Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Reviews of Civilian MREs (Sure-Pak, aPack, etc.) as well as other civilian ready-to-eat food
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kman
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Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by kman » Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:34 pm

Based on the "Swanson's Hungry Man breakfast" thread, I was curious about these meals. Since Mrs. Kman was going to be out of town for a couple of weeks and I was going to be left to fend for myself, I decided to give a few of these a try.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I was unable to find one of the "Hungry-Man All Day Breakfast" but I did find these three:

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There were some other meals that had "1 1/2 Pounds of Food" but those also said they were two-person meals.

Hungry-Man Salisbury Steak

The strangest thing about this meal (and the chicken) is the inclusion of a Chocolate Brownie. It looks like the brownie is really just a scoop of brownie mix and by microwaving it, you're essestially baking the brownie. Fixing the meal was a little complicated - you have to remove the film over the brownie, microwave the whole thing for 4 minutes, remove the brownie, then microwave the rest for another three minutes.

You can see the results and the nutritional information below. At 650 calories for the whole meal, it's not too bad. Taste-wise, it was a little bland and pretty much non-exciting all around. I really needed to leave it in the microwave for an extra minute or two because some parts of the "steak" were barely warm. The taste might have been ok, but overall, the meal was terrible. See the "Overall Review" section below.

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Hungry-Man Boneless Fried Chicken

This meal was a lot better than the Salisbury Steak. The brownie part was still a pain to fix but the food overall tasted better and it had a beefier calorie count at 860 calories. The taste might have been better, but overall, the meal was terrible. See the "Overall review" section below.

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Hungry-Man Mexican Style Fiesta

No brownie in this one! Instead, there was "Cocada Pudding" (coconut pudding). The pudding was ok but after 8 minutes in the microwave, its volume had been reduced by about 3/4 - it was more like condensed coconut pudding gel. As for the rest of the meal, "bland" doesn't begin to describe it - it really needed something spicy like some hot sauce or salsa to give it some kind of flavor. Have you ever seen those "Taco Bell" brand microwaveable meals? Those are much better that this Hungry-Man meal. As with the previous two meals, overall, this meal was terrible. See the "Overall review" section below.

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Overall Review

Overall...they all suck. Man, do these meals suck. I ate them for lunch over three days and in each case, they threw me into a 2-3 hour stupor (sleepy, no energy) and the food didn't sit well in my stomach. I'd rather have a 4 year old heat-stressed MRE entree than waste 8 minutes of my life microwaving one of these again. They're really that bad. I don't know what kind of energy-sapping, stomach-churning voodoo chemicals they have in there but you should avoid them at all costs.

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by MR.EMAN » Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:17 pm

kman wrote:SNIP...Overall...they all suck. Man, do these meals suck. I ate them for lunch over three days and in each case, they threw me into a 2-3 hour stupor (sleepy, no energy) and the food didn't sit well in my stomach. I'd rather have a 4 year old heat-stressed MRE entree than waste 8 minutes of my life microwaving one of these again. They're really that bad. I don't know what kind of energy-sapping, stomach-churning voodoo chemicals they have in there but you should avoid them at all costs.

You just weren't Hungry (enough) MAN :mrgreen: I don't mind some of the HM meals, esp. the Beer battered chicken fingers with cheesy wedges. The trick is to put em in the oven, that way they aren't that bad IMHO. Not the greatest thing I agree, but not bad. Nuking such as you found out, just makes em worse. I won't even eat them that way :lol:

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by kman » Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:19 pm

I'll give you that - maybe they're edible in the oven. The next time I'm starving and run out of 15 year old MREs, I'll give another one a try. :-)

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by MR.EMAN » Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:23 pm

kman wrote:I'll give you that - maybe they're edible in the oven. The next time I'm starving and run out of 15 year old MREs, I'll give another one a try. :-)
Funny you mention that, cause I've had one in the freezer that has actually been considered for dinner, but passed up in favor of MRE's on many occasions :lol:

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by housil » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:55 am

kman wrote:The next time I'm starving and run out of 15 year old MREs, I'll give another one a try. :-)
Kman, take an EPa. 15 years are a normal age and they are edible for sure without any lost :D

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by Garron » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:03 am

I'd rather another 24 year old MRE instead of those by the sounds of the review, lucky we cannot get them in the UK.

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by bishopmarine » Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:44 pm

I have eaten the hungry man meals in the past, kman is right they do suck. If I have to take a tv dinner type meal to work I get the healthy choice meals, they are pretty good. I also like some of the smart ones, and some of the lean cuisine meals. They all seem to use better quality ingredients. But I am also known at work as the guy that eats military rations! So take my advice accordingly. But hey I guess we all are!
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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by Treesuit » Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:58 pm

Kman,

Wow, that's an amazing food review! I'll pass those up from now on and get some other type of frozen dinner. Though I'm not a big fan of TV dinners I'll take your advice and steer clear of them. Sounds like Swanson might have thrown in some sedatives to make you sleepy and sap your enery. :shock:

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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by jfko6 » Sun May 24, 2009 8:10 am

These meals are a staple of the American frozen isle off-the-shelf fix-it and forget-it twentieth century mystery food. They used to come in aluminum trays.
You'll have to try a variety of them to get to the one that actually tastes good to you. These meals predate the microwave oven. I'm not sure but the new plastic plates might be oven (temperature) safe. You'll have to check the box. If that's the case you might yield a different flavor from the food. I always liked the brownie but usually only out of the oven.
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kman
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Re: Hungry-Man Dinner Reviews

Post by kman » Sun May 24, 2009 1:54 pm

You can definitely heat the current range of TV dinners in the oven - there were instructions for both preparation methods on the box. I just chose to use the faster microwave method...and paid for it with my stomach.

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