Reviews: Lean Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean & Crystal Light On-the-Go packets

After a Spa Cuisine quest that took me through 4 different neighborhoods and three supermarket chains, I managed to stock up on box lunches for this week. The lineup: Chicken Mediterranean, Pork with Cherry Sauce, Chicken in Peanut Sauce, Chicken Pecan, and some sort of pasta thing stuffed with pseudo-cheese. Mmmm...cheeeeese.

Monday, I sort of blew it, because I got a lunch invitation for BBQ. I go out to lunch with people so infrequently that I hate turning anyone down. I gues I think it makes me look antisocial, or something. So I went for BBQ, and it threw off both my point count for the day and my Lean Cuisine schedule.

With no imminent lunch plans and a sculpting class to go to, I started yesterday with Chicken Mediterranean. It wasn't bad, but I thought the pasta was a little mushy. Maybe I cooked it a bit too long, I don't know. I had it in for 6-ish minutes, and the directions said 5.5 - 6.5, but usually the work microwaves need to cook toward the longer end of the range. At any rate, the flavor was okay, the chicken was chickeny (as opposed to rubbery or spongy). I'll probably buy it again because it's only 4 points, but I won't look forward to eating it like I would the lemongrass or rosemary chicken.

And now, the second review--Crystal Light On-The-Go.

I drink somewhere between 1.5 and 3L of water a day, all in half-liter bottles. While I don't hate water, there are times that I'd like it to have a little more flavor than it does. Since the only choices at work are soda or water, though, tasteless generally wins out.

So when I saw a Crystal Light to Go display while buying my Lean Cuisines, I had mixed feelings:

1. Drink mix for people who can't be bothered to measure water. It's like Lunchables for drinks.

2. Hey, I'm one of those people! Damn, but those would be handy.

So I bought two 10-packs--the iced tea, and the lemonade. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have raspberry ice, since that's my preferred flavor*.

So far, I've only tasted the iced tea variety, and it's...Crystal Light, basically. The packet is just enough for a 1/2L bottle of water, and it's given me a nice variety for only 10 extra calories per bottle. I use just 2 a day--one at lunch, and one late afternoon. So, even though it's more expensive than just making a pitcher at home and pouring it into bottles, the convenience factor is worth the price for me.

*though they do offer the raspberry ice in OTG packs--they just didn't stock them at that particular store, I guess.