Hey Banquet, Chicken Pot Pie Usually Comes With Filling
Does anyone remember Bunnicula? We think there's a similar beast in the Banquet pot pie plant, only instead of sucking vegetables dry he's draining the pies before they ship. That's the only thing that can explain how the real pot pie this Consumerist reader cooked looks nothing like the bountiful pot pie harvest shown on the box. Oh wait: it could also be that Banquet is a cheap-assed company that can't be bothered to sell decent frozen food.
I cooked up the Banquet Chicken Pot Pie per directions.
I flipped it over after cooking and put it in a bowl. I opened up the "bottom" to get at the pot pie goodness and what did I find? Practically nothing. It was almost completely hollow.
On the back of the box were the instructions for cooking.
The final step says to insert a thermometer to ensure a temp of 160 to make sure it is fully cooked. If I had actually done that the probe would have been in the hollow pocket of the pie and not been measuring anything but air.
I will stick with Marie Calendar pot pie from now on. They are actually filled with pot pie goodness.
(Thanks to couponknob!)
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Comments:
That stuff is so bad for you. Take it as a sign.
You were actually tricked twice. Once for the meal disguised as a dessert, and then the no filling thing. Now finish it off with a choco-taco and you've got one backward-ass meal.
I think this is the first article I've ever read with a Bunnicula reference.
I am forced to blame the OP. "I opened up the "bottom" to get at the pot pie goodness ....."
Pot pies (from Banquet) containing goodness is a totally unrealistic expectation.
Seriously, the post gives no indication if the disapointed pot pie lover contacted Banquet. It is reasonable to let the company confirm that this was a manufacturing glitch and that most pies have more filling. You'll probably end up with some coupons too.
Gotta make pot pie - then you get as much filling as you need. MMm... I want pot pie...
That looks like someone puked
I can't lie - I absolutely LOVE Banquet pot pies and have since I was a kid.
And now that they're microwaveable?? Nitrate-y goodness in a flash!! :)
(as long as it's filled with something, that is)
The crust looks a little overcooked, and since Banquet Pot Pie has a high percentage of sauce(water), I think it may have just evaporated most of it's volume. And if you can afford Calendar Pot Pies, why even buy Banquet?
Ah, the classic slippery slope.
ONE pot pie doesn't have filling!?! THEY ALL MUST NOT HAVE FILLING!!!
Just make your own. 5 in prep, 35 Bake. Substitute your favorite ingredients (I use fresh veggies from the garden, sometimes canned ones):
1 2/3 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken/beef/turkey (I personally add two cups)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in ungreased glass pie plate, 9x1 1/4 inches.
2. Stir together remaining ingredients with fork until blended. Pour into pie plate.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft) Heat oven to 425ºF.
Original here: [www.bettycrocker.com]
@SkokieGuy: However, pot pies containing SOMETHING is a reasonable expectation. So, still not the OP's fault. A pot pie with no filling would appropriately be labeled "pita bread."
This is the first time in history the actual food hasn't looked the way it is depicted on the box/in an advertisement.
Wow, I haven't heard a Bunnicula reference in years. :) As for the pot pies, I've had some that have made me wonder if the people are asleep at the switch. Some are filled just partway, some have been overly filled.
@poornotignorant:
The crusts always look like that when they're microwaved, no matter how well you follow the directions. The only way to not get a singed crust is to cook it in the oven. And face it, who wants to wait around for a pot pie to cook in 50 minutes when it can be done 10 times faster in the microwave?
@Xerloq: Mmmmmmm chicken pot pie... oh wait!
@Parapraxis: mmmmm candy cigarettes
i choose you CANDY CIGARETTES!
@Xerloq: Ah, "just make your own" guy. Always welcome, giving helpful hints on how to take an hour to cook pot pie, when the reason the person bought the microwavable kind is likely because he/she had neither the time nor the desire to spend that much time on a meal.
I'm not eating anything that has the word 'pot' in it... unless of course it is pot
Okay, ban me for blaming the OP, but you wouldn't catch me buying one of those things. The feds have set a pretty high limit for the number of insect parts in pot pies, they are produced with low-grade ingredients by machines with little quality control, they were recalled in 2007 for salmonella, and what did he pay for the thing? 79 cents? $1.29??
Yeah, I guess it should have filling in it. He's just lucky it wasn't a mouse or lizard.
Yah. I can't eat any Banquet "foods". I've always had troubles digesting them, and the last time I had one, several years back, I had such bad indigestion I couldn't eat for two days. I won't go into any other symptoms of said Salisbury steak, but I couldn't even stand being around myself at the time.
But one other thing I remember from these Banquet meals is that they seemed to always contain very little actual food, so I'm not surprised that the OP's pie had little filling. Marie or Swanson pies, though while they will kill you from calories and salt, are quite awesome.
I will stick with Marie Calendar pot pie from now on. They are actually filled with pot pie goodness.
Oh please, give me a break. Did this guy only buy one pot pie? Because if he checked another one I am sure he will find them to be acceptably filled with "pot pie goodness". Having eaten plenty of these potpies I can definitely say that is a manufacturing glitch and could happen just as likely to his precious Marie Calendar pot pies which cost twice as much.
He should either suck up the 50-75 cents he lost on a bad pot pie or contact banquet. I am sure they would send him a bunch of free potpie coupons.
@Xerloq:
That looks like a good & easy recipe.
I would suggest using frozen vegetables instead of canned. Where I live, frozen are cheaper than canned and way better.
I don't even buy fresh asparagus any more because the frozen stuff is so much cheaper and almost as good. And frozen artichoke hearts are ten times better than what comes in a can or jar.
And remember those nasty canned peas in the silver can your mother bought? The frozen ones are great!
Oh Bunnicula! I loved those books!
My mother had one of these for dinner last night. I'll have to ask her if there was a lack of filling in hers.
I would love to get a pot pie like that.. The crust is my favorite part!
@SkokieGuy:Mmmmm, Brownies. Speaking of banquet and brownies, Is anyone else a sucker for a t.v. dinner with a brownie?
Just for fun, here's the nutritional info (presumably for a properly filled pie) [www.elook.org]
Interesting that one package is roughly half a serving: 1 package yields (198 grams)
1 serving (198 grams)
And that 1 serving is 22% of your day's supply of saturated fat.
Mmmm.. 21g of fat. (But probably not in this one). :)
@audiochick: Your mother had a Bunnicula for dinner? jk, jk
I ate those Banquet pot pies in college when I was hurting for cash. I also got shingles in college due partially to poor health. That's all I'm sayin.
@anime_runs_my_life: "And face it, who wants to wait around for a pot pie to cook in 50 minutes when it can be done 10 times faster in the microwave?"
Me. Why destroy food like that? There are less than 10 things a microwave is good for, and cooking frozen foods is not one of them.
Hell, I won't even microwave a Hot Pocket...
marie calender *sp?* ones are soooooooo gooooooooood. I've even taken the time to bake them in the oven and get that deliciously crispy pie crust. Marie is so good to me.
Banquet anything is really nothing more than glorified cardboard food like substances coated in shiny greasy goo.
YUM OH. not. Banquet = soylent green?
I remember the Aussie Pies that my mom used to get for me at Costco. They had a different, flakier crust than normal pot pies. Delicious!
"I will stick with Marie Calendar pot pie from now on. They are actually filled with pot pie goodness."
Banquet and Marie Calendar are both owned by ConAgra.
So they've got your money either way.
I see your Pot Pie and raise you a pack of Candy Cigarettes!
@Xerloq: Skip the sodium nightmare that is canned soup and, if you have any cooking skills whatsoever, substitute a light brown roux + good chicken stock/broth. Add some thyme and rosemary, and a reasonable amount of salt and pepper if needed. Extra points with the ladies for adding diced shallots (to the roux, just before the stock) and goat cheese (just before pouring).
I'm usually pretty cheap, but I never get Banquets. Marie Callendar and Healthy Choice may be slightly more expensive, but the taste and value is much better.
Banquet keeps it cheap by cutting costs on quality control it seems.
@chiggers: Wow, very different. This should be the direct link (for a chicken pot pie, like pictured in the above post)
I've had that happen several times now. It's one of the two reasons why I don't eat them anymore. The other reason being that I read the nutrition label.
Yeeuch.
Banquet stuff costs like a dollar...I mean they sell their stuff in my local Dollar Tree even. What do you expect? It could just be an error too. Why not call Banquet instead of complaining on here?
At the rate at which these pies leave the factory it's amazing that they manage to get ANYTHING inside the box.
This whole article is a waste of time.
BTW whomever feels the need to call and complain to Banquet must not value your time.
Trader Joes sell a Chicken Pot Pie for about $3.00. They are the closest thing to home made that you can buy. They used to make a turkey and mushroom one but stopped selling it because of a "national turkey shortage".
I thought I was the only person who knew Bunnicula...wow...happy-fun-smile on my face.
@Parapraxis: My favorite was Howliday Inn!
When I was little, pot pies were the extent of my fathers cooking when my mother was away.
@gmoney: My first link was an idependent site that lets you click on different sizes (100 gram serving size or 198 full package serving size.) I assume they do this to let you compare equal sizes of products that may be packaged differently.
When you select the entire pie and look at nutritional data, the saturated fat content jumps to 44% of your day's requirements, and 39% of your day's sodium.
Holy crap! Now I want to get a few of those. I like the general taste of chicken pot pie, but I hate a lot of filling.
"But I don't want to BE a PIE!"
Banquet pot pies: the most falsely advertised product on the market....
It contains no pot, nor does it taste like pie.
WTF?
The celery stalks at midnight!