by Marianne Plunkert
Overall rating: 4 of 5
Meal Description and Cooking Instructions
This meal arrived in a 2-compartment plastic tray, with a 3-inch wheat bagel on one side and a 1-ounce container of strawberry yogurt-cream cheese spread on the other. I was expected to supply a serving of a non-fat dairy product.
I had tried contacting an eDiets nutritionist both by phone and by email (twice) and had yet to get a response, so I called member services the other day and asked if she might have some answers to my questions, one of which was if I could switch the dairy component (breakfast) and fruit component (lunch) of my breakfast and luncheon entrées without affecting my weight loss. She told me that it would pose no problem.
Wheat Bagel with Strawberry Yogurt-Cream Cheese
While I still wish I could have spoken to a nutritionist about the matter (and I will continue to attempt to connect with one), I decided to take the member services contact person at her word and chose to supplement this breakfast with a fruit (half a red grapefruit) instead of a dairy product. It made more sense anyway (to me, at least) since the yogurt-cream cheese spread already represented a serving from the dairy food group.
As was the case with the cinnamon-raisin bagel breakfast entrée last week, I was instructed to nuke the bagel for 10 seconds (after removing the cream cheese container). Recalling the undesirable chewy texture of that bagel, I decided to toast this bagel.
My General Impressions
Toasting the bagel instead of mindlessly following the instructions on the package turned out to be a good choice. The texture of the bagel was significantly better.
The strawberry-yogurt cream cheese spread had just the slightest hint of strawberry flavor. It tasted good, was smooth and creamy, and spread easily.
The red grapefruit half I provided gave the plate much more visual appeal than my usual 6-ounce serving of plain non-fat yogurt would have, and it added a much different taste to the meal, which proved to satisfy my palate more than another serving of dairy would have. In short, I was pleased that I had opted to substitute a fruit for the additional non-fat dairy item suggested as an accompaniment for this meal.
Nutritional Content
When I started to peruse the nutritional content of this meal, I concluded that the list of ingredients couldn’t be accurate. My first hint that there might a problem was when I saw a whole wheat tortilla and green and red peppers among the ingredients. So, I went on line to see if I could discover the nutritional value of the meal I had actually consumed.
The calories and fat content were about the same—180 total calories and 35 fat calories—but the other nutritional information that was provided on the packaging was incorrect. According to what I found on eDiets.com, this entrée contains 10 grams of protein and 29 grams of carbohydrates, with 4 grams of fiber and 8 grams of sugar.
The entrée supplies 4% of the recommended daily average of Vitamin A and 2% of the Vitamin C requirement. There is no vegetable component to this meal. As mentioned earlier, the yogurt-cream cheese spread provides a serving of dairy, and my contribution of half a grapefruit provided me with a serving from the fruit group.
Food Rating/Quality
This meal was good, but not exceptional, so I am rating it as a “4” on a scale of 1 to 5. The bagel was no different from most pre-packaged wheat bagels I’ve purchased in my grocery store.
The yogurt-cream cheese spread was good, but I can find non-fat, spreadable, strawberry-flavored cream cheese in my grocery store, too, and it has a substantially stronger strawberry flavor. This is neither good nor bad in my opinion; I mention it only because some readers might prefer one over the other.
I would have enjoyed this meal less had I merely followed the rules and complemented the entrée with another dairy item. The grapefruit added a pleasingly different taste and texture to the breakfast.
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