust are good, the cheese and sauce are "eh". I would buy this again.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

artichoke basille's frozen artichoke pizza

I'm not a huge frozen pizza fan, but I like trying new things and I like white pizzas a lot, so I thought I'd give this a try. I have no experience with the non-frozen artichoke basille's pizza, so nothing to be disappointed by. Anyway, this cooked nicely, and the crust was good - crisp and a bit buttery. The sauce was pretty good, although a bit oniony/chunky for my preference. The cheese was unobtrusive. And it turns out I don't like artichokes very much, and there were plenty of artichoke chunks on top. Ultimately, I didn't like it much, but I'd be interested in trying another flavor. Stay tuned!

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 5/10

Bird's Eye Vegetables & Shells in Garlic Butter Sauce

This is the classic Bird's Eye side that I think of when I think of Bird's Eye. It's been around for forever and it tastes pretty much the same. However, it used to include a few croutons, which I really loved. So now I always stir in a few croutons before I heat it up. (I highly recommend this!) Anyway, this is a great little side dish. The sauce is garlicy and plentiful, but not too excessive. The noodles are just kind of there, but the corn and green beans and broccoli all taste great, especially in the sauce. However, despite including some good veggies, this is a pretty unhealthy side dish in terms of fat/calories. So don't be tricked if you're trying to eat super-healthy!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Marie Callender's French Bread Garlic And Butter Croutons

These are my favorite croutons! They taste great and go with salads and vegetables. They also stay crunchy for a long time, but aren't too hard to bite into or anything. They taste a little garlicky, and a little oniony, but not super buttery despite the name. Yum.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 9/10

Orville Redenbacher's Spicy Nacho Popcorn

OK, so I like microwave popcorn and I like spicy and I like nachos. However, this smells TERRIBLE. Oh my gosh, it smells so much like spicy garbage. HOWEVER, if you turn your nose away and just eat it, it basically tastes like a spicy buttered popcorn, which is ok. I'll finish the pack in this non-smelling manner, but I will not get this flavor again! However, I will try a new and less spicy flavor soon, because the texture and everything is very good.

Overall:
Cost: 8/10
Taste(&smell): 3/10

Lean Cuisine - Spaghetti with Meatballs

This is very similar to the "spaghetti with meat sauce" lean cuisine, except instead of mushrooms, the sauce features exactly 5 meatballs. The pasta is fine- kind of thin and sticky, but it tastes good. The sauce is fine too. So why do I dislike this meal so much when compared to the meat sauce one? spoiler alert: i think it's because I'm allergic to the meatballs. They have soy protein galore in them, so if you too are sensitive to soy protein then I don't recommend this. Also the meatballs don't taste very good anyway in my opinion. But I could only eat 2 of them. I bet some people (Laura maybe) would like this meal fine, though.

Overall:
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 4/10

Ben and Jerry's "Willie Nelson's Country" Peach Cobbler Ice Cream

That's a mouthful! Of good ice cream! (iced cream?) Anyway, this is a really delicious flavor. And I can't find anymore, so it may be summer-seasonal. This is basically a peach ice cream with chunks of peach and cinnamon-y shortbread cookie pieces. It's all very tasty and does, in fact, remind me a lot of actual peach cobbler. It's got a strong peach flavor, but not overpoweringly like a peach sorbet might do. It's cinnamon and vanilla-y as well. I highly recommend this one!

It's nut free, although not necessarily made in a nut free plant. However, there's no allergy warning, and I trust Ben And Jerry's pretty strongly with that stuff. (here's there faw if you want to read more: http://benjerry.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/184/related/1 )

Overall:
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 9/10

Prego Chunky Garden Mushroom Supreme with Baby Portobello

I like mushrooms, so I thought this sauce would be really great. However, despite the name, there really aren't very many actual mushrooms in it. I think I got two. Nevertheless, the sauce tastes fine, and I would get it again. I only wish there were more mushrooms.

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 7/10

Laura says: I had one mushroom! 7/10

Life Milk Chocolate Santas

(Life brand is a store brand, I think? Exclusive to http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/ )

Anyway, these were something like 65 cents and they are completely wonderful. They're milk chocolate with a carmelly inside. I love them and want to find more! More milk chocolate santas! And yes, they have the peanut-free seal on them. Woo-hoo!

Overall

Cost: 10/10

Taste: 10/10

Maynard's Sour Wine Gums

These were not a pleasant eating experience. I thought they would taste sweeter or even sourer. Instead they tasted like a slightly tart rubber band that was too hard and chewy and hurting my teeth. The flavors all tasted the same way. I hope to try a different variety of wine gum in the future. Maybe a non-sour version would be better? Maybe I had a stale pack that was hard? I really want to like these. But I didn't.

Overall

Cost: 7/10

Taste: 4/10

Laura says: Uck, too sour. 2/10

Harvey's Chain Restaurant

This is basically a Canadian Burger King with hot dogs. We ate, collectively, a crispy chicken sandwich, a hamburger, onion rings and poutine. All were above average for fast food in that they weren't super chewy or burnt or something standoutingly (outstandingly?) unpleasant. However if you're looking for healthy food, look elsewhere.

For peanut-freeness, it wins mega points, though. There aren't any nuts in anything!

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 7/10

Laura says: I love a poutine! Wonderful Canadian cuisine. Yum yum yum. 10/10

Christie (Nabisco Canada) BBQ Crispers

These are some small crackers and they are fairly crispy. However, they don't taste very good, although they smell good. They are almost too crispy. I would prefer a chip or a soft cracker. They are healthy though, I assume - I think they are baked. I might try a different flavor for fun ("all dressed", perhaps?) but I probably wouldn't love it.

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 5/10

Laura says: They are pretty bland. 5/10

Mars Bar

This is a UK/Canada Mars bar. It is peanut free. It is chocolate coated and has a caramel and what some might call nougat filling (as in 3 Musketeers bars), but I would call it fluffy whipped chocolate filling. Anyway, it's basically a peanut free Milky Way bar so I like it very much.

Overall

Cost: 6/10

Taste: 8/10

Laura says: I love nougat! 10/10

Kinder Surprise Egg

Kinder eggs are great, but you can't get them in the US too easily because they have toys in them! What the heck, America. Anyway, they're peanut free and they're really good. It's a chocolate egg with a white colored reverse side on the hollow shell. Then there's a toy inside. It's pretty good and fun and great. Yum.

Overall

Cost: 5/10

Taste: 9/10

Laura says: Yum! I love it. And a toy too. 9/10