Birds Eye is launching a new line of products, Chef’s Favorites, which focuses on popular side dishes to accompany a home cooked meal. I recently got a chance to sample some Birds Eye Chef’s Favorites as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.
The frozen products are premade meals that are ready after a quick few minutes of heating/steaming in the microwave. I arrived home one day to find a box at my door with four bags from their new line: creamed spinach, primavera vegetable risotto, mushroom and green beans risotto and roasted red potatoes and green beans.
Hungry for dinner, I immediately started with the vegetable risotto. You simply pop the frozen bag into the microwave, and let it cook for about 4 minutes. The food steams inside the bag. After waiting a minute for the bag to deflate and cool, you rip open the bag and remove the contents. Easy peasy.
The portion of the risotto was a little small, but then these are supposed to be side dishes accompanying your meal. The risotto was just okay for me. Obviously it tastes nothing like homemade risotto, but then this is a frozen meal so I wasn’t expecting much.
On another night, I heated up the remainder three bags to go with our dinner. It was nice to have so many sides ready in a matter of minutes. Of the four I sampled, my favorite was definitely the lightly sauced cream spinach, which tasted as good as versions I’ve had dining out.
Birds Eye Chef’s favorites will be available in the frozen section of grocery stores nationwide starting in September.
The mushroom/green bean risotto has an excellent flavor, have purchased several times now – the only problem is the portion size as a side dish: too much for one person, not enough for two..
Hoping to find/try the other new products this weekend..
Yes the portion is pretty small.
You’re right, that spinach does look good!
It was! I definitely plan on stocking up on it when it comes out in stores.