My quest continues.  I'm trying to find delicious, easy-to-prepare hot lunch foods that don't completely kill my diet.  It's been quite a challenge, as many of the products I've tried just don't taste very good.  But I've finally found one that's delicious, somewhat filling, easy to make, and inexpensive.  But nothing is ever perfect, and this one suffers, as many of them do, from way-too-high sodium.

I'm talking about Cheese Manicotti with Meat Sauce from The Hormel Compleats line.  This line of products is very convenient.  They don't require refrigeration, and they stay fresh for well over a year in your pantry.  A quick 90 seconds in the microwave and you have a hot meal of approximately 10 oz.  It's not enough, on its own, for my lunch.  But paired with some fruit or a salad, it works. 

In this case, we're given three manicotti pasta tubes, filled with cheese, and covered with a sauce that includes chunks of tomatoes and onions.  Also in the sauce were actual meatballs, which I was very surprised to see.  Since they call it "meat sauce" I was expecting teeny little pieces of meat that you'd need a magnifying glass to identify.  But in fact, the meat pieces were much larger, and more prevalent than I was expecting.  I would feel perfectly comfortable calling this product "Cheese Manicotti with Meatballs". 

The pasta tubes were delicious. The cheese filling was very soft, and very tasty.  A quick check of the ingredients shows that the filling includes Ricotta cheese, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Yum! 

The sauce includes "concentrated crushed tomatoes", onions, cornstarch, and more Parmesan cheese.  I found the sauce to be a little thick, and sweet.  The pieces of tomatoes and onions were a bonus to me, but I know some people won't like this sauce due to its "chunky" texture.

The pieces of meat are referred to in the ingredients list as "cooked pork crumbles".  It further defines these as pork, water, vegetable protein, and a whole bunch of seasonings. 

Whatever's in there, I found it to be delicious.  I enjoyed every last bite. 

What about the nutrition - 290 calories and 9g of fat.  Not the worst lunch I could have.  But the sodium, like many of these products, is just way too high.  990mg.  Yikes. 

Despite the high sodium, I plan to purchase this product again.  At around $2 each, it's not a bad lunch.  Sure, the sodium is high, but I don't eat these every day.  But for those times when I must grab lunch-on-the-go, it's convenient and delicious. 


Hormel Compleats - Chicken Alfredo
Hormel Compleats - Chicken Breast, Gravy, and Potatoes
Hormel Compleats - Chicken & Dumplings
Hormel Compleats - Chicken & Rice
Hormel Compleats - Meatloaf with Potatoes & Gravy
Hormel Compleats - Spaghetti & Meat Sauce

Recommended: Yes