Coming to a Nursery Near You

Archive for May 27th, 2008

This photo has NOT been digitally enhanced at all.  This is exactly how I took it.

Quote of the Day:
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
–“Mahatma” Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

I picked up a Michael Angelo’s Chicken Parmesan (39oz) frozen entree this weekend while grocery shopping.  I figured it would be a good, quick fix on a night when I wasn’t in the mood to cook or was short on time. In any case, I followed the directions and popped it in the oven for an hour.

According to the package, the serving size is 1 cup – and there were “about 5″ servings per container.  Cool – we have “about 5″ people.  So when it came out of the oven and I started dishing it out, I was more than a little surprised/disappointed.

The package contained 2 whole pieces (roughly 3 oz.) of chicken (which, to their credit, was REAL chicken), 3 much smaller chunks of chicken (these were the size of chicken nuggets) and the rest was filled up with spaghetti.  I dished it out – a piece of chicken to hubby, a piece of chicken to son – 2 chunks for daughter, 1 chunk for baby – none left for mama.  Then, a cup of spaghetti for hubby – about 3/4 cup for son, 1/2 cup for daughter, 1/4 cup for baby.  None left for mama.  Now, I’m not being melodramatic – but “about 5″ means AT LEAST 4.  This didn’t even feed 4!  Lucky for me, I wasn’t hungry.  But honestly?  I’d have rather have bought TWO packages that served 3 each, rather than 1 that served “about 5″.  It makes me pretty annoyed that Michael Angelo’s either doesn’t actually measure the contents of their boxes (and yes, I know it goes by WEIGHT) or perhaps they just take a guestimate on the servings – but for a family who does read the labels and depends on the company to be HONEST about the contents?  It makes me never want to buy a Michael Angelo’s product again.

On the plus side, I have to say that the sauce was very good – not a typical “frozen” kind of taste.  The spaghetti was perfectly cooked, and the chicken was quite good (literally, I had 1 bite).  So the quality was very good – the quantity? Not so much.

So what do you think? False advertising? Or perhaps I was expecting too much? 

Photo from MichaelAngelos.com

Quote of the Day:
Sharing money is what gives it its value.
–Elvis Presley, singer