Michelina's Lasagna with Meat Sauce
Ingredients: Cooked Noodles (Contains Enriched What Flour), Tomatoes, Water, Beef, Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Paste, Ricotta Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Egg, Onions, Garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Carrots, Celery, Sugar, Salt, Flavour (Mono and Diglycerides), Maltodextrin, Vegetable Oil Margarine, Olive Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Spice, Xanthan Gum, Garlic Salt, Parsley Flakes.
Prep time: The food comes in a box in which you would lift open the corner of the lid and toss into the microwave for about 5-5.5 minutes on high. (Please note that the cooking time will vary depending on your microwave.) When that's ready, rip off the lid and mix the contents. If you use the conventional oven, it'll take 25-30 minutes of heating time.
Consumption: Upon unveiling the food, the sauce seems to be a little more orangy coloured than the picture on the lid. I'm suspecting that part of it is because of the different cheeses that are blended into the tomato paste. The cheese itself has no stringiness, not that it ever said it was going to be stringy cheese. It does, however, have a nice cheese flavour.
There is a moderate about of ground beef in it and has a slight chew to it. The noodles came out soft, but not mushy. It's a little more than al dente. Keep in mind that this lasagna does not resemble the traditional layered lasagna. It contains ingredients that one may find in a lasagna, without the thick lasagne noodles. In terms of neatness, it's somewhat safe to eat this while gaming, as the sauce coats the noodles without being too watery. An extra plate, however, under the box is sugested just in case your noodle drops from your fork, as the sauce can still stain.
Clean-up: If all goes well, it should be just disposing the box in which you ate from and washing your fork. However, the fork clean-up may need a little scrubbing as I found that the cheese adhered to the fork.
Conclusion: A small, quick and tasty meal. It does not compare to a true lasagna, but still quite good. It's fairly quick to prepare and the clean up is generally quick. If eaten during gaming, the game played should not be a rigorous one: remember, it's tomato sauce! Michelina's proves that frozen instant meals can taste good!
Check out the Michelina's website for other tasty edibles: http://www.michelinas.com
Hungry FlareGAMER Sheila's instant food report
Brand is important when it comes to buying frozen foods. Skimping out on frozen foods (which already is skimping out on real meals) can become detrimental to your health. Thankfully, tv-dinners have improved over the past 30 years since their invention. Over the years, the same evolution has occured with playing video games. Healthy eating while playing games is quite possible.
Et Tu Salad kits
Many gamers hate having to put together salads, thus they rarely eat them. Chopping ingredients up and buying all the other ingredients is a task in itself, only to be rewarded with a bland tasting salad. With Et Tu Salad kits, you can make bistro quality salads instantly. All you need to do is buy the lettuce!
AUTHENTICO Glazed Chicken
Ingredients & Prep: See box and use instructions as described. Keep in mind you can vary it depending on your oven.
Consumption: Unlike most of the Michelina's dishes, this one looks exactly as it does in the box. The taste is light and flavourful with a little garlic. The chicken itself is white meat, which is best for for people on diets.The rice also cooks well and tastes great with the sauce.
Clean-up: Same as any others.
Conclusion: Makes for a nice light snack, or an entree rather than a full meal. The awesome flavors, chicken, vegetables and rice also won't taste bad if you happen to under or over microwave it.
AUTHENTICO Fettucine Alfredo
Ingredients & Prep: See box and use instructions as described. Keep in mind you can vary it depending on your oven.
Consumption: This is the most popular dish for a well known reason, it tastes like authentic-o fettucine alfredo! The various cheeses make up the flavor of this pasta, however don't eat it alone. Pasta and cheese won't make for a full meal.
Clean-up: Same as any others.
Conclusion: Makes for a fulfilling side dish. The cheeses tend to be a little strong, and more often than not there's too much cheese sauce for the pasta which it came with.
Stouffer's Bistro Italiano
For anyone who wants a real sized meal from their microwave oven. Most microwave dinners come in small sizes to fit predetermined cholesterol limits but these hearty italian creations won't leave you hungry for more. The most popular flavors are the Penne Portobello, Italian Meatballs Mafalda and Spicy Penne. Although the instructions say to stir 3/4 of the way through heating, try to stir it more earlier and often than that to get an even cooking in these big bowls. Careful, they're hot! So use the bowl holders which the boxes can be fashioned into.