Saturday, October 26, 2013

Review: Tasty Bites

The good people over at Tasty Bites offered to send me six packets of their various dishes for my family to try.  What an easy meal, so I said sure!  I believe I've made their Bombay Potatoes before, but it's been awhile, and I haven't tried their other dishes, so I was looking forward to these.  Please see below for the full review with feedback from the fam.

Here are the packets, from left to right:  Pad Thai Asian Noodles, Punjab Eggplant, Garlic Brown Rice, Channa Masala, Bombay Potatoes, and Ginger Lentil Rice.  All of these are microwavable and able to be boiled in their pouches.  Each packet serves two.  I asked for only vegan samples, and so that's what they sent me.  I chose to microwave each packet; the rice dishes were ready in 90 seconds, and all the others were ready in 60.

Here is my plate with a dollop of each dish.  I kept my dishes in the same order as I've listed above for ease of seeing what they look like.  As you can see, with a small sampling of each, it made for a full plate - this is the size of a salad plate, and it was plenty.

I'm not going to list all of their ingredients because that would make this just too long, but there was no corn syrup, msg, artificial colors or flavors or preservatives in any of them, making these very acceptable for my family.  Here is the full breakdown of each dish.

Pad Thai Asian Noodles:
JK:  "Good."
GR:  "All right."
SR: "Good."
Me: "Surprisingly Tomatoey."
G: He said most of the dishes, including this one was "tasty."

Punjab Eggplant:
JK:  Didn't like this one, but that's not a surprise.  I don't know too many kids that like eggplant.
GR: "Not bad."
SR: Didn't try this one because of dislike of eggplant.  She also wanted to say that even though she's not "big on Indian food," she liked all the dishes she tried.
Me: "Good, but the eggplant is indistinguishable from the other ingredients."
G: "Tasty."

 Garlic Brown Rice:
JK: Didn't try this one.
GR: "A little bland."
SR: Didn't try either.
Me:  "I agree with GR."
G: "Good flavor but slightly dry."

Channa Masala:
JK: "That is good!"
GR: "Okay."
SR: "Good."
Me.: "Good."
G:  "Tasty."

 Bombay Potatoes:
JK: These ended up being his favorite, and he went back to finish up the pot.
GR: "Good!"  Her fave too.
SR: "Good."
Me: "Good.
G: "Tasty."

Ginger Lentil Rice:
JK: "Not very good."
GR: "I like it."
SR: "Good."
Me: "Okay."
G: He liked this one.

My overall impression:
  • I liked the quick preparation.  For my family, this entire meal was ready in less than ten minutes; that's pretty good!  
  • When I had all the dishes on one plate, the brown ones blended in with each other.  I would have liked them to be a bit more visually different, but they were tasty.  
  • These are definitely not gourmet, and they wouldn't replace my dinners on a regular basis.  However, I can see me keeping a few of these on hand in the pantry, especially the favored ones, for those busy nights, or for the Blessings to make their own lunches or snacks during the day.
  • I prefer fresh foods over pre-packaged, but as far as pre-packaged goes, these were a fairly healthy choice.
  • In the end, these were definitely a hit with my family, and we give these an overall thumbs-up.  Recommended for purchase!




11 comments:

  1. I've definitely seen them, but haven't picked them up as I assumed they were too high in sodium - all though none of your blessings referred in their review as "salty", so that's good! I'm not a big eggplant lover either, SR! :)

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  2. I do like eggplant; most of these sound pretty good but I'm not big on packaged food to begin with. Although they sound like a quick and easy side. maybe they'd be good paired with some steamed vegetable.
    Always cool to see quick rice - that is one of the things I often want to serve with a meal but it takes so look to cook.

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  3. Ingrid, good point - I didn't think to look at the sodium levels, and the packages have been thrown away. But your right, none of us described them as too salty, so maybe they're not too high.

    FF, Yes, I agree with you - if I were to serve these as a main part of our meal or as a side, I would definitely have a fresh veggie to go with it. As it was, there were so many samples, I didn't want to make anything extra.

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  4. Can't believe i just found your blog. It rocks! I like that you love Jesus too :P

    -Amy
    www.rawveganunistudent.blogspot.com

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  5. Sounds like some scintillating discussions go on in the Blessed Family house. Wonder what G would say about the food if it wasn't called 'Tasty Bite'?

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  6. Anything that can get to packet to table in 10 minutes and be made of veggies and grains can be no bad thing! This is the sort of thing I need in my cupboard for when I just can face the kitchen again!

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  7. I sampled these a while ago and thought they were tasty, especially the chickpea one. But when we actually bought some, both of us got intestinally disturbed and we've been afraid to try them again.

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  8. Amy, thank you for your kind words! I checked out your blog and like it too. :-)

    SV, you would be astounded at the deep conversations we have here - this is just one example. I wonder if G was subliminally (sp?) influenced.

    Joey, thank you, that's what I thought too!

    Andrea, very strange. I wonder why you didn't have GI probs the first time around. I have a very sensitive digestive system, but these didn't bother me, thank goodness.

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  9. We always bought these for short backpacking trips! They were great since they were filling and flavorful and so easy to heat in boiling water. I think we usually got their dals....great for what it is
    Ttrockwood

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  10. Unknown, I agree, great for a shortcut dinner.

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