Hormel Compleats Roasted Turkey & Vegetables - Is the Healthier Packaging Misleading?
Written: Oct 12 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: seems like more food, lower salt, decent taste, easy to carry & store
Cons: actually contains more fat & calories than "less healthier" option
The Bottom Line: This tasted better, just don't be fooled by the packaging into thinking you are choosing the healthier option. Other than sodium, you aren't.
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| AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Hormel Compleats Roasted Turkey & Vegetables |
I’d been trying different varieties in the Hormel Compleats line, when I came up with the idea of contrasting similar dishes. One dish would be from their regular line, and the other would be in the “healthier” line indicated by the green packaging. I’d noticed when I ate various frozen entrees that when I paid attention to the nutritional information on the packaging, quite often although the packaging presented the impression it was healthier for you, that wasn’t always the case. So how would Hormel Compleats add up in that regard?
I chose two very similar entrees, the Turkey & Hearty Vegetables which was the “regular” selection and Roasted Turkey & Vegetables with Rice which was supposed to be “healthier”.
Like other Hormel Compleats, this is a 10 ounce entree. It’s packaged so that it doesn’t have to be kept in the freezer or refrigerator and can be carried to work with no concerns of refrigeration. The great part is not having to worry about that day’s lunch disappearing from the community refrigerator. These can be kept right in a desk drawer and if plans change, they can be left there for another day with no worries. The picture on the box shows chunks of turkey with sliced rippled carrots and green beans with rice. There is gravy, but from the picture there appears to be plenty of food in the entree.
The first challenge I’ve discovered with this line of foods is getting them opened. It probably has something to do with not needing refrigeration, but the heavy plastic dish the entree comes in is attached to a film that’s heavier than the film covering most frozen entrees. It’s sealed very tightly and getting the film off, especially after the entree is heated for 90 seconds in the microwave, can be a challenge. I say a word of thanks every time I do this and it doesn’t end up all over the floor. Opening it up, the Roasted Turkey & Vegetables still seemed dominated by gray, but at least not drowning in it. The gravy had a bit of a green coloring to it rather than being strictly a brown gravy.
As I stirred it around, I noticed that the carrots were very mushy and at times seemed to disintegrate as I stirred. Everything else seemed to hold together, but I didn’t want to stir it too much for fear of the carrots disappearing entirely.
The taste was all right. It didn't dazzle me nor did it turn me off. Almost immediately I could tell that the Roasted Turkey & Vegetables was lower in salt than the Turkey & Hearty Vegetables, and it tasted better that way. Although I could still taste the salt, it wasn't the dominant taste as in the Turkey & Hearty Vegetables. The pieces of turkey were smaller than bite size, but in general they stayed together and tasted good. I found the rice to be cooked sufficiently and tasted fine. The carrots that were still in shape after I stirred it were quite soft with very little substance. The green beans pretty much fell apart as I picked them up and didn't have much flavor outside of the gravy and salt. I think there were also celery and onion in here, but I couldn't tell for sure as I was eating it.
When contrasting the nutritional content, however, I found myself somewhat disappointed. Other than the sodium levels, this is actually less "healthy" than the Turkey & Hearty Vegetables. The Roasted Turkey & Vegetables contains 220 calories, which was 40 more than the less healthy entree. Of those calories, 45 are from fat compared to 30 calories from fat in the supposedly less healthier TTurkey & Hearty Vegetables. Roasted Turkey & Vegetables has 5g of fat or 8% of the recommended daily value compared to 3.5g of fat in Turkey & Hearty Vegetables. The only area this entree fared better in was the sodium levels. Roasted Turkey & Vegetables has just 600mg or 25% of the recommended daily value while Turkey & Hearty Vegetables contained 1200mg of sodium or 50% of the recommended daily value.
However, that doesn’t mean I won’t recommend it. I felt that the Roasted Turkey & Vegetables tasted better because there was less salt in it. In addition, I did like that there seemed to be more actual food in this than in the Turkey & Hearty Vegetables that was not in the "healthier lifestyle" line. I would probably choose this over that other entree, just don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re choosing something that healthier for you. Other than less salt, it actually fares worse.
Ingredients: Water, White Turkey (White Turkey Meat, Salt, Modified Food Starch, Sodium Phosphates), Carrots, Rice (Water, Long-Grain Parboiled Rice Enriched with Iron [Ferric Orthophosphate], Thiamine Mononitrate, and Folic Acid, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Phosphates, Tartaric Acid), Celery, Wild Rice, Pearl Onions, Green Beans, Modified Cornstarch, Chicken Fat, Wheat Flour, Fire-roasted Garlic, Potassium Chloride, Sugar, Autolyzed Yeast, Spices, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Flavoring, Salt, Tartaric Acid.
© 2009 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
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AliventiAsylum
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
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