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Even on Sale for 75 cents each, an equivalent serving of Banquet costs nearly 3x as much as an equivalent Home Made Chicken Pot Pie – the box makes no claim of “tasty” and I can see why!

I haven’t written a “rant” for a while, but I started getting worked up last night when I read a recipe for a budget “Easy Chicken Pot Pie” – $11.57 for six servings at a ‘frugal’ site. I don’t think I could spend that much money making a Chicken Pot Pie if I tried to!

This not only prompted me to post “my” Chicken Pot Pie, 8 servings for $4.15, but to also think back to the chicken pot pies of my youth.  Yep, Banquet Chicken Pot pies.

We used to get Banquet Pot Pies as a treat when my parents when out to dinner and we had a babysitter.  I remember we LOVED them – maybe it was the novelty.  They were on sale at Rainbow today, 4 for $3.00, or 75 cents each.  I ran out to pick one up tonight, a Tuesday, and snagged the last one from the sale that started Sunday.  Must be a great deal.

Some may find this amusing – I had to scan three aisles of frozen food to find one – I’ve never bought a frozen dinner and didn’t know exactly where they were.  Also of interest, they’re no longer in foil containers…the future has moved on without me.  The last thing I noticed was this product makes no claims on its package!  There is not a single claim of “tasty,” “tastes like homemade,” “879 servings of vegetables in every serving…”  Hmm.

I’m also feeling a little bit guilty because I already told my son he could have it – poor dear, he’s so excited, and after being so strict with rules about food when he was young, now I’m serving him “test” food!

Pricing and Nutritional Values:

First of all, it’s a little hard to figure out EXACTLY what’s in the Banquet, so I did my best by picking it apart and estimating.  (See Ingredients, below.)  Per Serving, my Chicken Pot Pie has 2 1/2 times the meat of the Banquet, four times the vegetable, and is twice the serving size of the Banquet, which makes the 75 cent Banquet cost really $1.50 for an equivalent portion, and also doubles all those calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium figures.  Here’s the Banquet compared to mine – the Banquet is doubled.

  • Banquet:   ($1.50):  820 Cal; 44g Fat (34% cal fr fat)  18g Prot,  86g Carb, 4g; Fiber, 50 mg Cholesterol; 1580 mg Sodium.  No exchanges given. (Contains both trans fat and msg)
  • Mine:  ($.52):   361 Cal;  17g Fat (42.9% cal fr fat); 26g Prot; 25g Carb; 3g Fiber; 68 mg Cholesterol; 508mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 3 Fat

Taste: 

  • I had a bite, and I’d have to be really hungry to eat one.  Even my son didn’t like it, and he’ll eat ANYTHING that doesn’t move…and maybe even some things that do.

Ingredients:

  • Chicken Broth:  (Water, chicken flavor chicken stock, salt, hydrolyzed soy protein, flavor, autolyzed yeast extract, chicken fat, cooked chicken powder, whey protein concentrate, citric acid)  My note:  This contains Trans fat and MSG, carefully hidden.
  • Cooked Chicken:  Chicken, water, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate
  • Carrots
  • Mechanically separated chicken:  sodium tripolyphosphate, natural flavor, citric acid
  • Potatoes:  Potatoes, calcium chloride
  • Contains less than 2% of:  Modified corn starch, peas, chicken fat, wheat flour, salt, soybean oil, natural flavor, sodium stearoyl, lactylate, sugar, paprika, corn oil, beta carotene.
  • Crust:  Wheat flour, lard, preserved with BHT, water, dextrose, salt, caramel color.

Just a note, but there were about seven peas, 9 or so teensy bits of carrot and fewer teensy tiny chunks of potato in this pie, I’d estimate a bit more than a tablespoon total of vegetables.  I’d say about the same amount of chicken.

If you’re interested in how chicken is mechanically separated, here’s a video.

Final Frugal Judgement:  If I only had access to a microwave and only had 75 cents to spend, I’d have a very hard time wanting to buy the Banquet Pot Pie.  I’d be thinking Snickers.  I’ll keep making my Home Made Chicken Pot Pie!  Check it out:  You can make it with Pie Crust, Biscuits or Puff Pastry, as budget and time allows.

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