Friday, January 25, 2013

Lean Cuisine Salad Additions


New Years resolutions. We all made them Lean Cuisine has a new line of frozen foods to help people keep those resolutions: Salad Additions. The premise is simple. You supply the lettuce, they'll supply the toppings. It's in the freezer section of the grocery store and in less than 3 minutes you have a healthy lunch. 

BzzAgent is telling us to let people know that the Kroger Family of stores is carrying these items, but my Smith's Marketplace did not have them! Then I saw a weekly sales flyer for Walmart and they had the Salad Additions listed as on sale. So to Wal-mart I went and got my freebie. 

There were 4 choices to pick from: Bistro Chicken, Asian-Style Chicken, Cranberry & Chicken and Southwest-Style Chicken. All chicken. Which isn't a bad thing, but not much variety there. At first I grabbed the Asian-Style Chicken because it had crispy rice noodles but then I saw the Bistro Chicken had a sweet & tangy vinaigrette with bacon. YUM!

So home I went to try it out. Here's what you need:

Lettuce.
 Our Bountiful Basket has been lacking in the lettuce department lately, so I have been buying it from the store for $1.29 a head (price went up 30 cents too. Boo!)



Your Salad Addition of choice.


Here's what comes inside. Everything is packaged separately.

You're supposed to thaw the dressing in lukewarm water or just leave out at room temp. I went the water route. Then nuke the veggies for 2.5 minutes or until 160 degrees. I had to do it for another 30 seconds. Then leave the in microwave for another minute to finish heating. I always forget to do that. D'oh!


Pile your lettuce on a plate.


Add your toppings.


Enjoy!

And the verdict... it was ok. I hate frozen chicken in TV dinners. I'm picky about my meat and I alway trim off the fat and the chewy gross parts of the chicken and they don't. I got a bite of spongy mystery chicken and it kind of grossed me out. So then I stopped eating the chicken. The veggies were ok as well. They were cold, even thought I microwaved them, but they weren't very fresh tasting. 

The dressing was my favorite part and I'd buy it again just for the dressing. It was tangy but sweet. I didn't taste much bacon but it was still really good. 

And the onion straws were a great touch. Crunchy and flavorful. I never thought to add those to my salad! 

It's a good concept, but I'd rather just make my own salad with fresh ingredients. Maybe if I was in a pinch I'd buy one, but you still need to buy lettuce, so I don't see why you wouldn't just buy all the ingredients for a fresh salad. 

I'm a BzzAgent.
I received a free sample of Lean Cuisine to try and give my opinion.
#GotItFree