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Fast, Easy, Little or NO Cleanup and Tasty - Chef Boyardee Microwavable (boil them) Meals

















The perfect meals for short & long term camping?

For years I’ve been packing lots of food requiring lots of cooler/refrigerator space that took an hour or more of me and Carols time to prepare and then even longer to clean up. To make matters worse, I ended up with excess food to bring back home and even some waste.

We like quick and easy. We like little or no clean up. And, we like Tasty. Who didn't eat Beefaroni as a kid and even now, I keep ChefBoyardee products in the pantry for a quick lunch or late night snack so I am looking forward to trying these meals out in a camping setting as we have with other brands.

So will these go from pot to table in 9 minutes. Can they be prepared by boiling for 9 minutes rather than microwaving? We will soon find out!

My only concern is the aluminum pull/pop tops. In the past we have had members ending up with no food and a mess in the back of their Jeeps due to the "tin" cans with pop/pull tops bouncing around and actually popping open from the forces and pressures of bouncing around on back roads. I think that these will not pose that problem in that the container is lightweight and made mostly from plastic. I am going to pack ten of these in a plastic tote and take them for a wild ride on some BLM land this weekend and see how they hold up.

UPDATE  NO fears on the pop tops popping during driving or cooking. I put a box load of these in the typical plastic totes I use to store and transport food items in when I am Jeeping. As a point of information, that tote has always had a 1/2" foam barrier on the bottom not to keep the food safe but to keep it insulated from a hot metal Jeep floor.   Took a ride out a nice back road north of Fort McDowell and drove my TJ like it was stolen on them trails.  The box went airborn more than once and slammed down on the floor.   No adverse effects!   Now to check this out from a cooking experience, I boiled two soups for 25 minutes each  ( more than twice as long as you will boil them)  again with no ill effects.   So based on my unscientific methods and opinions, these will cause no problems when you transport them or heat them in boiling water.

For more detailed cooking instructions/suggestions, scroll to the bottom of this page.

See what we think below of the varieties we have tried.   We plan on having most if not all the varieties reviewed and posted by December 2015.   New reviews will be added every week or so until then.

If you see the meal and picture listed below, I have that meal in hand. If the description has a statement other than "Coming Soon" then I have tried and there should be a review you can read by clicking on the picture of the meal. If it shows not found give it a day or so and it will be up on the site. The ones that say "Coming Soon" will all be up by December 2015. I will add new meals as I can find different selections. I carry a spreadsheet in my wallet and always check out different stores for their selections. I hope to have every Chef Boyardee Meal sampled and reviewed by December 2015.

If you have any comments you can send them to: info@JeepExpeditions.org

Click on the picture of any meal below to see the review of that meal, pictures and more !




Image Of Meal
Chef Boyardee Meals - Beefaroni

Coming Soon!

the review.

Image Of Meal
Chef Boyardee Meals - Beef Ravioli in a Tomato & Meat Sauce

Coming Soon!

the review.

Image Of Meal
Chef Boyardee Meals - Mini Beef Ravioli in a Tomato & Meat Sauce

Coming Soon!

the review.

Image Of Meal
Chef Boyardee Meals - Lasagna in a Chunky Tomato & Meat Sauce

Coming Soon!

the review.

Image Of Meal
Chef Boyardee Meals - Mac and Cheese

Coming Soon!

the review.









The Final Word

Generally,......................................

My favorite meals in this section so far are as follows:

1.     2.    3. 

From now on Chef Boyardee Meals will be a part of the camping menu I’ll be taking on most of my trips with Jeep Expeditions. They have a good variety, need no refrigeration, have a shelf life up to two years (just in case you have a few left after that next trip), require little or no prep time, are delightfully tasty, light weight & compact and very convenient. Just drop one or more dinners in boiling water for 9 minutes, let them sit for a minute and you are ready to eat. Clean up is a simple as dumping the water from your pot and throwing everything else away or you could burn the plastic and paper in your campfire.

Oh yes, one more thing. Don't let any picture deter you, look at the picture on the box, the Chef Boyardee pictures, even though they are jazzed up a bit, are pretty close to what your meal will look like. Then think of how tasty its' going to be and you be the judge. Trust me, if it looks bad I will tell you but if I don't, you can count on a good looking tasty dinner when you pull off the plastic film cover.

As for where to buy your Chef Boyardee Meals, I buy mine at Walmart Neighborhood Markets or Walmart SuperCenters. They have good prices and many stores have a good selection.



Cook 1, 2, 3, 4 or

more meals at once

depending on your

pot/kettle size.

How to cook and equipment suggestions

STOVE: I prefer the single burner butane stoves which you can buy online or at discount stores for as little as $10. Cans of butane are easy to carry easy to insert into the stove, safe and can last for a couple of meals. I find that butane burns hotter than propane which means your water boils faster, your food is done earlier and you are eating soonerand. The equipment is both simple to use and lighter in weight than the propane equivilent.  

POT/KETTLE: My choice of pots would be a stainless or blue porcelan steel 2 gallon pot. You can not only use this for boiling your Hormel meals but after you can use the water to wash up anything afterwards and/or to wash up yourself or reuse it for your morning Hormel breakfast. It's all you need to prepare your camp dinners or breakfasts. Make sure you take off the plastic protective top of the soup container before putting into water (really no real purpose for this but I did it anyway.

                                   
                                              Remove the Plastic Protective Lid Before Boiling

COOKING: Bring water to a boil,  drop in unopened meals and cook 10 minutes.   Take meals out of the water with tongs.   Let the meal sit for a minute, peel back metal top, stir/fluff up a bit and enjoy!

The containers will be hot when you take them out of your pot. My normal camping tongs were able to grab the containers arount the top edges with the container sitting upright in the water, I was not able to get a grip when it was on its side (one side of the tongs on the lid the other on the bottom) and getting it from the sides was just impossible. There are two solutions for that. 1. tongs that are silicon covered. 2. of of those rubber gloves that are used for handling hot meats/foods. Either work fine. Also a glove or a hot pad will made pulling back the lid much easier as the container will be hot.

                                 
                            Regular Brand Tongs at Top - Best Quality Silicone Coated Tongs at Bottom


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*The opinions expressed in this product review are the opinions of the writer and are based on the writers tastes and preferences. The writer may have and in most cases invited other people to participate in this review. Despite the review (favorable/unfavorable) you are encouraged to try out any product that you might be interested in.

**Copyrighted images & trademarks for Hormel Compleats, Hormel Sandwich Makers, Hormel Snacks, SPAM Meals and other Hormel products used throughout this web site are the property of Hormel Foods, LLC and are used for informative and identification purposes only. **Copyrighted images & trademarks for Campbells Chunky Soups, Chef Boyardee, Velveeta Skillet Meals, Barilla Italian Style Meals and other products portrayed and reviewed here are the property of their respective owners and are used here for informative and identification purposes only.



 

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The state recognizes us as a fraternal organization,  we prefer to say we are a club.  Our members and volunteers are dedicated to the exploration of   this great land  for the educational value, historical value,  scenic beauty, the geology, paleontology, the camaraderie of people who share the same interests and to escape the confines of civilization if only for a few days. Our organization and members adhere to the standards of "Tread Lightly" and "Leave No Trace".

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