I like that the title says "junk food", but the picture is a "Lean Cuisine"...sure, it's not organic, grown in your back yard, etc...but...junk food?

That Smart Ones Rigatoni is actually very good, especially for low calorie. Interesting website though.

I wasn't hungry before this. Damn you, Consumerist!

I'm glad they have a shout-out to butterburgers there on the front page because HOLY ARTERY-STOPPING TASTINESS, Batman, are those good burgers!

That's got to be the worst looking hamburger I've ever seen.

Wow, I think I found a new blog to follow. That's pretty damn cool

@Smashville_makes his own comments at home: Yes, Lean Cuisine is junk food. It just markets itself as healthy.

I'd like to see them tackle frozen pretzels. Those things get absolutely mangled in the box.

I don't get the point of this site.

Of course it is going to look different. If you expect it to look like it did on the box you are a moron.

Though I do remember one egregious example on the consumerist a while back that even made me wonder WTF

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I just can't see it. I like burgers, and I like butter, but apart from something like lemon butter on a steak, I just can't get behind the butterburgers. Of course, I like nothing but pickles, onions, and mustard on my burgers, which seems like it would sort of overpower the butter.

The pop-tart looks just as good at the picture on the box!

/cardboard?

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!):
I've never had one of these, but it sounds like I should.

Oo... great website!

@henrygates: No im sorry, there is a distinct difference between "unhealthy" food and "junk" food.

It may be unhealthy due to sheer about of sodium put into it for preservation, but its certainly not junk food.

@teknowaffle: Maybe you're a moron for expecting it to look like it does on the box... but SHOULDN'T it HAVE to look like it does on the box? This is one area of advertising that baffles me - if you went to buy a new Camry and they showed you a picture of one all nice and new and then pulled around a beaten, scratched up car and said "here you go!" You'd be suing their ass off tootsweet. So why can food advertisers get away with it?

I WANT my whopper to look like the picture, I WANT my Digorno's pizza to look like the box, and I WANT my Sausage Egg Mcmuffin to look like the poster. Why is that so wrong?

@teknowaffle: [consumerist.com]

That article was about the mini corndogs (covered by Chris Finke), the very first product on there... and the very same person who created "Food In Real Life". =D

Not sure if Consumerist noticed that due to the lack of link back to the older article.

A family friend is a photographer that specializes in these photo shoots for product packages. It's so much fun. He even has a "food stylist" assistant who is basically a hair and makeup artist for food.

They will shoot hot foods cold to make them look solid, or use Crisco for vanilla ice cream (as long as the ad is for, say, sprinkles or syrup, the actual product has to be shown but the things AROUND it do not have to be the real product. If the ad is for ice cream they have to do it FAST because the hot lights melt it so quick.)

Toothpicks prop up the back of food and hold artful arrangements in place. 5 million watt lamps are shined on the food. All kinds of fillers or special dishes make the food look fluffy.

And they sit there and hand pick each piece of food - whether it's lettuce leaf or cereal piece - the assistant hand picks 100 cheerios that are perfectly shaped or 50 pieces of lettuce that have no wilting and are the right shade of green.

I remember going to one of the photo shoots years back, it was so fun learning all about it.

@Falcon5768:

Let's all just agree to call it 'disgusting'...

@RecordStoreToughGuy_Has$240WorthOfPuddin': The butter is on the buns. :)

I really don't see why people bitch and moan about how food doesn't look like the packaging. Big freaking deal. I've never got a hamburger from Culver's that looked like that and if I did I wouldn't give a shit because it would taste just as good anyway.

@coren: Heh, you should check out peopleofwalmart.com.

There's a lot of women in my office that eat those crappy Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine frozen lunches. I feel like trying to survive off of 200 calorie meals isn't good for your metabolism or keep you energized for the rest of the work day without sugar/coffee.

MINI CORNDOGS!!!

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Soooooo good. And, really, every one I've ever had looks much better than the one that guy got. I was kind of surprised.

Heat Eat Review has been doing this for more than 3 years. [www.heateatreview.com]

But that's just for frozen meals, not fast food stuff.

@Notsewfast: @Falcon5768: @henrygates: @Smashville_makes his own comments at home: I ate little else than lean cuisine through college. Gotta say, it was good, and I never gained beer weight.

Of course, I know now the perils of microwaving food in plastic, eating processed foods, HFCS, etc etc etc and will likely never eat it again.

But... just sayin... not the worst thing in the world when you look at the butter burgers they also picture.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I quite agree. I never had anything from Culvers until a few months ago when they opened a place locally. I gotta say, it is a good thing they are way on the opposite side of town because I would go way too often if they were closer. Not just their butter burgers either, their shakes are awesome.

I just can't believe people actually eat that stuff :P

@Julia789: The Consumer Reports children's magazine, back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, had a whole long article about how the food on the box is made to look that way. I've never forgotten the bit about using Elmer's Glue for "milk" in the "spoon fll of cereal in milk" shots.

@outlulz: To be fair, they probably go home and binge on cookies and Doritos. I mean, you can't eat stuff like that in front of other people.

Perhaps I should examine my peculiar eating habits...

@outlulz: The women in my office eat those lean cuisines too. I usually get a giant grilled veggie burrito on whole wheat tortilla. Mmmmmmmm. The guy down the street makes them perfect. Then they all sit there and complain that their lunch isn't enough. I'd rather exercise like hell and eat lots of food. I eat HEALTHY food. Delicious healthy food. I just like a lot of it. :-)

@bornonbord: What you say is true: What perils? It's not like eating a frozen dinner will cause you to drop dead on the spot. Like everything else in existence, if you eat too much of 'em, it can certainly be unhealthy for some folks. I'd say its pretty drastic (and, well, ridiculous) to say you'd likely never eat one again because they're "too dangerous."

the website is already down...

@supercereal: I had a boiling hot manicotti dinner flip over on my flimsy computer desk and give me 1st and 2nd degree burns from my breasts to my knees. I also slipped and twisted my ankle while I was running and tearing my clothes off en route to the dorm bathroom to douse myself in a cold shower because of said burns. That was fairly dangerous.

@Saboth:

The Smart Ones lasagna is quite tasty, too.

@henrygates: Nonsense. 290 calories, 7 grams of fat, 560 mg of sodium in the Thai chicken w/red pepper sauce I had for lunch.

Quarter Pounder w/cheese: 460 calories, 28 grams of fat, 730 mg sodium.

I'm not dieting. I eat Lean Cuisine because they're remarkably tasty for frozen food. They use flavor instead of grease and salt to make the food palatable.

@elangomatt: Oh, I know, with all that real fruit in them! And the cheese curds! In my ninth month of pregnancy Culver's cheese curds were the only thing I wanted to eat!

@Etoiles: the glue bit is what I remember, too! :)

@mxjohnson:

Palatable?

I'll stick with my own food, thanks.

/now I'm hungry too!

@kalaratri: Pretty much everything's dangerous if you're a klutz.

@lordargent: DAMN that looks GOOD!

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Do they toast the buns?

If so, I'm there. There's one down by the Target. :)

@outlulz: At any given time at my office, there are various duos and groups of women who are supposedly dieting together. In spite of their Lean Cuisine or brought-from-home rabbit food lunches, none of them ever appear to lose any weight. I find it quite hilarious.

@H3ion: That picture doesn't do Culver's justice. The burgers usually look way better. Those burgers are AMAZING. I had a friend visiting from California once, and he still talks about Culvers four years later. Soooo good.

@outlulz: I keep Lean Cuisine's on hand as a quick lunch option if I'm running late in the morning. They aren't the best things on earth, but they're convenient, and much cheaper than eating takeout.

@chocolate1234: That was my thought too. I saw the image and thought, "WTF?" did they step on that burger before getting the picture?"

@bornonbord: What you say is true:
lol just cause you didn't gain weight doesn't mean its not unhealthy ? You do know skinny people are at risk of hypertension disease when they eat the same crap obese people eat. Especially if you're still young, your metabolic rate may still be beating out whatever crap you may put in your body but are your parents overweight ? Not trying to come at you or anything but there's no such thing as "lol I'm not fat so its not bad" effect for frozen food/instant anything.

@heart.shaped.rock: I've seen many of those too. My favorite time is when they babble on about needing to exercise more, then watching them take the elevator or escalator for one flight of stairs.

I tried pointing this out to the whole lot of them, but it only served to infuriate them--then they all got mad at me because "I've never had a baby, so what would I know about gaining weight."

*rolls eyes* Ultimately, there's no way to win with that crowd, and they will continue to eat their "lean" crap and whine because their heads are too far up their butts to realize they just need to hit the gym every few days.

@lordargent:
are you a woman ? Can you cook for me please?