New Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef - Product Review

I often pick up quick-cooking little frozen entrees, canned foods, or dried noodle meals that are convenient to have on hand. They are staples that stay around as "backup" to the better food choices you would make if you had the time. New Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef was one of those type of meals. I'd had it in the freezer for several weeks after picking up various varieties of Banquet meals at Walmart. At the local Giant's these little frozen boxed meals may go for $2.50 and up when not on sale. However, at Wal-mart I can find these little frozen entrees for as little as $.89! This is the time to stock up. You'll be glad you did when you have these on hand if there is "nothing to eat" in the house, or if you didn't bring a homemade lunch to work and don't have time to run out and get something.

Today was one of those days. I was in between paychecks, nothing to eat or pack at home to bring in for lunch at work, lots of work to do and hoping not to have to leave my desk to go get something for lunch. I had a can of Spaghettios and a pack of Ramen Noodles on hand, but I wasn't in the mood for either of those. Then I remembered I'd brought in a frozen meal the week before and left it in the office refrigerator.

New Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef wasn't exactly what I wanted at the time, but it was a more along the lines of what I was in the mood for. My expectations for the flavor of the Banquet meal were low as I pulled the battered box from the freezer, but I figured it would hold me over until dinner time.

Surprisingly, the meal didn't look too bad when I removed it from the box. I could distinguish the noodles, meat and cheese clearly and it looked good and tasty, unlike some inexpensive frozen meals. Even the microwavable tray had a decorative new shape. The black, plastic microwave tray had a curved shallow bed that allowed the Cheesy Macaroni and Beef to spread out evenly and cook thoroughly, leaving no cold spots. I found this to be the case when I pulled the cooked meal from the oven. The meal had to cook on high for 2 minutes after first slitting the film cover. Then you were to remove the film cover, stir the cheesy macaroni and beef, then replace the film cover and microwave for another 1-1/2 more minutes.

The new Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef was indeed cheesy. I found that by cooking the meal just a few seconds longer and then letting it stand for a little while, the sauce got even thicker, making it more like I like it. The noodles were also soft , but firm with a good texture. While I enjoyed the flavor of the beef, i found the little morsels a bit chewy for my taste. Then again, I'm not a 'meat' person and generally don't care for the texture of most meats.

I checked to see if there really was meat in the beef pieces or if they were made from soy crumbles.

Ingredients: Cooked Macaroni, water, beef crumble...so it was the real thing!

This 7 oz. Cheesy Macaroni & Beef Banquet meal has 3g of dietary fiber, 4g sugar, 11g protein, 7g fat, 20g cholesterol, 10mg sodium, and 200mg of potassium, for a total 230 calories, 60 of which are from fat.

The taste was good, the amount of food reasonable, and the price spectacular. I'm sure I'll be getting the New Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef frozen 7oz meal again next time I stock up at Wal-Mart.

Disclaimer: I was not paid by the manufacturer of New Banquet Cheesy Macaroni & Beef to review this product.