There are very few canned New England clam chowders worth the price, which is why I initially bought this Healthy Choice variety on a dare from Lynnafred. I had tried Healthy Choice New England Clam Chowder once before, several years ago (back when their the Healthy Choice label had a little jogger on it, remember that?) and it was nasty - bland, almost clamless, and all-around "meh." But this was a new label and other Healthy Choice stuff Lynnafred had tried was pretty good, so I put it in the cart.
I brought it for lunch on one of the cooler days last week. Prep is easy - this is a heat-and-eat soup, not a condensed variety - I just dumped it in a bowl and nuked it a minute at a time (stirring between heating periods) until the stuff was as piping hot as I liked.
And...I was pleasantly surprised. It's pretty good. It's still got the overly-starched broth that I really don't like about most commercial clam chowders, but it's not nearly as gluey as almost every restaurant chowder you'll find and besides, it's a canned chowder so my expectations weren't super high anyway. The flavor was nicely clammy and there were plenty of mollusk pieces. All in all, quite satisfying and delicious enough to buy again. It certainly exceeded my expectations.
Like you, Healthy Choice type foods always signaled something bland and tasteless. For me, the word, "healthy", became synonymous with "flavorless". I remember seeing a list from a doctor's office once. On the right were all the things you should eat to stay healthy. On the left, were all the things you should not eat. Needless to say, I could have drawn up the left part of the list from memory. Listed there were all the tasty, wonderful foods.
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