Trader Joe's - Brown Rice - Fully Cooked (Microwaveable)

I've tried to make the switch to brown rice when packaging up meals. Although if I don't have any cooked brown rice on hand when packaging up meals it can get a little time consuming (due to the fact brown rice takes a lot longer than white rice to cook). When I spotted packages of Trader Joe's Brown Rice - Fully Cooked (Microwaveable) I was intrigued and picked up a package.

 

These are along the lines of the pre-packaged rices sold by Uncle Ben's. All you have to do is rip the top off the bag and pop it (standing up) into the microwave and heat for 90 seconds. After that, you've got brown rice that's ready to plate up any way you choose.

 

Texture wise ... in all honesty, you can tell it's not freshly made brown rice. But if you sprinkle it with a little salt, pepper and a little butter and serve it alongside a vegetable and protein of your choice you think you're having the real thing. It's slightly drier in texture, but it's not terrible. I wouldn't go out of my way to say it's the best convenience variety brown rice I've had, while it's certainly not the worst, but it's not bad for an on the fly type of scenario.

 

A serving, 1/2 cup is 120 calories or 3 points plus values.

Whole Foods Chicken Tikka Masala

I purchased this reheat and go Chicken Tikka Masala from Whole Foods.  I love Indian food, but I don’t have it very often. Since my boyfriend isn’t a huge fan for spicy Indian dishes, I tend to gravitate towards frozen or microwavable Indian dishes so I can enjoy them.  Needless to say when I saw this at Whole Foods – without the rice, I had to pick it up.

I heated it up in the microwave and separated it into two containers.  The first day I ate it out of a bowl with some pita bread.  I was literally starving and was boarding on “hangry” and I found it was satisfying and filling.  It is s spicy dish; spicy enough to make my nose start to run, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly hot.    The next day I ate the remainder for lunch over some salad and I found the greens and carrots really helped bring the heat intensity down and it was delicious.  Definitely a nice “go to” meal for me to pick up if I were ever in a bind (at work with a Whole Foods local) and needed something flavorful but lower in points for lunch.

The container houses 2 servings, a serving being 8 ounces (containing the sauce, not just the chicken).  Weighing it out I found there was roughly about 3 ounces of chicken (coated in sauce) in my meal and I added in about 2 ounces of extra sauce.  According to the nutrition information label an 8 ounce serving translated to 4 points plus values.

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of Whole Foods packaged microwavable meals?