I've been having an Interesting and Learning experience with these 2 brands in the last few days. A friend from back East was all psyched on Callendar turkey dinner and so I dove in a bought a few...and OMG, not a food I'll buy again. The foods was so Soupy and in reading reviews Everyone said the same thing....So out with Marie's foods... Now I have used Stouffers a couple times, their Lasanga and Creamed Spinach and was very satisfied but have not bought any in a long while and now at this Older place in my life, I'm leaning on these foods more. I use my conventional oven to heat them up...I use no microwave for anything, don't own one. They have a turkey dinner and I'll try it eventually. MOST of their foods are given Positive Reviews.... These are processed so consider that and the sodium can be high but I take some potassium tablets to cancel out some of the sodium when I eat these foods... So there it is -- more from this honest gal....
I've not tasted the pot pies, the soupy consistency is from the mashed potatoes and gravey all run together in the Honey Roast Turkey Dinner...the dinner maybe had 4 little pieces of turkey. Didn't need a fork, I just spooned it out to my mouth...
I've not tried many of Marie's foods besides the pot pies, which I like. As I've said, the Stouffer's Italian entrees are good. And your point regarding sodium is a valid one.
I have tried Marie C, Stouffer, and Banquet. I'd say Stouffer's was my favorite though I'm on a Banquet pot thing right now. I always leave my dinners in the oven until food starts to stick to the container then I know it's thoroughly cooked.
I have avoided these type of fast foods at home due to processed stuff but with my having more difficulty standing and cooking more, I have been going to some of them..but will be MINDFUL of the chemicals in all of t hem....,don't rely on them too heavily.
it does not hurt to have a few easy things to pop in oven, when your just not up to cooking. The pot pies i only buy during winter, but even then we rarely eat them any more. ,,,store bought ones
I really like Marie Callendar's chicken pies. We had that for supper last night. It's a fairly quick and easy meal. I bake them in the oven for 50 minutes. They don't have as much chicken and vegetables as I like so I open a can of chicken breast and a can of carrots to add. When I remove the pies from the oven, I chop them up, crumble some chicken, chop the carrots, and stir that in with the pies. It's so good.
I also keep a few convenience foods in my freezer. I love the Marie Callender's pot pies. I never give a thought to sodium or chemicals; at my age who cares. Maybe those food additives will help "preserve" me for a while, and I love salt so there's that.
I usually have chicken & gravy in the freezer, so will add that and some mixed veggies to the pies for the reason you cite. With the large Marie's pies, I can get 2 meals out of one when I augment it like that.
I care at my age, and know I won't be doing them often I hope, I put a 10.5 oz meat lasanga in the oven and forget about the carbs which I've kept lowered for a long time, keep the blood sugar down, and a whooping 42mg of carbs in this little amount.....I have NOT eaten pasta type food in years...as a kid yes as I burned it off with all I did, now life is very sedintary so I have changed what I put in my mouth...
I like the MC pot pies so much, I tried 2 of the dinners this week. Turkey with Stuffing and Slow Roasted Beef. They were not good at all. I was surprised. Very small. Almost like diet meals. Only 240 calories.
I guess I am the only one that doesn't like Marie Callender's pot pies. We have tried a few and could not finish it after the first few bites. The few pieces of meat in the pies tasted like it was over processed or came out of a can. There was very few veggies and the runny gravy or sauce tasted like it was made from bouillon cubes.