Thank you to Wegmans Food Markets for sponsoring this post.
There is always one big question that my AnneTheRD nutrition clients have above all others: how to make dinner faster and easier, but still healthy and homemade. It’s a question I’m usually looking for the answer to as well! So when my friends at Wegmans reached out and asked if I’d like to check out their oven-safe packaged entrées for a blog review, I was all about it – I always love having more specific product ideas to recommend to my clients in need of fast and easy weeknight dinner solutions.
Found in the meat and seafood departments, these oven-safe packaged entrees are Wegmans’ own chef-developed recipes and they carry the Wegmans Food You Feel Good About banner, meaning they have no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. They offer a ton of different options and it was hard to choose which one to try first!
We were originally going for the Garlic Parmesan Seasoned Whole Chicken, but Matt, Riese, and I hit Wegmans the day of an impending snowstorm and others had beat us to it. I was tempted by the Rosemary Lemon Whole Roaster Chicken, but when Matt learned they had a Chicken with Craft Beer BBQ Sauce, that was the clear winner. 😉
These meals couldn’t be more convenient – to cook, just remove the labels, then toss the vacuum-sealed bag in a baking pan and bake. That’s it! No prep, no mess, and no hands on time, so you can be doing other things while it cooks. This meal called for 40 minutes at 400 degrees F, but cooking times vary; some of the items also have slow cooker instructions.
The packaging is BPA-free and designed specifically to cook food safely in the oven. The meat and poultry entrées stay fresh up to two weeks in the refrigerator, which is nice if something comes up and you end up waiting longer to make them than you planned. They can also be frozen, but you just want to defrost before cooking. The seafood entrées, however, come frozen and go straight from the freezer to the oven.
Since our entrée was pretty effortless, I was able to get some other stuff done around the house AND roast a bazillion potatoes to enjoy as a side and to have on hand for the rest of the week (love them with my eggs in the morning)! For our other sides, we enjoyed some sauteed greens and roasted cauliflower and parmesan cheese, also from Wegmans. I love all their prepared food options – so good and fresh.
Such an easy meal! And as for the flavor of the chicken: it was delicious! Super tender and juicy, and we loved the savory-sweet BBQ sauce blended with craft beer and whole-grain mustard. To amp up the beer notes, we served it with a local craft beer on the side, obviously. 😉 (If you’re wondering why there’s only one glass, it’s because it was lunchtime and we shared it!)
Final verdict: two thumbs up! Insanely easy, great flavor, and the ingredient list was solid (real food, yay) too. I think my only small complaint is that I’d love to see a little less salt – it didn’t taste too salty to either of us, but it wasn’t low sodium in terms of the amount per serving, and I’d usually rather have meals err on the side of lower salt so I can just add more to taste if I want. That said, I would definitely purchase this again, and I can’t wait to try the other options. Next time we are at Wegmans I’m going to pick up a bunch and keep them in the freezer for those nights when the fridge is empty and otherwise we’d just be eating cereal (or getting takeout).
Zara gave the meal two paws up as well. 😉 If you ever come to dinner at our house, don’t wear black pants… all the chairs are basically covered in fur.
If you have a Wegmans nearby and are looking for some easy meal options to keep on hand, give their oven-safe packaged entrées a shot! Check their website or app to clip a digital coupon. Looking forward to hearing how you like them, too!
