Orange Chicken by Banquet - Deal of the Day

Banquet are up to their old tired tricks in my latest Deal of the Day, that features Orange Chicken. Even with "Natural" plastered all over the box, the chicken nuggets taste anything but.

The main attraction is a big fail. Nuggets are a good size, but it mainly breading and not much chopped pulpy white meat.

Starting with the breaded coating you are sucked in. The coating is seasoned well and, surprisingly, stays somewhat crunchy. It was a good start.

They might as well just used ground chicken, as the "chicken breast" is pulverized - no solid chicken that I could detect. The chicken meat could have been white or dark, as any meaty flavor is barely there.

If you are going through the trouble of using 100% Natural Chicken Breast with Rib Meat, then don't grind it into pulp - at least leave it somewhat flaky? The pieces looked nothing like the back label photo.

Click on any photo to see larger.

The Orange Sauce is more sweetness than orange flavor. The Orange Sauce around the chicken nuggets became a sticky puddle of syrup when heated through. It was okay, and mixed well into the rice.

The best part of this meal is the rice and veggies. Usually frozen dinner rice comes out soggy, but this was cooked almost perfectly - a firm texture, but still cooked through. The red bell pepper pieces were very thin, with a tiny amount of veggie flavor.

This latest cheap$kate Deal of the Day from Banquet on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, gets a lowly 3.

Any earned points are for the the rice part of the meal. With the "Natural" hype, my expectations were indeed dashed; so this meal gets deducted points in that regard. Truth in advertising should be paramount - I got suckered again.