Deal of the Day - Salisbury Steak Meal by Banquet

This is my go-to-work lunch. I know, it's sad. But it's not every day, maybe once during the work week. The job I'm at generously stocks a refrigerator full of lunchtime sandwich meat and salad fixings for its part time employees -- so being a tightwad, I rarely even shell out a buck for Banquet's Salisbury Steak Meal, one of my favorite cheapie lunches.

I have been missing this guiltiest of  pleasures. One of the first frozen TV dinners I ever had was a Salisbury Steak Meal by Banquet. There is nothing like peeling back the aluminum cover (this was before microwaving), trying to hurriedly blow off the heat from an oven incinerated entree, and burning your tongue on the first bite. Sometimes one must suffer to reach culinary nirvana. When you're a kid, the top of the food chain are TV dinners and instant Mac and Cheese from a Kraft box!

First off, in this Deal of the Day, the gravy has a deeply satisfying beef flavor. For a prefab entree the ground patty is tasty. It's on the thin side, but fine for a light lunch. And I always prefer reheated frozen corn to canned. If I microwaved this at home I would add a pat of butter (or substitute) on the corn and mashed potatoes.

The mashed potatoes are the weak link - there is no texture, just reconstituted powder with the consistency of whipped cream that has collapsed. I like my mashed potatoes with a few small lumps, so I know what I am eating. With a half century of making frozen meals, you'd think Banquet would make some improvements here, but I guess it's really just a vehicle to soak up the delicious gravy.

This Deal of the Day costs around a dollar in any frozen section of your local grocery. So on a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Banquet's Salisbury Steak Meal a 6 ! I have to take off a couple of points for the subpar mashed potatoes.

Frozen & Defrosted

And be sure to check back next week when The Cheapest Chef shows you how to make a scrumptious Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy from scratch (click here!)