Yesterday I posted on Joy's Amazing Journey about an e-mail I got from Healthy Choice regarding their new product line, Cafe Steamers. That afternoon I picked up two of the dinners, the Grilled Whiskey Steak for me and the Grilled White Meat Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce for Janet. I promised you a review once I taste-tested the dinner.
Once I took the dinner out of the box I realized how small all frozen dinners really are, even these. These Cafe Steamers, gram for gram, are the same size as an average Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine. It's the "all in one bowl that looks like a colander" that makes this particular meal seem smaller. But I loved the ease of cooking. No piercing, no cutting little film coverings, then peeling back after half the cooking time, stirring, then zapping for another 2 minutes. You take this baby outta the box, stick her in the microwave for a few minutes and you're done. Finis!
Just lift out the colander, dump the stuff into the bowl underneath, stir with the sauce that was in the bottom of the bowl that was steaming your food, and eat. And it was good! I mean really, really good.
On the plus side:
- WW points are given on the packaging.
- Dietary exchanges are also given (you'll know how many veggie servings you got).
- The veggies were perfectly cooked. And I mean PERFECTLY. The green beans were crisp and vibrant. The red-skinned potatos were tender, not rubbery like other frozen meals. The steak tips were tender and juicy.
- Half the sodium as many of the Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine that I've seen.
On the minus side:
- I haven't seen many "diet" or "healthy" meals with saturated fat lately. These dinners do have some saturated fat and cholesterol. Not much, but it's there.
- The portion size seemed small to me for some reason. With most meals having one serving of vegetables, that is half a cup of veggies. Not a whole lot. But to be fair, the portion size is equivalent to the Smart Ones, just under 300 grams in weight. And it may look smaller because of the unique packaging that steams everything in one dish.
- I paid $3.99 per meal at Shaw's Supermarket. That's more moola than what you shell out for Smart One's and Lean Cuisine. Is it worth it for perfectly steamed veggies and half the sodium??? Perhaps.
I'm not a real big convenience eater. I make it a point to eat clean, so I stay away from most processed foods. Even though I love the idea of a frozen dinner prepared in a unique way that keeps the foods appetising, I'm not sure this is enough to bring me to the dark side. For now, I'll stick to my tried and true diet that has gotten me this far (nearly 50 nasty pounds gone!) and still going strong. But it is nice knowing that if I ever get desperate enough for some steak and potatos I have some options that won't kill me at the scale.
16 comments:
I saw the commercialfor Healthy Choice Steamers, bought 4, tried the chicken margarita, and was VERY disappointed! The pasta was all broken, the chicken tasted like "Play Do", and the sauce tasted liked vinegar! A truly NASTY meal! Don't buy it, I am throwing the rest I bought out and asking for a refund from the company. Best, ~Foodie Gal
NASTY - I bought the Cajun Chicken & Shrimp - the FURTHEST THING FROM CAJUN imaginable. The shrimp tasted like the chicken. The chicken did indeed taste like "Play Do" as a previous reviewer mentioned. The rice was hard and gritty and the sauce was worse than vinegar. Like a watered down, bland, vinegar taste. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.
I loved it!
I've been on the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer diet for 3 weeks and lost 7 lbs. Try the Chicken Chardonnay and Salmon and Dill, they are AWESOME. I love these meals, they are cooked to perfection and seem to have more food than a regular frozen dinner. My husband says they look incredible and my colleagues are jealous every noon hour. Try them.
I recently tried the Healthy Choice rice bowl dinners which are already in a steamer bowl and convenience is supposed to be the key here I guess. You can find them in the rice/canned good aisle. Ranging in price from $2.98 -3.50. I think there are 5 flavors. I tried the Sweet & Sour Chicken. It was truly horrendous! The chicken is NOT white meat, it is pressed dark meat. The sauce is syrupy sweet and everything in the bowl taste like pineapple syrup. There is no distinction in flavors between the pineapple and green/red peppers or chicken it all taste the same. So if you like highly sweet pineapple rice, steer clear of this one. In the bowl there were exactly 5 chunks of this pressed chicken. They were smaller than a dime! There was more pineapple than chicken. A couple of slivers of green pepper topped off this less than palatable dish. Beware! I'm trying the southwest chicken next, I'll let you know how that fares!
TKay
Hi Girls!
Just came across your blog as i was trying to find out more info on these steamers. Hubby went to the store 2day to stock me up (im ill and cant get out) and i mentioned i wanted to try a couple of the Asian steamers (didn't know they had other flavors) and wanted some lean cuisines....instead he (bless his heart) came home with a bunch of the steamer bowls and some other healthy choice food. When dieting, i never cared for healthy choice, I'm a lean cuisine gal. LOL So I'm hoping like hell the whole brand has improved in the last yrs.....one of the ones he got me was that whiskey beef you mention, so am a lil excited to try it. Other than that, everything I've read on the few sites I've visited has been poor reviews.... here's keeping my fingers crossed!
BY the way, can't wait to browse the rest of your blog fro your tips! congrats on your weight loss! I have Lupus and some other illnesses and are on steroids for life, so hard to lose weight while sick!
Good post.
I'm from Louisiana and some may say that the food here must have flavor and spice, very true. I was shopping for a quick meal for lunch and came across the Cajun Chicken & Shrimp. It was not what I expected, actually it was delicious. After work, I went back to the supermarket and picked up a few more.
I actually bought 5 of these meals this week.They were 5 for $10 at my local Fry's grocery store, which makes them $2 each. I thought it was a great deal. I just ate the Chicken Margarita and thought it was delicious. Not there best one but I like it.
They have these on sale at my grocery store for five @ 1.99 each. I tried a few -Whiskey steak, -red pepper alfredo, -and some asian sesame chicken. The whiskey steak and red pep alfredo are SO GOOD. In fact, I went back to the store and stocked up on then. The portions are good and the nutrition facts are awesome. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE MEALS. I can't say enough good things about them.
I tried the Sesame Chicken today...GROSS! It isn't clicken at all. The sauce was weird tasting and the pineapple didn't even taste like pineapple. What a waste of a meal.
Hi there,
I have tried these a few times over, and for the most part enjoyed them. I have however had some really terrible tummy issues when I eat them a few days in a row. Not fun.
I can't imagine that the chicken is real. As I have noticed upon closer inspection that there always seems to be a line of clear subsatnce (looks like fat) that runs through every single piece of chicken. This freaks me out.
I won't be eating these again- ever.
i honestly love all your posting style, very exciting,
don't give up and keep penning mainly because it just that is worth to follow it,
impatient to view much of your current well written articles, stunning day!
I tried the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers for the first time, and was fairly impressed by the quality and flavour. Everything was perfectly cooked without tasting rubbery or fake. Although there wasn't a ton of flavour, it was still better than any other frozen meals I've had. My only major disappointment and concern with the product is the packaging - with the steamer and the bowl, it is a lot of waste. For convenience in having a warm healthy meal, I would recommend it. However, for my committment on my carbon footprint, I would only buy it if I had no other option.
OK fatties listen up. I have been eating 2 steamers a day for 2 weeks having only 2 slices of toast and coffee as a supplement. I have lost 16 pounds and I feel that I can keep this up for a very long time.
Beef Merlot, Sesame chicken, curry etc are great, I dont enjoy the Mediterranean ones as much.
So stop your complaining, these are miracles dishes that you must stick with.
I'm a guy that doesn't know how to cook and the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers have been a blessing for my weight loss.
The only thing I dislike about some of them are the water chesnuts (or whatever they are called) but I just simply take them out. When I eat water chesnuts I get the same feeling as scratching a chalkboard.
I don't get these bad reviews because I think they are tasty meals with much lower sodium than most frozen dinners.
Sounds to me like some people will always complain about something.
Brandon
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