When you’ve had a rough day or just can’t get yourself to make a nice home-cooked meal, then what? You could go out to eat but that has a lot of cons. It is expensive, the portions are too large, and the quality of food has dropped. My family often gets sick after going out to eat. Then what? Frozen meals. Yes, they are likely processed but it’s less expensive than eating out and faster than cooking from scratch.
Most frozen meals are fairly generic and mostly feature pasta. For that reason, I was happy to try the new P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Frozen Entrées. Though I have not been yet myself, many I know rave about the fantastic Asian food at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. I really like the fact that all of the entrées include vegetables so you can provide a more rounded meal for the family.
It came down to Orange Chicken or Beef with Broccoli. For this review, I chose the Orange Chicken. The package description was “Battered white meat chicken with a spicy orange sauce, carrots, water chestnuts and edamames”. The preparation was SUPER easy! Just empty the contents into a skillet, cover, then cook for about 12 minutes while stirring occasionally. I have to say that it already looked tasty in the pan. I served it with rice and pot stickers.
Looks yummy eh? The chicken and vegetables tasted fresh-not chewy at all and did not have a synthetic, plastic flavor. The sauce was rich and even the carrots were crunchy. The sauce was very sweet and I typically expect more spice when eating orange chicken. Plus, the flavor was so strong it over-powered the rest of the meal. Overall I was pleased with the ease of preparation and the quality of the frozen version of the restaurant offerings. I plan on getting more of these, in other flavors, in the future. It also created a desire in me to try the restaurant to experience what it would taste like fresh.
They have 8 flavors: Orange Chicken, Shanghai Style Beef, Sweet & Sour Chicken, General Chang’s Chicken, Ginger Chicken & Broccoli, Beef with Broccoli, Shrimp in a Garlic Sauce and Shrimp Lo Mein. I look forward to trying them all but the Beef with Broccoli is at the top of my list. Try these next time you see it at the store!
Disclaimer: A voucher for a free item was provided for me by P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Frozen Entrées to conduct this review. All views expressed are 100% my honest opinion.
8 comments
I have heard of this company before (restaurant) but I have never tried their foods. I heard they are very tasty. The Sweet & Sour Chicken and Orange Chicken sound yummy. Those are what I usually order from our local Chinese restaurant.
I’ll need to check our grocer’s freezer to see if they carry these.
Thanks for the review.
Beware, they are kind of expensive. Get them on sale or with a $2 printable coupon so the price is more reasonable. I want to try the restaurant next!
Wife bought this meal, and I noted that there were square chunks of frozen sauce in the package. What I didn’t realize was that this meal is SWEET almost to the point of being inedible. I’d rather have Panda Express.
I’m sorry to hear that. I think I recall my husband feeling the same way. We later got a Panda Express around the corner from us and go there instead. If you’d like to get a good frozen orange chicken, the one at Trader Joe’s is pretty good with a bit more bite 🙂
o0o0 yummy! I’ve never tried this before but from the sound and looks of it, it looks delicious! I’d love to try the Orange Chicken. Maybe next time we go grocery shopping I’ll have to pick some up. My boyfriend and I aren’t the greatest cooks ever so I think this would work for us.
I just tried these this week. The whole family loved them and a lot cheaper than going out to PF Chang’s. Here is a link to a $1.50 off coupon. http://bit.ly/9A9uao
I tried one of these for the first time the other day, and it was so delicious! I plan on buying them again and cooking some yummy fried rice to accompany the entree.
Have you ever tried the Sweet & Sour Chicken? I was very disappointed to discover that the chicken didn’t seem very high quality. It seemed like the processed stuff that Chicken McNuggets are made up of. If it’s not usually like this, then maybe I just got a bad batch. I’ve eaten at PF Chang’s before and the chicken was very good there. I expected it in the frozen entrees to be about the same, but it wasn’t.
Comments are closed.