I had the chance to try Smart Ones Morning Express Breakfast Quesadillas this past week. For those of you who follow Weight Watchers, One Smart Ones Quesadilla = 4 points. There are (2) Quesadillas in one box. One for now, one for later! (My only complaint is they aren’t individually sealed so I had to seal the second one in a freezer zip lock bag.)

This was a very tasty and fulfilling breakfast due to having 13 grams of protein at the “right” calorie cost. I would rate this Quesadilla at higher quality than some Fast Food Quesadillas and it had much less calories. This is a product you can start your day with when you are on the go…I’m think I’m ALWAYS on the go.

Devin Alexander, and expert for Smart Ones, has a helpful video posted on some other great ways to start your morning. Which is great to me, because a frozen meal is not something I would want to eat every morning but it is nice to have for convenience on those days when you don’t have time to do ANYTHING else!

Smart Ones Morning Express are also available in these varieties:

Thanks to She Speaks, we had the opportunity to try Ore-Ida’s new Steam n’ Mash potatoes. (To be eligible for future offers sign up for She Speaks HERE.) I was so excited to try these because my family loves mash potatoes but I don’t have much time to prepare home made mashed potatoes. So they usually have to settle for boxed potatoes. However, these just aren’t going to cut it for my family.

To make these, you leave place the unopened bag in the microwave on High for 10 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes. You then pour the potatoes into a large bowl. Add 2/3 cup milk and 2 tablespoons of butter and then mash. Sounds simple enough. I found the potatoes very hard to mash by hand.

Despite being 100% potatoes already scrubbed and cut for us, the consistency of the potatoes fell short of flavor. The were very dry and just didn’t taste right. They tasted more fake to me than the fake potatoes. I even tried to add more butter, milk, and sour cream and it didn’t help much. My kids weren’t impressed and said they preferred instant potatoes over these. We tried to the Cut Russet Potatoes. Ore-Ida offers other varieties such as Sweet Potatoes, Garlic Seasoned, and Three Cheese Potatoes.

Sorry Ore-Ida. I usually love your products but this just doesn’t cut it for us.

Verdict: I would not pay for these potatoes. At $3.99 a bag, you are better off just buying a bag of potatoes and doing the dirty work yourself. I really wish I felt differently about these potatoes as I would love a quicker alternative to home made mashed potatoes. (I just found out Ore-Ida has a great resource on their site – recipes to use with their Steam n’ Mash products. I think these potatoes would be great to use in any of these recipes. We just didn’t like them plain. So try one of their recipes and let me know!)

My alternative at this point is to make ahead real mashed potatoes by buying a big bag on sale for $2.99. I spend a Saturday morning, peeling, cutting, boiling, and mashing. Then I freeze what I made into smaller containers. All I have to do then is reheat.

We had the opportunity to try Banquet Select recipes this week. Select is the new line from Banquet which boosts “So Good for So Little.” We tried the Home-Style Pot Roast and the Classic Fried Chicken.

The Classic Fried Chicken included two servings of vegetables as well as the Home Style Pot Roast. The Dinners were well portioned and filled us up. My older daughter ate the Classic Fried Chicken meal and let me have a taste and she thought the chicken was better than restaurant chicken but said the corn needed salt!

While both were delicious, I noticed that the Classic Fried Chicken had over 620 calories. So I wouldn’t recommend this one if you are watching calories. Home Style Pot Roast was around 190 calories which was much better calorie wise!

Banquet Select Recipes are priced around $1.50 and if you have a coupon, you can get an even better deal!

They are available in seven varieties:

• Chicken Parmesan
• Classic Fried Chicken
• Enchilada Combo Meal
• Herb Grilled Chicken Breast
• Home-Style Pot Roast
• Slow Cooked Beef
• Smothered Burrito

This is why I like these meals:

• Balanced, quality meal with LOTS of protein (makes you less hungry!)
• Perfectly sized portions for your family so you will not have any wasted food. (I hate when I have to throw out food!!!)
• You will eat out less if you have quick and easy meals on hand to feed your family. Thus, saving your family money.

Select Recipes are now available in supermarkets nationwide.

While, I wouldn’t recommend frozen dinners every meal, these are a filling, inexpensive meal for the times when you don’t have time to cook a home cooked meal! Busy families know this happens often! You can feed a family of 6 for under $10 – which we can’t do even at a Fast Food restaurant. If you buy them on sale and with a coupon, it could be much less!

One more thing, just for fun, my daughter did a video review of her meal. (Basically it is just her eating her food and answering my questions. She wanted to be “famous” and be on my blog.)