Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers - Beef Merlot is truly one of a kind. I can't say say that it reminds me of beef stew, that would be a gross understatement of the quality this meal offers. The beef is more tender than most other frozen meals I have had the opportunity to taste. The wine sauce is amazing and compliments the combination of beef and roast potatoes. The veggies are a true delight that add a slightly pleasurable crunch. Healthy choice truly truly captured an essence of greatness in this meal.

Estella1

USA

I normally prefer Lean Cuisine to Healthy Choice meals, however the Beef Merlot has a great taste! The meat, potatoes, and vegetables are mixed with this delicious sauce. It is also very simple to make. I think that Healthy Choice meals are expensive, however when they are on sale I purchase a few of Beef Merlot meals.

MissMegan4990

USA

I started eating Smart Ones years ago and switched over to Lean Cuisines. I liked the Lean Cuisines alot better and thought they had more to choose from. However the other day the Healthy Choice line was on sale and I thought I would give it a try. The first one I had was this one, the Beef Merlot! I found it to be the best frozen meal I have had. The beef tasted like real beef not the processed type taste that the Smart Ones offer and the merlot sauce hit the spot. I felt like I had eaten a great dinner and found it to be more than enough. I will be buying these for now on.

MarineWife83

Spring Valley, CA

For a frozen entree, this was outstanding.  The vegetables were excellent.   Steamed vegetables are supposed to be a bit crisp and these were properly cooked.   Not hard,  just al dente which some people might not like if they like their vegetables soft like canned or over cooked as in casserolles and stews.  The green beans were delicious, like fresh steamed green beans and not like packaged frozen beans.   The potatoes were the texture of what you get with a pot roast and were not watery as in most dinners.   The flavor was great, not over seasoned at all, for my taste and I scraped the bowl for the last bit of sauce because I really liked  it.  I thought the amount of beef was adaquate, about 2 oz I would estimate in small bite sized pieces and it was tender and the texture was like roast beef.   I will certainly buy this again, but only on sale because as good as it is, they are way more expensive than other frozen dinners, but the cheaper ones are all rice and noodles anyway and this is all meat and vegetables.  It is a good healthy lunch and with a side salad would be enough for a light dinner for me or a child but I think not enough for a man unless there is a desert..  

pendragginink

Florissant, MO

I have started wt watchers .. this  steamer  beef merlot is wonderful ..  .. I found it  excellent   and one day when I wanted a one dish meal   .. I  nuked the dinner for half the time .. I then nuked some picksweet brand spring veggies with peppercorn sauce.. for half the time .. I  took the beef merlot  and chopped  the beef into small pieces .. and some of the bigger  veggies  also .. I got  a microwave safe container   combine the beef merlot, the picksweet veggies.. and one cup of  low sodium  98% fat free  chicken broth  . .  microwave for 2 minutes  check to see if it is hot enough  if not  do it another  2 minutes .. makes a big bowl of soup ..  forgot the points    will have to  see about that  .. but its easy to figure out ..  also  I  see how many cups is in this . then divide the  points by that ..   and you can have a  feeling dinner   plus enough leftover for  a work lunch hope you enjoy  

JimNashville

Hermitage, TN

This is one of my favorite Healthy choice Cafe Steamers, I have tried them all!  I always keep 4 or 5 of these in my freezer for when I need to eat but don't really feed like cooking.  Just 5 minutes in the microwave and I have my healthy filling meal.  Just perfect!  I am very picky about frozen microwave meals so for me to like some of these Healthy choice Cafe Steamers, they must really be good!

computerlady911

Glen Burnie, MD

I have recently been trying some of the new Healthy Choice options they have available now. To be honest in the past they was not my favorite. But, they are making great improvements to their products! The  Cafe Steamers taste great and are a little different from your  normal healthy  frozen meals. The sauce had a good flavor and the veggies tasted fresh. The portion was just right. Actually little more than I could eat! lol It was easy to cook just throw it in the microwave and end result healthy, tasty steamed lunch! I have tried the Roasted Beef Merlot and the Grilled Whiskey Steak so far. The Merlot being my favorite out of the two. Look forward to trying the others in the future!

checkinitout

Danville, VA

Lunch is a problem now that my doctor said that I have to eat better. There's the snack machine, the cafeteria with fried chicken and mashed potatoes or fast food restaurants right around the block. I had read about Cafe Steamers by Healthy Choice here at Viewpoints, so I thought I'd get one and test drive it. That instant banana oatmeal didn't work out, and I hated to get to work with something that I wouldn't be able to swallow. The Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer I picked was Beef Merlot. It has chunks of stew beef, red skinned potatoes, carrots and green beans served with a Merlot wine sauce. I love meat and potatoes though have cut back, and I hoped that this would be a really tasty treat meal. When I pulled out the steamer bowl, the meal looked good. It looked a lot more like the photo than most meals do. The way this is packaged is that you have two bowls nested. In the bottom bowl is the wine sauce. You can't see that initially. The top bowl is made steamer style and holds the meat and vegetables. All I had to do was stick the steamer bowl in the microwave and set for 4 minutes. The top doesn't even need to be vented. Very easy. Once the Healthy Choice meal was cooked, it had to sit for two minutes. Then I pealed off the cover and poured the meat and vegetables from the steamer bowl into the bottom bowl and stirred those in with the sauce. When I sat down and ate my Beef Merlot, I was really pleased. I'm not really a big frozen meal fan. Most of them are pretty bad. This one was excellent for a frozen meal. The beef was tender unlike most frozen dinner beef. I could cut it with a fork. The beans and carrots were slightly crisp and had flavor. Even the potatoes (which tend to do really bad when frozen) were decent. The sauce was flavorful and like a real gravy rather than the cornstarch tasting goo in most frozen dinners. My lunch had only 220 calories but did fill me up. The fat was low at 9% of the recommended daily. Salt was high at 24% for the day. Companies just can't seem to make prepared meals without hitting the salt hard. But I don't eat much salt, so a packaged dinner with higher salt now and then isn't a huge issue. I will definately buy Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Beef Merlot again and will try some of the other varieties too. These will be nice for work where I have a microwave. They're easy to make, taste great and are healthy. Thumbs up!

CyndiA

southern, NC

I'm no food connoisseur.  In fact, most of the time I'm perfectly content with a burger and fries.  But I do know great food when I eat it, and **Healthy Choice Cafe' Steamers** are incredible!  Best of all, these meals are relatively guilt-free, averaging around 300 calories.  **Cafe' Steamers** also ranked highly in the December issue of [*Consumer Reports magazine*][1] . Fortunately, **Cafe' Steamers **portions aren't as large as you'd receive in a restaurant, otherwise I'd overeat.  With smaller portions, you'll pay a smaller price, too...compared to eating at a sit-down style restaurant like Olive Garden.  **Cafe' Steamers **has amazing quality for about half what you'd pay eating out.  These are great meals for people bringing their lunch to work. Other **Cafe' Steamers** contain one serving of grilled chicken, shrimp, or beef, veggies, and sometimes pasta.  You could share them with someone...just not mine.  While eating the **Roasted Beef Merlot **meal, I walked around my office letting people take in the aroma.  I smelled my food for about 5 minutes before taking the first bite.  That's not an exaggeration either. The **Roasted Beef Merlot** meal comes with a serving of red potatoes, veggies, and a succulent merlot sauce.  It's quick and easy to prepare, just microwave it according to the directions, making it ideal for a work lunch.  You get an amazing taste for only *230 calories*.  The calorie count is great news if you're watching your weight, but for my workout routine, I need a much higher intake...which means I get to eat two of these **Cafe' Steamers Roasted Beef Merlot** meals for lunch.  How cool is that!  [1]: http://www.viewpoints.com/Consumer-Reports-review-ef753

brenviewer

Dayton, OH

Not only do I think this is the coolest idea in microwave meals, but I also think it's the tastiest **Healthy Choice** product they have so far.  Yes, they do have other products that are very good, but this **Healthy Choice Cafe' Steamers** **BEEF MERLOT** is excellent!  I've also tried a few of the other flavors they offer, but this one is my favorite.   With tender pieces of beef, mixed with a perfect combination of baby carrots, garden fresh green beans and chunks of potatoes that are blended in a delicious merlot wine sauce (gravy) - it definitely left my taste buds wanting more!  Mm, Mmm, Mmmm!   It's so easy to prepare and you're ready to eat in about 5 minutes!  Just remove the meal from the package and pop it in the microwave for 4 minutes, without even having to cut a slit in the plastic film.  Then once it's done - leave it sit for about a minute, then remove the plastic film and lift the steamer basket out of the bowl that the meat and veggies are in.  Dump the meat and veggies into the wine sauce (gravy) that is in the bottom of the bowl and mix well.  Disgard the steamer basket and enjoy your meal!  The bowl is also disposable, so the only dishes you have is your fork!  How simple is that?!

fkggr8

Waukesha, WI