This Banquet meal was on clearance at my local Big Y supermarket, which kind of struck me as odd - how bad does an already-somewhat-mediocre frozen meal have to be to get marked down? - so, naturally, I gambled a dollar to find out. As it turns out, Banquet's Slow Cooked Beef really isn't all that heinous.The meal consists of chunks of beef in gravy served on egg noodles, with a side of cut green beans. The noodles are pretty standard and not all that bad - they didn't turn out tough or leathery, and they were a huge improvement from the somewhat lesser-quality noodles I found in Banquet's Swedish Meatballs. Plopped in the middle of the noodle pile was a serving of beef cubes with gravy.
The beef was obviously slow-cooked; it was tender and flavorful (aided by various seasonings and whatever industrial culinary magic ConAgra could come up with) and quite obviously beef - not some kind of "mystery meat." The meat itself was actually somewhat enjoyable. Too bad it was combined with the gravy, which tasted absolutely loveless and artificial; I swear it was cheap bouillon (fake beef + salt) thickened up to mimic gravy.
The green beans were pretty much what I expected, which is to say a little overcooked, a little "grassy" tasting, but otherwise okay. (I never buy frozen green beans because I hate the way they cook up - green beans are one of the very few veggies that I actually buy in cans.)
I have to say that overall, though, this particular meal is one of the better Banquet offerings, and well worth picking up on sale.
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You ever try something from the "Budget Gourmet" line? I used to buy those frozen meals at Walmart for a dollar when I was really broke.
ReplyDeleteBanquet's Swedish Meatballs is actually really good. You should give them a try sometime. The noodles are a bit dry but I just add a pat of butter half way through cooking. A little cayenne pepper is good too.
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