Deal of the Day - Queso Enchilada Dinner

Loaded with cheese, these 2 stuffed enchiladas, with beans and rice, from El Charrito, are well worth 99.99 cents. If you saw my last disappointing Deal of the Day review (click here),  I'm pleased to point out this micowaveable dinner has a lot going for it.

My go-to cheap Mexican frozen dinner is made by Banquet. I've had many of their beef enchiladas and tamale dinners, so I am an expert on mediocre Mexican fare. There are a few problems with Banquet's Mexican meals, though. First off, the refried beans are all mush -- I like a few legume bits to remind what you are eating. Also, the Mexican rice has too much liquid, making more of a rice porrage. And finally, the cheese and beef enchilada filling is quite bland with no ground beef texture. (Now, to be fair, I give props to Banquet for their tasty Salisbury Steak Dinner - read about it here.)

This is not a problem with El Charritos' Cheese Enchilada Dinner. The refried beans have enough whole pinto beans for texture. The Mexican Rice is slightly soggy, but much better than Banquets.

And the main ingredient, the cheese enchiladas, are sprinkled with small pieces of green and red chiles, that give off a slight tingle of chile heat after each bite. It takes real guts to make mass produced Mexican food spicy.

The only slight drawback is the cheese. While flavorful, it is not Mexican in any way -- more like cheddar flavored Cheez Wiz, made to appeal to average American tastes. But on the good side, these enchiladas are fat ones, so you get your moneys' worth.

As with many cheap, frozen, Mexican meals they are loaded with ingredients, too many to read all the way through. So, this is something you don't want to eat too often.

On a scale of 1-9, 9 being best, I give El Charritos' Queso Dinner a solid 7 ! I deducted a couple of points for way too many chemicals and average tasting cheese. But it is definitely a step up from my usual Banquet frozen Mexican dinners.

Now, I could take off a point for false advertising, but I won't -- just compare the package photo at the top of this post and the microwaved plate in photo above! There is no stringy cheese on the beans, and the enchiladas are unrecognizable (and less visually appetizing) under a layer of cheese sauce.

 Click on image and begin to read the ingredient list!