and speaking of diet gourmet...

I went and picked up my first week of Diet Gourmet meals today. What an adventure.

when I signed up, my home zip code wasn't in the list of places they delivered, which is really just as well. They charge by mileage for delivery, so I imagine that going from SW Houston to the far NW suburbs would be pricey. So instead of having the meals delivered, I chose a pickup location that was semi-close to work and had workable hours. Never mind that I've never been down there before--how hard can it be, right?

I clicked on the map link for my pickup location, and made a note of the address and its relation to the major highways. Then I wrote the name of the place and the street address on a post-it and hopped in my car for what I thought was going to be a pretty straightforward trip.

Alas, no. First, I missed the exit from the beltway. Then I missed the next two good places to turn around, because I thought they were going to take me onto another tollway. Then I turned around, got honked at a bunch of times because apparently, waiting an extra 15 seconds in order to not get T-boned by a truck is considered waaay too cautious down there. I managed to get back to my road, and (miracles!) turn the right direction, but then (despite watching the numbers on the signs like a hawk) I overshot the shopping center by 3 blocks and had to turn around again.

By this time, I was totally starving, having worked out for 40 minutes on only an Egg McMuffin (shut up, I was running late) and an orange juice before 8 am. It was now noon, and I was contemplating how well I could drive with just my right hand if I decided to go ahead and gnaw off my left one. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, since I managed to locate the teeny-tiny store that was holding my food hostage.

The pickup was mercifully easy, except that despite paying $5 for a cooler, the DG folks did not send one. According to the clerk, they almost never do, even when a customer asks for one. Other than that, the pickup was lovely, and I was out of there in about 2 minutes. Once in the car, I looked at the food...not too shabby. Everything looked at least sort of appetizing. All the dishes were clearly labeled with the dish's name, and cooking instructions if needed. The bag was sturdy.

After an agonizing 30-minute trip back to the office, I took out the meal with the shortest shelf life (they have A, B, C, and D meals, and you can choose from all of the categories, multiple meals from one section, etc. They recommend you eat them in alpha order for maximum freshness), which turned out to be "herb-rubbed salmon". It was one of those meals that was technically a dinner, but chosen because the description sounded yummy.

It was attractively presented, with baby carrots in one compartment, broccoli in another, and the salmon in the middle sitting on top of a bed of white beans with a lemon wedge (that I wish I would have taken out before I microwaved it). I popped it in the microwave for the recommended 2 minutes, and it was ready.

I wasn't crazy about the herb rub, since refrigeration and reheating had turned it into a sort of green slime. The texture wasn't bad and the flavor was good, but it was hard to look at it and still want to put it in my mouth. The steamed veggies were good and firm, unlike other lunches-in-a-box that I have tried. I particularly liked the white bean stuff under the salmon. Even with the entree from the 1100-calorie menu, it was a lot of food.

According to the nutritional information, the whole meal was 343 calories, 12.6g of fat, and some stats on protein and carbs that I don't really care about (they were both around 30g). My one gripe is that they don't include fiber grams on their nutritional info, which makes WW points more difficult to calculate. I'm ballparking this meal at 5g of fiber, since beans are pretty high-fiber and the other veggies carry a decent amount too. With that, it comes to 7 points*. Not too bad for what was listed as an evening meal, which tend to be higher calorie for most people.

I'm withholding my verdict until I get through the entire week, and I'm still kind of pissed that they didn't send my cooler (and that I have to call them to tell them not to charge me for it--I hate calling people), but so far this is looking like a good option for me.

*If there was no fiber at all, it would be 8 points.