Fantastic Foods Instant Soups and Meals...better than Cup O'Noodles!
Written: Oct 12 '01 (Updated Mar 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tasty, healthy, variety of flavors/types, quick to prepare, cheap!
Cons: Who wants raisins in their black bean couscous?
The Bottom Line: Surprisingly delicious and unique. A quick and cheap lunch that will leave you satisfied and below your daily sodium intake.
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| k1j2g3's Full Review: Brand Name Food Products |
Ninety-five percent of the time, I bring my lunch with me to work. I have two children in daycare, a mortgage, and a car payment, so I rarely have the money to eat out. I am constantly looking for new and easy lunch ideas.
While strolling through my local grocery store, I came across the Fantastic Foods brand of instant soups and meals. Sitting next to the regular Ramen Noodles and Lipton Cup O' Soups, these instant meals stood out as something different. I was getting sick of noodles, turkey sandwiches, and frozen meals. So I picked up several kinds to see if they were any good. And, boy, was I surprised.
What are the different instant soups/meals?
Fantastic Foods has a website (www.fantasticfoods.com), but there are so many varieties, I would suggest you visit the website yourself for information about all the products they sell. However, I can list the ones that I have purchased:
Black Beans and Rice with Salsa (not sure if that is the exact title)
Couscous with Lentils Soup
Sweet Corn Couscous Soup
Black Beans and Couscous
2 types of mashed potatoes
Five Bean Soup
There are many, many other varieties. You will be amazed at the originality here. Mostly different types of beans, rice, and couscous.
What is so great about their products?
Are any of you out there sick of instant noodles? Even though you buy the different flavors, they all start to taste the same? You feel that you have consumed three days' worth of sodium with just one serving?
Fantastic Foods has put an end to that. Their line of "add water and wait" meals taste wonderful! The dried beans and vegetables end up tasting close to fresh. The couscous and rice turn out soft and cooked well. Each type has its own unique flavor...some spicy, some sweet.
My favorite is probably the Sweet Corn Couscous. The corn is plump and sweet and the couscous is extremely tasty. It is really hard to believe something this good could come from a container full of dried ingredients only 7 minutes earlier.
So, give us the facts on the nutrition already!
Right now I have the Couscous with Lentils Soup sitting on my desk (Gasp! Yes, I am writing this while at work...shame on me!), so I can give you the nutritional low-down.
Calories: 230
Calories from fat: 15
Total fat: 1.5 g
Saturated fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 590 g
Total Carbs: 46 g
Dietary fiber: 7 g
Sugars: 4 g
Protein: 12 g
Vitamin A: 40%
Vitamin C: 10%
Calcium: 4%
Iron: 20%
Not bad for a little dried cup of stuff. And all the ingredients in Fantastic Foods instant meals are organic!
The Five Bean Soup, I recall, had over 20 grams of protein! All this in one little cup o' beanage. I was very impressed...and for those watching their weight, this is a great way to get some valuable nutrition added to their diet with very little calories or fat.
How do you make this stuff once you buy it?
Here are the directions from the package I have in front of me:
Step 1--Remove cover halfway. Fill with boiling water to within 1/2 inch of top, stir well and cover. Steep 8 minutes.
Step 2--Remove id, stir well, eat, and enjoy.
The biggest problem is that you must boil the water in another container (if you are making this at work and are using a microwave) before pouring it in. Also, it is sometimes difficult to wait an agonizing 8 minutes (all of the meals that I have tried take between 7 and 8 minutes to cook completely) before eating your tasty lunchtime treat.
My biggest recommendation on how to thoroughly enjoy your Fantastic Food item is to completely break up any chunks of couscous or dried stuff before adding water. Then, once the water has been added, stir very well...and make sure to incorporate all dried stuff before allowing it to sit the required cook time.
My Only Complaint
My only complaint would be the Black Bean Couscous that I purchased. It was a curry. And, as I was taking a nice, big bite, I was assaulted by a horrid collection of cooked raisins! (One of my major dislikes) Nowhere in the title did it mention raisins being included. They were hidden in the list of ingredients. Maybe I should have expected raisins in a curry, but it surprised me nonetheless. I had to throw the whole container out! Blech!
Final Statments
Fantastic Foods makes an incredible, original line of instant soups and meals. The cost is usually somewhere between $1.20 and $1.40 per item...which isn't too bad at all. The only difficulty I can think of, is being able to locate these soups and meals at your local supermarket. I have seen them next to the Cup O' Soups and Ramen Noodles, but I have also found them tucked in with the health/ diabetic/specialty food items. Sometimes it is also difficult to find a wide selection of their products.
****UPDATE****
Not only can you find all the varieties listed on the Fantastic Foods website, but you can ORDER THEM directly from the company! Very cool...
****END OF UPDATE****
Please check them out. You will be pleasantly surprised that dried, instant meals can be so tasty and easy to prepare.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
k1j2g3
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Member: Kristin
Location: SW Virginia
Reviews written: 110
Trusted by: 36 members
About Me:
I'm an innkeeper, freelance writer, and novelist living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
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