Meal Mart "amazing meals"

[kiddush hopper]

for a while i have been seeing these in the store. they are tv dinner, that do not need refrigeration, and can be reheated in the microwave. i have always been skeptical of these, based on the Mon Cuisine TV dinners, which i think are horrible.

however last night i decided to experiment. i bought the beef cholent, and the rib steak.

Beef Cholent - it came with a thin piece of kishke and a small piece of kugel. microwaved for 1:45. it was delicious!!!! there was a lot of beef, and it wasnt crappy meat, it was good chunks of cholent meat. the kishke was delicioius as was the kugel. the best part of it was that since its never frozen, you dont get a bite of food that is boiling followed by a frozen piece. everything had the correct texture, and while it was all in one tray (no partitions) it wasnt one big mush.

Rib Steak - it came with potato kugel, sliced carrots, and farfel. again i was shocked at how good it was. it was a big chunk of meat that was very tender. i would classify it more as a roast than a steak, but i figured that was what it would be.

all in all, i was very please, and at $4.39 in brachs, it was a reasonable price. not something i would buy everyday, but when the time comes that i will need something like that, i will not hesitate to get them.

[runtexas]

I stumbled on to the amazing meals a few years ago. I keep one in the office as an "emergency" meal in case I have to put in unexpected hours. I don't eat them on a regular basis, I approach them more as something for an emergency. I do keep an eye on the expiration date and will eat them at work before they expire.

I agree, they are not bad. But I can't imagine a steady diet of them for a long period of time (I am talking weeks, not days).

[Merrick Grandma]

Years ago Meal Mart was awful. I decided this year to give them another try and chose the Pesadich stuffed cabbage. I am happy to report that it was delicious.

[MartyB]

Its amazing, I have a hard time buying these packaged meals because I get turned off when I look at the calories/fat content on the labels. Yet I have no problems buying the chazeries from Chap-A-Nosh or Zomicks since they have no "labels" I can't see its calorie/fat content. Ignorance truly is bliss!

[AdinaA]

My Own Meals are as sensible as they are good tasting. A Chicken and Black Beans dinner has 290 calories and 10 g. of fat.

[queenscook]

So my one question is: how's it working for you? Are you at the weight and level of health you want to be? If not, who are you fooling, and how blissful is your ignorance really?

[AdinaA]

These are meals that I and others use because we travel on business. You stick them in your suitcase. You have a meal. The bonus with MyOwnMeals is that they are, indeed, made form the same healthful, ingriedients that I cook with at home.

[queenscook]

Please note my reply was to MartyB, not AdinaA.

[AdinaA]

Sorry.

[MartyB]

No, I am not at the weight level that I want so given the choice between getting an item where the "bad" numbers" are in my face vs buying something that "has no numbers" I will choose the "numberless" one always.

My ignorance is very blissful :)

[AdinaA]

And there are more important things than a narrow waistline, like leading a good life and being happy.

[queenscook]

Then why would he not buy the prepackaged meals?

[AdinaA]

I like the MyOwnMeals brand best. They taste good.

[rebeccafriedman]

while on a roadtrip, my mother-in-law kindly bought us a dozen or so of these things, and we quickly decided there was nothing "amazing" about them - if you are absolutely starved, then fine, but you would be better served buying a bag of salad greens and a container of cottage cheese and a couple of pieces of fruit than ingesting most of these - taste is poor, quality is low, and nutritional value is questionable. High fat, high salt, high cholesterol. Stick with the Rib steak meal if you must indulge - it was the only meal that tasted good. It's not healthy, of course, but when you simply must have meat on the road, it will do.

[joebenjamin]

We ate them on vacation two years in a row!!!! Paperific has them at the lowest price.I even eat them when I need to at work!!!!

[runtexas]

I agree, they are not bad. I am having the Poached Salmon right now. What makes these useful for me is I am having it in mission control at NASA (I am working the STS-126 mission). Very easy way to bring a kosher meal to work during odd hours when I cannot leave my console (except for very short breaks, like heating up lunch in the microwave).

[Prettypoodle]

I happen to really like the eggplant "parm" meal (it is actually parve!) I put it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes and then add in shreaded cheese and microwave (covered) for another minute of so.
Besides the fact that my poodle goes BONKERS when I make this (he loves the cheese and of course I share!) I really enjoy this. It is a yummy (IMO) dish!

[daverose808]

i come from a family that still believes diet soda could not be good for u bc of all the "chemicals" - - u can imagine what they would think if they heard about meat that isnt refrigerated or frozen. HOW is this stuff ok to eat?

[queenscook]

Why should it be any different than a can of tuna fish? It's vacuum sealed just like stuff in cans; it's just not in a can.

[berel]

tuna is packed in saltwater as a preservative. Vacuum sealing, while it does slow down the decay process, I have to wonder too as to what kind of preservatives they're using

[ferret]

Meat has been canned since the process was invented (Napoleonic wars - they sealed meat/vegetables in champagne bottles). With the advent of aseptic packaging products like milk, which previously required refrigeration, could be stored for extended periods. The packaging has been modified over the years to simplify the process and cut down on materials, costs and weight (more efficient processing and shipping of MREs to our troops). It's all still basically the same idea.

[Kosher Critic]

I have had good experiences with the ready to eat/no refrig. needed My Own Meals.

[berel]

that's probably the we'll go. we vacuum pack it an put it on ice, and then into the fridge at the motel

[midasgold]

If anyone is able to distinguish "crappy meat" from "good chunks of cholent meat," I would imagine it would be someone with the moniker, "Kiddush Hopper."

Kiddush Hopper, take note: You mention that you "think the Mon Cuisine TV dinners are horrible." I believe that the entire line of Mon Cuisine, while made by Meal Mart, is parve and not real meat; this may have something to do with your dislike. I'll leave it for another more in the know than yours truly to ascertain if the Mon Cuisine entrees have crappy soy or good chunks of soy meat.

As for the dangers of soy (prevalent in Mon Cuisine entrees), I strongly recommend checking out http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/food/soy_story.html for an excellent article about soy and www.wholesoystory.com for an excellent book about soy products.

I stand corrected: Only Mon Cuisine products in GREEN BOXES (entrees, pot pies, hors d'erve, imitation seafood) are parve. Mon Cuisine products in blue boxes - such as baked ziti, lasagna, and eggplant entrees - are dairy (milchig) and I believe there may now be some Mon Cuisine products in white packaging - Asian-type dinners, perhaps - that are meat (fleishig).

-Midas

[queenscook]

I strongly recommend that anyone reading the article in "Mothering" referenced above also carefully read all the "letters in response" to it, because almost all (after the first two or three) are highly critical of it, and point out the tremendously unbalanced picture that it paints, as well as the lack of scientific accuracy in it.

[ferret]

Always amazes me how some people will buy the opinions of these outliers hook-line-and-sinker despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

[momrn]

Mon Cuisine has always had fleishig items such as salisbury steak,which used to be ok for what it was, although the portion size was not large. I have not had one in quite a while , but I have seen the fleishig line in stores.

[berel]

are they vacuum packed?

[kiddush hopper]

yes

[berel]

thanks, Going to Lancaster PA in a week and half and figured we might try them

[momrn]

Berel, are you aware that there is glatt kosher fast food in Dutch Wonderland ?Dutch Wonderland is located , I believe , in the Lancaster area. I hear that although it is fast food it is pretty good. You can get more information on www.ourkehilla.com. Let me know what you think of the food ,please as we are going later in the summer. Thanks.

[berel]

I've already looked into that website. We've decided to bring our own food as we find the kosher food in out of ways places is usually expensive and pretty bad

[ariellasdaddy]

You're absolutely right. The kosher food in Dutch Wonderland is absolutely HORRIBLE and a huge rip off. You're better off bringing your own food.

[Jykon2]

I went to Dutch Wonderland and found that the food was actually very good. I go every year and dont shlep as much food because we eat the kosher food for supper in the park.