Two Pot Pies

My house is on the market. I'm packed up and ready to move. No china, no silverware, no pots and pans. Everything is packed so I've been eating foods that are simple to prepare and don't require any of these items.

I've the drive through Boston Market and had their delicious pot pies along with many of their other meal offerings. I'm also very familar with Stouffers, having known this product since I was a child.

I recently tried Boston Market Home StyleChicken Pot Pie. The package describes it as having tender white chicken and vegetables in a flaky crust. You can microwave or bake this product. It comes in a box and offers 16.0z of Chicken Pot Pie. The serving in the box is meant to serve two people. The advertising says "You don' have to wait for dessert to enjoy golden, flaky crust with meaty chunks of chicken, tender vegetables and a creamy sauce. The total calories for this come to 560 calories. Now what you have to be aware of is this mean if you eat the entire pie you consume 560 calories with 330 of that coming from fat. That is 1120 calories for one meal. I have to mention. I'm only around 5 feet tall and 100 pounds. I am not a big eater but this little pie would not be something I could share.

Sat fat 13 g

Sugars 4 g

Protein 16 g

Sodium is a whopping 930 mg. Keep in mind this is for one portion or half that pie.

Now Boston Market claims that they take pride in preparing fresh tasting homestyle meals that are wholesom, delicious and made with high quality ingredients. This may be true of the product you get from the Boston Market store. This is definately not true of the frozen version you buy at the grocery store. This cost $5.99. I baked it as opposed to microwaving it. It took almost an hour. at 400 degrees. You preheat your oven. Leave your pie in its paper tray, coer the crust edges with aluminum, remove when done, let stand and then eat. To microwave you leave this in the carton, fold the bottom flap end under the carton, cook on high for 8 minutes. Let stand 3-5 minutes.

First of all in the first bite I thought I had eaten some gristle. I spat this out and tried another piece of "chicen". Same problem. It felt like gristle. I looked closely at the piece. It did not look like chicken. It was rubbery in texture and hard to pull apart. Well, that was dissappointing. I tried some carrot, watery. There were actually only 4 piece of carrot smaller than nickels. There were some incredibly thin, small slices of string bean.There were about a dozen very small corn niblets and about the same amount of peas. The crust was great, flaky and tasty. The rest of this pie was completely unappealing. The entire thing had an oniony taste. I have to say it was nothing like it's delicious store bought version. If you want a good Chicken Pot Pie either make your own or go to the actual store.

Now, not one to just give up I decided to try the Stouffer's vesrion. I guess I'm stubborn. Unbelievably the Stouffer's White Meat Chicken Pot Pie was almost a twin to the frozen Boston Market Chicken Pot pie. It had similar cooking instructions. It contained quite a high sodium content and also was considered 2 servings. It had a higher calorie count than the already extremely high Boston Market version. This pie also was lacking in the amount of vegetables, quality of vegetables and had the same rubbery chicken. I measured the amount of "chicken" piece and found less than 3 tablespoons of meat yet this is considered enouugh for two people. It also had the onion flavor overwhelming any other flavor. The crust was tasty. The price was about the same as the Boston Market brick and mortar version.

Total Fat 33 g

Saturated Fat 13 g

Trans Fat 0 g

Cholesterol 60 mg

Sodium 890 mg

Total Carbohydrates 50 g

Dietary Fiber 0 g

Sugars 9 g

Protein 21 g

580 calories and there are two servings per container according to the nutritional information. 300 of these are from fat

The Stouffers Chicken pot pie contains a golden crust surrounding pieces of all white meat chicken, peas, carrots, celery and onions in a gravy made with real cream according to the site.Once again, there were barely a teaspoon of any of the vegetables mentioned.I had to wonder if these are both made by the same factory they were so similar.

I will not purchase either of those products again,. I would recommend avoiding thiese at all costs. Go to the brick and mortar Boston Market store itself and get an incredibly good Chicken Pot Pie for the same price. You will also get a choice of delicious sides and a great piece of corn bread as well.