Hormel offers several “ready to heat” meat dishes, which occasionally go on sale at Safeway for $5 (from $13 regular price.) I shared this Beef Roast au Jus and Savory Sauce and the mashed potatoes reviewed below with my husband and it made a satisfying lunch for two.

The meat comes in a vacuum sealed tray and you only need to microwave it for about 3 1/2 minutes to heat it up. The large chunks of meat very much taste like pot roast, but they are incredibly dry. Imagine the driest beef you’ve ever had, and this is drier. Indeed, as I wrote about this I had to go and get a glass of water from recalling the mouth (and throat!) fill of this meat. The sauce had an OK, generic pot roast sauce flavor but it couldn’t return to the beef moisture that wasn’t there. I can only imagine they’re using the cheapest leanest cut to make this.

Hormel is an American public corporation.

I served the beef with Bob Evans Loaded Mashed Potatoes ($3.50 from $6.50 regular price). These were quite good. They tasted very much like freshly made mashed potatoes, and the added cheese and bacon enhanced the flavor without overwhelming them. Of course, even on sale that’s a lot of money for mashed potatoes, but they do save a lot of time.

I’ll definitely buy these again when they’re on sale. I would say the package serves 3 adults and maybe 4, if 2 of them are children.

Bob Evans farms are owned by Post, an American public corporation.