Diet Food Reviews
Bertolli Complete Skillet Meals for Two: Shrimp, Asparagus and Penne
By: | May 7, 2007
I first spotted these Bertolli Complete Skillet Meals for Two in the freezer of the grocery store a couple of months ago and was really curious to try them. I suppose the stars were aligned in Bertolli's favor this afternoon because there were a few reasons working together that contributed to my purchasing this meal. First of all, I promised a special someone that I would cook for him, but was completely haggard after an extremely long day and the last thing that I felt like doing was stress over a long and complicated meal preparation. Secondly, I was totally craving some pasta, and lots of it.
I chose the Shrimp, Asparagus and Penne version because, well, it was just calling my name. I am a fan of penne...and asparagus...and shrimp so it was a win-win option in my book. After pouring the contents of the meal bag into a large skillet, I put the lid on, set the timer for 10 minutes, and poured myself a large glass of wine. I downed that whole glass of wine during those 10 minutes; I guess my nerves were a little on edge from worrying about what I would find when I opened the lid on the skillet.
At the "ting" of the timer, I hesitantly opened the lid. Oh joyous day! The meal looked and smelled delicious. I picked out a penne noodle and bit in: Woo-Hoo! Perfectly al dente! But there was no time to take a bite of the whole thing because there was the "knock knock" at the door. Eek! Showtime! Much to my delight, as my guest entered the house he said, "Mmm, something smells delicious!" Well that made me feel a little bit better about the meal.
I divided the skillets contents between our two plates which amounted to two hearty servings. We dug in and I have to say that we both agreed that the Shrimp, Asparagus and Penne meal was pretty good. Not raving, slap ya' mamma' good, but satisfactory.
Pros: The penne came out perfectly cooked, there were just-right tender asparagus a-plenty, as well as juicy red peppers. The shrimp were alright too - not rubbery at all although I did have a few issues it.
Cons: The shrimp, although tasty, were tiny, tiny, tiny and there wasn't that many of them. I think I counted about 6 or so in my serving. Another down side was that the sauce was not flavorful enough; It tasted like watered down tomato basil soup and me being a southern gal, I like my seasonings! A final negative thing about this meal was that the pasta/goodies ratio was off kilter meaning there was a whole lot of pasta compared to the shrimp, asparagus, and peppers.
Nutritionally, the Bertolli meal for two is OK, pretty standard for a pasta dish. The calorie count isn't bad at all, only 440 calories for a large and satisfying serving. The fat grams are pretty high though, 17g with 8g being saturated. My overall feeling about the nutrition facts is that it could be a lot worse. If you were to order something similar in a restaurant I think the facts would be quite a bit higher.
Overall, I was happy with this product to solve a dinner dilemma when you are short on creative energy and time. The Bertolli Meal for Two was on sale! $5.99 to be exact, and when you break that down to 2 servings that's only 3 bucks a person. I am anxious to try out some of the other versions that contain chicken. You just can't beat having a pasta dinner ready in 10 minutes without even having to pick up a knife. I think my guest was pretty happy too, and yes, I did tell him that I didn't actually cook the meal all by myself.
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I love Bertolli. However the nutrition on them is horrendous. The serving size is half a package, but its extremely easy to eat the whole thing (for almost 1000 calories). And thats like 100% of daily fat allowance.
But if you arent to worried about that, they are definately the best tasting frozen meals you can find anywhere (and with 10 minutes on the stove they come out perfect). My favorite is the Chicken Florentine
I notice you didn't mention the sodium content of Bertolli's meals, that combined with the fat content have always kept me away from this brand
You can't beat the convenience of these, but the fat content is terrible. The Chicken Parmigiana has 22g of fat per serving!
When I forst purchasedBertolli Shrimp Scamp & Linguine for a group of 6 women I was soooo impressed as well as the other 5 women.
What happened???? The shrimp are 1/2 the size they were 2 years ago and around 1/2 the amount that were in the package. Two of my friends have also commented on the same issue after purchasing your product several times during the last year! Don't get me wrong the flavor is excellent and linguine plentiful....but I have to purchase extra fresh shrimp to add to the meal. WHAT'S UP? PLEASE REPLY SO I CAN PASS IT ON.
THANK YOU,
JILL H. FYKSEN
I love my Bertolli!! It's a great base to build a meal off of! okay - first, start with some olive oil and a little crushed red pepper, add a little garlic and it really adds more flavor! second, buy the frozen uncooked jumbo shrimp - it comes in a ziplock bag and it's very reasonable.For $8 lb, you'll get 4-5 meals out of it - take out about 6 and throw them in cold water, add them when the sauce is almost melted!! Thirdly, I very often add more vegies too - let them saute a bit with the garlic and then reduce the amount of bertolli you actually put in the pan - it not only streaches out the meal, but you can make it more healthy on your own without losing the flavor!