NOW FOR SOME REVIEWS (my personal opinions). I'll update this post regularly with new items.
BREAKFASTS
Low-Fat Granola Cereal - tastes no different than what you'd get in the store. It was very good! Serving size is small, but that's to be expected with this type of cereal. I pick on mine dry to make it last longer. If you eat it with milk, it would probably be about 5-6 spoons worth! WILL ORDER AGAIN
Pancakes (plain, blueberry, chocolate chip) - Very good. Not as good as "real" pancake batter, but definitely my favorite breakfast option under the plan. One packet of mix will make three very nice sized pancakes if you mix the batter a little on the thin side. If you mix a very thick batter, you'll get two big pancakes. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Apple Granola Bar – Part of my FREE WEEK selection. It was ok, but I don’t care for granola bars for breakfast. If you like to eat lots of granola bars, you’ll like this. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN.
Blueberry Bran Muffins – They taste pretty good. They’re a little on the dry side, but not terrible. They are a little small – two small muffins per package. MIGHT ORDER AGAIN
LUNCHES
GENERAL OBSERVATION ABOUT LUNCHES – The lunches which come in an “add-water” container (generally the rice, beans, and potato meals) taste much better than the ones which come in the little microwaveable tubs. The ones in the tubs tend to have very mushy beans and noodles. The pasta entrees in the tubs are ok, but all of the ones with beans were pretty bad. The “bars” are not big enough for a lunch. I didn’t order any of these, but I got a few in the FREE WEEK selection. They tasted good, but sure weren’t a lunch!!!
Chicken and Pasta in Cacciatore Sauce - pretty good. The sauce was a bit sweeter than I'd like, but not in a canned Spaghettios way. The portion was a little on the small side, but acceptable considering you're supposed to be eating it with salad, etc. WILL POSSIBLY ORDER AGAIN.
New Orleans Chicken with Rice - This is NOT what they are advertising and I'm very upset with it. The name calls it CHICKEN, but my serving contained ONE TINY piece of chicken, plus 7 whole slices and about 10 broken slices of smoked sausage. The sauce tastes like smoked sausage. Personally, I'm not fond of smoked sausage and I never would have ordered this item if that's what they called it. It tastes ok and I'm sure people who love smoked sausage will love this, but it's not what they advertised! It needs a lot of salt IMO...I didn't add any, but REALLY wanted to! The other frustrating thing about this lunch entree is the packaging. It looked like it was going to be a big dinner-like serving from the packaging (since it came in a box); however, it's actually in a vacuum-sealed pouch. You need to cut open the pouch, pour the contents into a dish, and literally cut open the entire pouch to scrape out the entire serving. In the end, the serving size is the same, or less, than the other lunch items...just packaged in a lot more frustrating manner. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN
Chicken Pasta Parmesan - Very good...sauce was surprisingly good for something pre-packaged. Serving size was average. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Cheesy Potatoes with Broccoli - Surprisingly good, considering I generally hate "fake" powder potatoes. Very filling. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Chicken Stew with Barley - YUCK! I have two more of them, which I'll eat because it's a better option than paying to send them back, but they are not very good. It tastes about the same as eating Campbells Pork and Beans straight from the can. DEFINITELY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN
Trail Mix Lunch Bar - I didn't order this...it was part of my free shipment. It tasted ok, but nothing to write home about and I don’t consider a bar to be a lunch. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN.
Cheese Tortellini - Pretty good, but not as filling as some of the other foods. There were 6 big tortellini in my container, plus a lot of tomato chunks. MIGHT ORDER AGAIN
Pasta with Beef – Not bad, but not great either. The pasta and beef taste ok, but there are a lot of beans mixed in and they are very mushy. MIGHT ORDER AGAIN.
Beans and Ham Soup – Not bad, but not great either. The beans are very mushy and it’s very light on the ham. PROBABLY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN
Black Bean Tortilla Soup – Very good. It had a very strong cilantro flavor, but I like that. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Tex Mex Rice and Beans – Very good. Lots of flavor. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Black Beans and Rice - Very good. Lots of flavor. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Fudge Graham Bar – This was part of my FREE selection. I absolutely loved it…best bar I’ve tried so far! WILL PROBABLY NOT ORDER AGAIN, but only because I don’t consider bars to be a lunch.
Vegetarian Sloppy Joe Mix – This as part of my FREE WEEK selection and I LOVED it. I didn’t think I’d care for it and I thought it wouldn’t be enough food, but it was sooooo good! Lots of flavor and decent serving size. Only problem was that I put it in the microwave for the MINIMUM time listed on the package and it exploded all over!!!
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Cheese - Very good! Again, I'm surprised that I like these because I hate fake powdered potatoes, but these are every bit as good as the Potatoes w/ Broccoli and Cheese. WILL ORDER AGAIN!
DINNERS
Pot Roast - More meat than I expected and much better tasting than I expected. It was in desperate need of salt, but I use WAY too much salt in my diet, so it might have been fine for others. I didn't add the salt even though I wanted to, and it was still pretty tasty. WILL PROBABLY ORDER AGAIN
Orange Beef with Noodles - This one was a bit disappointing. It was edible, but not great. The orange flavor was more of an after-taste. The noodles were soggy. The beef was more like shaved beef than slices. It was ok, just not great. Serving size was decent. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN
Thin Crust Pizza with Cheese – Taste was good, but it is VERY small. I piled on a lot of veggies and it still wasn’t very substantial. MIGHT ORDER AGAIN.
Lasagna with Meat Sauce - Excellent! Very tasty and good serving size. Lots of meat. Sauce is not overly sweet. WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN
Southwestern Chicken with Rice – One of the best I've tasted so far out of the lunches/dinners! VERY flavorful and didn't need salt like everything else I've tried!!! WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN
Thin Crust Pizza with Cheese – Taste was good, but it is VERY small. I piled on a lot of veggies and it still wasn’t very substantial. MIGHT ORDER AGAIN.
Lasagna with Meat Sauce - Excellent! Very tasty and good serving size. Lots of meat. Sauce is not overly sweet. WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN
Pasta Fagioli – Excellent! MUCH better than I expected. It tastes fresh and it’s loaded with meat. WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN!
Basil Chicken – This one is a little weird. It’s just a very large processed chicken patty in tomato sauce. The chicken isn’t what I’d call great quality, but it’s very large and tastes acceptable. It would make a VERY NICE sandwich if you put it on a bun…much larger than most other items. WILL ORDER AGAIN.
Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes – This was just ok. It was edible, but not especially tasty. The meat tasted very processed and the potatoes were pretty nasty until I drowned them in sauce. Even the sauce wasn’t very good. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN.
BBQ Beef, Beans, and Rice – Pretty good. The BBQ sauce isn’t what I would normally expect, but after the first mouthful it tasted pretty good. Serving size was good. The beef was “real” meat…not processed. WILL ORDER AGAIN
Vegetarian Fajitas - What a shocker! This was GOOD!!! I was soooooo scared of the little soy boogers (meant to be meat) when I opened the package. I was even more scared of them after it was cooked! They were really good though! And it was a ton of food...much more filling than any other dinner entree I've had with this program. WILL ORDER AGAIN!
Chicken with Vegetables and Almonds - YUCK! It was edible. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this one. No flavor at all. DEFINITELY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN!
Teriyaki Beef with Rice - Not great! I love teriyaki sauce, beef, and rice, but this particular product just doesn't work for me. The beef is good quality and the rice is ok, but the sauce has no flavor at all. The only way I'd order it again is if I could add my own sauce to it, but that kind of kills the whole point of the diet, so my final assessment is WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN!
SNACKS
Nutricrunch Cherry Cordial Chocolates - Leave it to a diet company to find a way to make a good tasting chocolate which has Whey Proteins as the first two ingredients! These were actually very tasty. The texture is a little strange, but the flavor was great. They also gave a much bigger serving than I expected. Each chocolate is about the size of 4 chocolate chips and the bags have about 14 chocolates in them. I'm not sure why the call it "Nutricrunch"...there are no crunchies in it. WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN
Nutricrunch Chocolates – This was part of my FREE selection. Similar to the Cherry Cordial Chocolates, but I liked the cherry ones a lot better. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN, but only because the cherry tasted better to me.
Nutricrunch Bar – This was part of my FREE selection. Similar to the chocolates above, but it’s in a bar shape and has crunchies in it. I still like the Cherry ones best. WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN because I prefer the cherry-flavored.
Almond Biscotti – EXCELLENT! I love dipping these in my coffee. It’s just one cookie, but a normal sized biscotti. Lots of almonds. Great flavor. WILL DEFINTELY ORDER AGAIN
BBQ Soy Chips - I didn't choose these, but got two of them in my free week selection. I was scared of them, but they are actually pretty good. The first one tasted weird, because the initial flavor is sweet and I didn't expect it. Once I got used to it though, it was pretty good. The serving size was excellent...I had 16 chips and they are fairly large/thick. I never dreamed I was going to like these, but I did! WILL ORDER AGAIN
Chocolate Microwave Cake - serving size was excellent! I mixed the batter in a small circular dish (5" diameter and 1.5" straight sides) and it filled the entire dish. The texture and flavor were both very good, but I thought it could have used a little more sugar (and I don't like overly sweet items). The second time, I added 1/2 packet of Splenda to it and it was good. WILL ORDER AGAIN.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert Bar - I didn't order this one...it came in my free week selection. It was very good...just not something I would have ordered because it lacks substance. It's kind of like a peanut butter flavored Rice Krispie Treat with a very thin coating of chocolate on top. I found the other desserts to be more substantial, but if you like krispy treats, you'll love this. PROBABLY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN
Microwave Apple Cake - Very good...equally as good as the chocolate one. Serving size is excellent! WILL ORDER AGAIN
Chocolate Covered Caramel Corn - Tastes GREAT and the serving size is much better than I expected it to be before I opened the bag. WILL ORDER AGAIN.
Chocolate Caramel Bar – Tasted good. PROBABLY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN, but only because I’d rather other desserts than a flavored rice krispie treat.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Biscotti – EXCELLENT! I love dipping these in my coffee. It’s just one cookie, but a normal sized biscotti. Lots of nuts. WILL DEFINITELY ORDER AGAIN.
Cheese Curls – These are ok, but not spectacular. They lack flavor. PROBABLY WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pudding - Pretty good, but I thought it needed a little more sweetness. The serving size is pretty normal...8 oz. of water plus the mix. The second time I made it I added 1/2 packet of Splenda and it was MUCH better. I also froze it the second time, which I'll probably do in the future. It takes a lot longer to eat and seems like more food when it's frozen...more refreshing for the summer that way too! WILL PROBABLY ORDER AGAIN.
But, it only just started with the NS. I was wonding if anyone else, is having anything like this.
