Commercial Foods

[John Harrelson]

Being an old retired restaurant owner and cook, I normally make most of my meals from scratch.

However, yesterday when at the local Grocery Outlet, I bought a frozen package of "Banquet Crock Pot Classics" Meatballs and Pasta.

Following package instructions, I cooked it in my crock pot and it turned out OK... but only "OK"...

While the taste is not bad, it has that "Processed" taste..
The easiest way to describe the flavor is to compare it to a can of "Denny's Beef Stew"
with it's tin can taste..

Has anyone else ever tried any of the Commercial "Crock Pot" dishes ?

If so, how about posting your results..

Please folks... NO homemade recipes... I only want your opinions of the various "Commercial" packaged products designed for cooking in a crock pot.

Thanks,
John

[John Harrelson]

Being an old retired restaurant owner and cook, I normally make most of my meals from scratch.

However, yesterday when at the local Grocery Outlet, I bought a frozen package of "Banquet Crock Pot Classics" Meatballs and Pasta.

Following package instructions, I cooked it in my crock pot and it turned out OK... but only "OK"...

While the taste is not bad, it has that "Processed" taste..
The easiest way to describe the flavor is to compare it to a can of "Denny's Beef Stew"
with it's tin can taste..

Has anyone else ever tried any of the Commercial "Crock Pot" dishes ?

If so, how about posting your results..

Please folks... NO homemade recipes... I only want your opinions of the various "Commercial" packaged products designed for cooking in a crock pot.

Thanks,
John

[Lorna]

The only commercial foods for the slow cooker that I have used are from Schwan's Frozen Foods. Several of their products can be cooked in the slow cooker. I'm rather fond of the beef tips & gravy. Sometimes I use it as a "base" for more complicated recipes. As for those combo bags in the grocery store's frozen food section... I tend to find a couple of ingredients that I don't like or they have too much sugar... I haven't bought any. I am interested in hearing what others think.

[Innkeeper]

For an easy chili, buy a can of Campbells Chunky Chili and a can of diced tomatoes. Mix them together in a saucepan. Add onions, grated cheese, sour cream or whatever you like for a quick chili.

Chunky Chili comes in several different flavors, Steak, Hot, Roadhouse, w/o beans and pretty tasty without MSG.

Also the chili without beans tastes good over toast.

I tried Bush's Chili, but not as good which surprised me because they are normally my favorite beans.

[John Harrelson]

Hi INNKEEPER,

Thanks for the comeback..

What I'm looking for are "Food Reviews" from folks who have tried the "Pre-Packaged CROCKPOT" meals that we find in grocery stores.

They can be dry-packaged from a store shelf or frozen from the store's freezer section...it doesn't matter ...

as long as they are complete meals and ready to dump directly into a Crockpot.. with nothing else being added from you except maybe a little water..

NO extra seasonings, NO extra meats, NO extra
vegetables, NO extra anything...to suit your personal taste..
NO pre-browning of meats, NO searing of veggies, etc..etc...

Absolutely nothing else can be done to or added to the food except turning on the crockpot and walking away..

This way we can all see which, if any, commercial Pre-Packaged Crockpot foods are really fit to eat and worth buying..

You recipe sounds simple and fast ... but.... it is not a "Commercial, Prepackaged, Crockpot" food..
I have enough personal recipes to prepare three meals a day for the next two years and never repeat any recipe..

But... cooking is work .. heh heh heh ...
and I don't want to cook anymore, I want to be lazy and just dump a package of food into the Crockpot, then walk away and forget about it for six or eight hours..

If you have ever tried any of the commercial crock pot meals, please post your critique of them..

Surely to goodness ..(pun).. there must be a couple of the commercial Crockpot foods that don't taste like cardboard with over cooked mushy veggies...

Thanks,
John

[full-timer]

John,in my opinion the Banquet Brand of all their food has gone down hill. This was a pretty good brand when they first came out.
The Gourmet Dinning Brand taste better.

Joe

[bsavage]

IMHO, you really can't beat fresh veg, good meat, and whatever liquid you dump into a crockpot. From scratch, it always turns out great. I'm not answering your question, I know, because I haven't tried any of the prepackaged ones. Sorry. But it's not that tough to throw the fresh ingredients in the crockpot and get good, unprocessed taste. However, if someone here finds one that is really good, trust me, I'll try it! Good question!

Brenda, of...

[NLOVNIT]

John,

I've tried several of the Banquet Crockpot Classics. They sounded like a good idea, but I found them very lacking. All of them are way too salty. With HBP on both sides of mine & my husband's family, I won't be using them again.

The chicken w/red skinned potatoes one had sub-par chicken in it & the potatoes were kind of mealy textured. Potatoes, as we all know, don't freeze well.

Same with the beef stew. Mushy potatoes & stringy meat.

I thought the beef stroganoff would be the best bet - I mean, what can go wrong with meatballs & noodles?!?. But after cooking all day, the noodles were mush & I didn't like the flavor of the meatballs. This one was also the saltiest of all the ones I tried.

Even buying them on sale & with a coupon is not worth it. Yes, they may be convenient throw-in-the-pot meals, but IMO, they aren't healthy at all & leave a lot to be desired taste & texture-wise.

I'm not sure what other brands have such offerings out there, but I doubt I'll buy them since the Banquet ones proved to be less than I hoped for.

L-

[ruppr]

John,
We (wife) used Banquet when they first came out, but they have really gone down hill, we don't even buy them anymore. Tried Marie Calender's (several kinds) most are moist, fair amount of meat, but pretty much no flavor. Don't know of any others, so guess not much help here, but the answer is not promising from what we've seen.

Best,