Packaged: Good Earth Dinners

At the grocery store last week, concise shopping list tight in my hand, I wheeled down isle four, passed the macaroni, the rice, almost to the Hamburger Helper, when something caught my eye:

Busy work schedules…no…CRAZY work schedules sometimes make cooking meals next to impossible. And rather than resort to takeout on these types of nights, I like back up options: frozen pizza, mac ‘n cheese, soup and crackers, etc. And last night, it was Good Earth Restaurant Favorites.

So, back to other week when I was grocery shopping…. These Good Earth packages were part of a buy one, get one sale. My first thought was, “Okay, keep walking…there’s no way these boxed ‘dinners’ are any good.”

But about two seconds later practicality stepped in and I thought, “What better time to try something like this than now when it’s half-off?” Duh. So I bought two boxes. Husband and I had the Spicy Citrus Glazed Shrimp last night, and saved the Mediterranean Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta for another night.

The dinner LITERALLY took 15 minutes from start to finish, just like the package promised. And, aside from thinking the sauce was a little too sweet, and not enough spicy, this quick fix meal was pretty good. The whole wheat pasta was surprisingly smooth in texture, and with a little extra salt the flavor was just about right. I’m actually kind of excited to try the chicken box to see if it’s just as good.

Not a replacement for a true home cooked meal, but worth every penny of the $3.49 I spent for TWO boxes. I had to supply the shrimp, but I found them for a steal a few weeks ago – one pound of raw frozen shrimp for $3.99!

One final note – it appears that there are coupons all over the web for these meals. Find the right one, and Good Earth might pay YOU to try their dinners! Happy shopping!