Review: Banquet Macaroni & Beef in Tomato Sauce

I'm not negative enough in my frozen food reviews. I've had people accuse me of being an insider for the frozen food industry. Right, because multi-million dollar corporations can't think of better ways to promote their products than through a little-read and often-bungled blog.

But considering all these horrible frozen food webisodes maybe the industry is crazy enough to hire me.

But back to my (lack of) negativity. There's a couple reasons I haven't come down hard. First of all, I like frozen foods. If I didn't I wouldn't spend all this time and effort doing this. Secondly, every single review is for something I want to try. 90% of the stuff is paid for out of pocket so even when I don't like certain frozen foods I try to find positives because I don't want to fee like an idiot for spending money on a piece of junk.

Now... with all that being said, I had no faith in liking Banquet Macaroni & Beef in Tomato Sauce. Just look at it. Does that look or sound appetizing to you? I ready to eviscerate this meal... but first I had to cook it. Slit the plastic film and microwave on high for two minutes. Give the food a stir, heat for several more minutes and voila! Ketchup and kibble sprinkled on top of pasta.

Just kidding, this entrée actually isn't that awful. Instead it's a bland and cheap spaghetti. The macaroni pasta is decently sized and easy to chew. It's doused in a harmless tomato sauce that's weak in thickness and flavor. The chewy meatballs resemble beef, which is about all you can expect from a one-dollar meal. I did bite down on a hard piece of cartilage. At least I hope it was cartilage.

In a shocker... this Banquet entrée is reasonably healthy! Yes, the sodium content is absurd (especially for food with such lackluster flavor) but also consider the low (less than 10% of a persona's daily value) calories, fat and cholesterol. There's a nice boost of potassium, fiber and protein in addition to traces of B vitamins and minerals.

I would never suggest people go out and eat Banquet Macaroni & Beef in Tomato Sauce. But to be honest I expected a lot worse. It's tolerable, not terrible.