The first retort pouches I saw in the grocery store were for tuna - then salmon - then flavored tuna, etc. It was pretty cool to see retort pouches catching on. But tuna...not too exciting. Later, I started seeing cat food (Friskies) in retort pouches. Again, very cool...but it's still cat food. Then a number of months back, I saw that Wal-Mart Super Centers were carrying the "Sweet Sue" brand of retort-packaged meals. These things were honest-to-goodness entrees - things like Chicken Marinara and Chili. These things cost about $2.50 each which I considered low enough to try but a little to high to stock up on.
Then this past weekend, I was at a local Big Lots store and saw they had some retort-pouched entrees from Castleberry's - Lasagna and Chili No Beans. Even better, they were only $0.69 each. Here's a picture of the lasagna entree:
What's even better about the Castleberry entrees is that they're almost the exact same size and shape of the MRE entrees - which means they fit inside an FRH. I gave it a try and it worked just fine. The Castleberry Lasagna entree heated up just fine. The pouch itself is a little bit thinner than the military entrees, material-wise - it didn't feel as sturdy. Of course, the commercial entrees probably weren't designed to withstand a 100-foot fall.
Taste-wise, the lasagna tasted fine - not amazing, not wonderful - but what else are you expecting from a retort-pouch meal? Throw in a little salt and some tobasco sauce and I'd put it on par with the military MRE entrees. And for $0.69, you can't go wrong with these things.
Here's a comparison picture of four different types of entrees. From left to right, they are: Military MRE entree (Jamaican Pork Chop), Castleberry Lasagna, Castleberry Chili, and Sweet Sue Chicken Marinara. Click on the picture to see a larger version and also to see the front and back shots.
