Product Review - Oscar Mayer's Shaved Turkey Vs. Hillshire Farm's Deli Select Turkey

It's that time of year again for school lunches. Most people like turkey sandwiches, unless they're vegetarian, and they also hold up well without getting soggy. I compared Oscar Mayer's shaved turkey breast to Hillshire Farm's Deli Select thinly sliced turkey breast. Here's how they each measured up against each other.

Nutritional Value: The serving sizes are both about 2 ounces. Oscar Mayer's turkey has 45 calories, .5 grams of fat, 20 mg of cholesterol (7%), 460 mg of sodium (19%), 1 gram of carbohydrates, and 8 grams of protein. Hillshire Farms turkey has 60 calories, .5 grams of fat, 25 mg of cholesterol (8%), 620 mg of sodium (26%), 2 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of sugar and 11 grams of protein.

Flavor: Oscar Mayer's shaved turkey has a nice turkey flavor that isn't too salty. The texture is soft but not soggy and the thin slices were fairly easy to pull apart. They weren't packed together too tightly. Unfortunately Hillshire Farm's thinly sliced turkey was very hard to pull apart and pulled into small shreds, not slices. The flavor was good, perhaps a little more flavorful than Oscar Mayer's, but that is probably because it's higher in sodium.

Hillshire Farm's packaging was somewhat challenging to open. The plastic container was taped and I needed a knife to remove it. The inner sealed plastic bag had no way to open it without puncturing it with a knife or using scissors. Oscar Mayer's packaging is more user friendly. The hard plastic container has a flap in the corner that you bend over and peel back quite easily. Oscar Mayer also uses less plastic in their product since they don't have an inner bag, which is an environmental plus.

Personally I prefer Oscar Mayer's shaved turkey breast over Hillshire Farm's deli select thinly sliced turkey breast. It has less calories, sodium, cholesterol and sugar and it's also less expensive. The packaging is easy to open and uses less plastic than Hillshire Farm's. Oscar Mayer's turkey meat tastes good without a lot of extra salt and it has a pleasant mouth feel.

Oscar Mayer's shaved turkey breast also comes in mesquite flavor, honey smoked flavor. It's a tasty and healthy protein for use in sandwiches, wraps, pitas, salads, on crackers or just eaten with some cheese and fruit as a super snack. I recommend keeping some on hand for quick and easy lunches and pick-me-ups.