Different people mean different things when they use a word like spicy. For example, the word spicy probably means something different to someone who lives in the Midwest than someone who lives in the South, right? So when a frozen food brand like Michelina’s uses the word spicy, we think it’s probably a whole lot closer to the Midwestern definition than the southern one.
We decided to test this theory today by trying the Michelina’s Spicy Chicken Alfredo. If we remember correctly, we think we paid about $1.25 for this meal, which makes us super skeptical of the spice level here. Sure, Michelina’s occasionally delivers a surprisingly competent budget-priced meal, but those meals are few and far between.
But before we stick this alfredo into our mouths, we must cook it. That’s a simple process: Just crack open one of the corners of the box, then pop the whole thing into the microwave for three minutes. Give it a quick stir, then pop it back in for another minute or two. Easy peasy. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, scroll down to the bottom of this review and take a gander at our package scan.)
Now, we’ve pointed this out plenty of times before, but we’ll do it again here: Michelina’s cuts their costs by skipping the inner tray you would normally expect to find in a frozen meal. Instead, the cardboard box serves as the tray. This is one way that Michelina’s keeps their food priced so dang low.
Of course, another sign that this is a cheap meal is that it kind of smells like burnt plastic when it comes out of the microwave. Thankfully, it doesn’t taste as bad as it smells, but this meal is unfortunately pretty bland. That alfredo sauce doesn’t really have a lot of flavor.
The chicken comes in small strips, and it ends up kind of rubbery and fake-tasting. It tastes more like the powder from a Maruchan Ramen meal than like actual chicken.
So how about that spice level? Well, it’s pretty mild, but it’s still noticeable. We’d say this was slightly spicier than we were expecting, since we were expecting to hardly notice any spiciness at all. This is the one aspect of this meal that we found to be a pleasant surprise.
This meal contains 270 calories and 710 mg of sodium. While that calorie count is super low, the sodium level is about on par with your average frozen meal. Of course, this is not a substantial amount of food, so keep that in mind when you’re adding up those calories.
With the Michelina’s Spicy Chicken Alfredo, you definitely get what you pay for. This is a barely-more-than-a-dollar meal that’s not pretending to be anything fancier than that. If you expect a low-quality frozen meal, then this is actually not too shabby. If you’re looking for something a bit more satisfying, though, there are much better (and pricier) options in the frozen food aisle.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen alfredo, check out our package scan below.
