Lean Cuisine Spaghetti with Meatballs

Price: $2.25 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 9.5 oz.
Calories: 260
Fat: 8%, 5g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 23%, 560mg
Protein: 18g
Carbs: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Roasted and seasoned meatballs in a chunky tomato sauce accented with basil and mushrooms. Served with a side of spaghetti.

Adina says: First off, I’d like everyone to take a very close look at the box. And count the meatballs. And then count the meatballs that were on my plate. And then read my letter to Lean Cuisine, which I believe to be a really nice letter considering I was cheated out of a meatball, those bastards.

Dear Lean Cuisine,

Please do not ever ever EVER false advertise how many meatballs there are in a meal to dieters. We pore over those pictures, counting every single mushroom and thread of noodle and dash of basil before committing ourselves to yet another disappointing and unfulfilling lunch. And do not think we won’t notice once we start eating because WE DO. I always do a visual comparison before eating your meals in three fell swoops. This is your first warning – do it again and be prepared to suffer (like being force fed your or something equally as maniacal.)

Love,
Adina

My second complaint is when I went on the Lean Cuisine website to copy the description of the meal, I read this “review”: This spaghetti is almost as good as mine! (SMILE). I love everything about this…SHANNON R. ARDMORE, PA.

Dear Shannon,

Your spaghetti must really suck.

Love,
Adina

Seriously, who says that? People don’t buy Lean Cuisines because they are GOOD. They buy them because they are small and encourage you to count every single calorie you put into your body so that when you gorge on ice cream later that night you don’t feel as guilty. Nobody thinks Lean Cuisine pasta tastes as good as authentic homemade pasta. That is crazy. I am 100% convinced that Shannon from Ardmore, PA is the brain child of one of the LC web developers named Howard. I hate you Howard for underestimating me.

All this aside (and I realize it is a lot of “all”), the meal itself was not bad. The meatballs were meatbally – not as tasty as their half cousins, but no one can beat those damn Swedes. The pasta was a little overcooked but I actually think that was my fault. I wouldn’t necessarily call the sauce “chunky” but it was flavorful and red so what more can you ask for.

The problem with this meal is that I definitely have expectations for any meal called “Spaghetti and Meatballs”. And that expectation is that it is going to be a heaping pile of steaming hot spaghetti and giant delicious meatballs covered in a blanket of parmesan cheese. I think any food loving person would agree – Spaghetti and Meatballs is not the kind of meal you eat only one serving of. It is the kind of meal you eat until you want to slip into a food coma and die. And so even though this was a tasty enough meal and in all honesty I’ll probably buy it again despite the false advertising the Shannon, it made me feel depressed that I wasn’t sitting at my mother’s kitchen table, gorging myself on homemade food.

So I gave it a three. Because it made me sad.

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