Lean Cuisine – Chicken Chow Mein – A wonderfully hearty meal!
Written: Jun 07 '08 (Updated Jun 07 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Delicious flavor, satisfying and great on calories!
Cons: Could use more water chestnuts!
The Bottom Line: This was a very enjoyable meal and I will gladly purchase another one!
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| Magick1's Full Review: Lean Cuisine Chicken Chow Mein |
Lean Cuisine hasn’t been one of the meals that I have purchased in the past. I had a coupon to save so much off of a few Lean Cuisine items and I thought I would try it. Stouffer’s® is a fantastic name that I am used to seeing a lot of over the years. But, these meals, while I had seen them, I hadn’t heard much about them.
Well, gladly, I can say I purchased a few of these meals and have tried three of them so far. This was my second one. And, I am happy that I ventured off another path and took a chance! What a delicious little meal! And, there are some things that truly make me happier eating these than the Smart Ones® meals that I have been eating. I will share a couple of them with you during my review of this meal!
The Product
This meal says that it has white meat chicken with stir fry vegetables and white rice. The big thing that I have noticed on their packages that makes me happy is “NO PRESERVATIVES”. They also state on the back that there are not artificial flavors and that their meals have from 340 – 700mg of sodium (14% - 29% of the daily recommended value for sodium). All of this is very nice to read. This, compared to some of the other meals that I eat, is wonderful in comparison.
This, like many other microwave meals, is very easy to prepare. Take the meal from the freezer, rip open a corner of the plastic cover, and put it in the microwave for about 5 – 7 minutes. If your meal has been in a lunch bag with a freezer pack for a while, it might not take quite 5 minutes. So, keep an eye on it when you are preparing it! It’s neat that they even provide microwave times if you are putting 2 meals in the microwave!
The meal has a very nice helping of white rice mixed with a bit of carrots, celery, water chestnuts, red peppers and tiny bits of spinach. Trust me, it doesn’t have that cooked spinach flavor. I think mostly the spinach is used for a bit of color, because the pieces in the dish were small and they were not extremely prevalent while eating the meal!
I found the portion size to be decent with this meal. Some you open up and you wonder why such a large box and bowl for a small meal. This meal, though, looked nice, full and decent with the amount of rice, chicken and vegetable mixed into the dish. The only complaint I had is that I would have preferred a few more water chestnuts, but that’s about it.
The flavor was decent. It wasn’t too spicy and it wasn’t too bland either. It tasted flavorful without kicking you in the mouth with spice. So, if you don’t like a lot of spice, this might be something you would enjoy.
The Ingredients
Blanched enriched long grain rice (rice, ferric phosphate, niacin, thiamin, mononitrate and folic acid), water, cooked white meat chicken (white meat chicken, water, modified tapioca starch, chicken flavor [dried chicken broth, chicken powder, natural flavor], carrageenan, whey protein concentrate, soybean oil, corn syrup solids, sodium phosphate, salt), carrots, celery, water chestnuts, red peppers, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt),modified cornstarch, sherry wine, soybean oil, stir-fry sauce (water, sugar, soy sauce [water, salt, soybeans, wheat flour], salt, modified cornstarch, yeast extract, caramel color, flavors), onions, sugar, flavor (flavoring, sugar, salt, maltodextrin, spices), garlic puree, dehydrated spinach, sesame oil, brown sugar syrup, yeast extract, salt, potassium chloride, lactic acid, caramel color, spics, calcium lactate, annatto coloring.
Contains: Milk, soy, wheat ingredients.
Nutritional Facts
Calories 260 Calories from Fat 35
Total Fat 4g or 6%
Saturated Fat 1g or 5%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.5g
Cholesterol 25mg or 8%
Sodium 550mg or 23%
Potassium 380mg or 11%
Total Carbohydrate 41g or 14%
Dietary Fiber 3g or 12g
Sugars 3g
Protein 14g
Vitamin A 45%
Vitamin C 6%
Calcium 6%
Iron 6%
Overall Impressions
Sodium is a touch lower. But, every little bit helps. Matter of fact, we have been switching from canned vegetables to frozen in the past few months to reduce the sodium intake (especially for my babester). We don’t have health concerns in the family that is making us watch this. But, rather, we are taking an active stand at eating healthier. Convenience, I have found, usually makes for terrible nutrition, whether it’s fast food, or prepared food that you just heat and serve. Unfortunately!
These meals, which they are not ideal for you, are much better than others. With no preservatives and no artificial flavors, that is another small step in the right direction. I believe that Lean Cuisine has gotten a convert, if you will. I have thoroughly enjoyed the few meals that I have had from them and likely will be buying many more in the future to help me with quick lunches that I can easily pack and go to work!
This is a very nice, mildly flavored chow mein. It has a decent flavor that will let you know that you have something tasty and delicious without giving you that “spicy burnt” feeling in your mouth. The amount in the meal is decent too and you shouldn’t feel shortchanged! If you do try it, I hope you like it!
~Thanks for spending time with me today!~
**I want to thank BRUGURU for adding this to the database for me!
Other Lean Cuisine items:
Chicken
Chicken Philly Flatbread
Weight Watchers Smart Ones reviews:
Beef
Sirloin Beef and Asian Style Vegetables
Salisbury Steak
Pineapple Beef Teriyaki
Swedish Meatballs
Meatloaf
Traditional Lasagna with meat sauce
Lasagna Florentine
Chicken
Chicken Fettucini
Chicken Carbonara
Creamy Rigatoni with Chicken and Broccoli
Creamy Parmesan Chicken
Teriyaki Chicken Vegetable
Chicken Oriental
Orange Sesame Chicken
Honey Mango Barbeque Chicken
Turkey
Stuffed Turkey Breast
Roast Turkey Medallions
Spicy
Pepperoni Pizza
Four Cheese Pizza
Pepperoni Pizza Smartwich™
Calzone Italiano
Three Cheese Ziti Marinara
Fish
Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein
Tuna Noodle Gratin
Recommended:
Yes
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