Dinty Moore Microwavable Classic Beef Stew, 9 Oz

This gets the lower score of the Compleat meal varieties because it's lower in protein and high in sodium. But if you are looking for a comfort food you've enjoyed since childhood, this is what you remember - very tasty and filling. The packages take up little storage room and are easy to store or transport (and the empty containers can be put to a lot of uses). Heats completely through in one minute.

My wife and I tried five of these, or I should say she tried one and I had the other four. The cooking directions are the same for each, heat for one minute in the microwave then let sit for one minute. They all say "ready in 60 seconds" but last time I checked 1 minute plus 1 minutes is greater than 60 seconds, so that statement undermines their own instruction that you need to wait an additional 60 seconds after it comes out of the microwave. Nuking for 60 seconds doesn't seem like it'd be long enough, but it really just depends on how hot you like your food. For those first two we both put ours back in for an additional 30 seconds, but for the rest I just did the 60 seconds even though they weren't exactly piping hot. The first night I had the Spaghetti & Meat Sauce and my wife had the Chicken Breast & Dressing. My wife didn't really care for hers, saying it was bland and adding salt to help bring out some flavor. I thought my Spaghetti & Meat Sauce was okay and liked the texture a lot more than frozen spaghetti meals but agreed that it didn't have a lot of flavor. The next night I had the Beef Stew and Chicken Alfredo because just one of these isn't enough for an adult meal. Again, I liked the texture more than frozen meals and thought these had a little more flavor than the Spaghetti & Meat Sauce, but not by much. The final night I had the Stroganoff and it was pretty much the same as the others, decent texture with a very mild flavor. Had I done a blind taste test I would have a hard time telling any of them apart other than by texture. I like the convenience of these, I like that they can be stored in the pantry so as to not take up valuable freezer space, and I think they have a better texture than frozen dinners but I feel they really need to have more flavor to them and be made larger so that one can get an adult somewhere close to feeling full.