MRE Monday - Cheese Tortellini In Tomato Sauce with a BONUS REVIEW

I almost didn't have this ready for Monday. School has been taking a lot of time, but here it is. I cracked open a Basic Emergency Backup Meal from Emergency Essentials to get to our main entree.

 

Inside this package was:  

Cheese Tortellini in Tomato Sauce

Wheat Bread Snack

Peanut Butter package

Lemonade Beverage Mix

Strawberry Jam

Condiment package w/ salt, pepper, spork, handiwipe, and napkin

2 pieces of hard candy ( Butterscotch )

I have provided links for previously reviewed items.

  

Nutritional Information for Cheese Tortellini: 

Serving Size: 227g

Calories: 280
Calories from fat:  50
Total Fat: 6g or 9% DV
Cholesterol: 40mg or 13% DV
Sodium: 870mg or 36% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 45g or 15% DV
Dietary Fiber: 3g or 12% DV
Sugars: 8g
Protein: 11g
Vitamin A: 15% DV
Vitamin C: 20% DV
Calcium:  10% DV
Iron: 15%

Expectations: Chef Boyardee.

 

Realities:

I'll start with my oldest son, Row. He approached the table and said,"What is this stuff in my bowl? Hmmm..." He took a bite and dropped half of it into his lap. That didn't discourage him from saying that he didn't like it though.

Red Ant, our youngest, took a small nibble and said, " I don't want that."

Finally, we get to my favorite food critic, my wife. Here are some of her more memorable quotes," It's alright. Palatable. I'd rather buy Chef Boyardee." She decided that the noodles were good, but the sauce was off a little.

I thought it was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of canned noodles, but this was okay. I liked it.

Final Thoughts:

Our kids have never been exposed to Chef Boyardee, but only had spaghetti with Prego and my sister's homemade sauce. This could account for the initial dislike from the boys. The probably led to the  loss of their stars. Sweetheart would rather buy the canned Chef Boyardee, and save a few cents. Myself? I'd go for it, but agree with the cost factor. Sweetheart did dig into Red Ant's mini-bowl.  I just asked, and she would give it a star. I would too.

Stars: * * ( 2 )

Bonus Review since it is so late...

Strawberry Jam

I almost forgot to get a picture!

Nutritional information:

Serving Size: 1 oz.

Calories: 70
Calories from fat: 0
Total Fat: 0g or 0% DV
Cholesterol: 0mg or 0% DV
Sodium: 0mg or 0% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 18g or 6% DV
Dietary Fiber: 0g or 0% DV
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 0g
Vitamin A: 0% DV
Vitamin C: 8% DV
Calcium:  0% DV
Iron: 0%

Row doesn't like jelly, so we are giving the star to Red Ant.

Red Ant was really excited to see that we had jelly to sample. He cheered Sweetheart by chanting "Open it!", as she struggled with the packaging. I suggest a knife. He said that he " Really like it.", and said that it tasted "kinda like strawberry." Go figure?

Sweetheart also liked it and compared it to Welchs jelly. She looked at the ingredients:

Strawberries ( Strawberries, Strawberry Puree Concentrate),Sugar, Pectin, Citric Acid and was genuinely impressed. It could be Polander's jelly with ingredients like this, but she commented on the cost. I did mention that the cost was offset by the fact that once a jar of jelly was opened, it should be refrigerated. The packages would be ideal for on the move trekking, or if the power was out.

I would stock up if they got down to around 50 cents each. I just checked the latest issue of Emergency Essentails, and the jelly packages are 40 cents each. I'm buying more on the next order.

Stars:  * * * * ( 4 )