Lasagna can also change drastically based on where you’re from.
For instance, an American lasagna will typically replace the traditional bechamel with ricotta cheese.
That’s why the freezer aisle once again comes to the rescue.
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Every product has been cooked to the suggested time on the box.
Each variety will be evaluated by taste, appearance, and preparation method.
So, it has to taste good, look good, and be easy to cook to win.
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Here’s how each brand compared, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the absolute best.Andiamo!
Simply cut two slits in the sides of the plastic on top and microwave on high for five minutes.
So, I’d recommend going up to seven minutes and thirty seconds.
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The Look:I want you to close your eyes, and imagine a lasagna.
Now, I want you to open your eyes and look at that photographnot appealing to say the least.
The Taste:I put this in my mouth, and immediately spit it out.
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To start, it was ice cold, so definitely microwave this past the recommended five minutes.
The vegetables were mushy and a little bitter.
The sauce was too salty, and the noodles turned to cauliflower mush.
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It also lacked the assembly of a true lasagna.
The sauce and the veggies and the pasta were all sort of thrown in there nonchalantly.
The low-carb meat lasagna cost $5.99 at Whole Foods.
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The Prep:Same as the previous lasagna.
Just two slits down the plastic, and microwave on high for five minutes.
Yes, it will still be cold, so additional cooking time is highly recommended.
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Nothing says “stay away” like a gray pile of mystery meat sitting on top of your plate.
The Taste:This one is not as bad as the last one.
I can say that with 100% confidence.
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The meat, however, was dry and flavorless.
This isn’t lasagna.
This is cauliflower noodles with unseasoned beef thrown on top.
Sacrifices have to be made for some diets, I suppose.
Nature’s Promise is a store brand, available at Giant Foods and other Ahold Delhaize-owned supermarkets.
The brand’s 10-ounce organic cheese lasagna cost $4.79 at Giant.
The Prep:Turn your oven to 350, and pop this in for 20 minutes.
No complaints about that.
In fact, excluding the microwave, it’s the easiest one to prepare by a mile.
The Look:The sauce looks orangish, more like a vodka sauce than traditional tomato.
Also, for something advertised as cheese lasagna, it doesn’t look overly cheesy from the get-go.
The Taste:Here’s the thing.
I eat meat, and I love meat.
So I’m biased here.
Any beefy option is going to beat out the lack thereof.
The cheese was creamy and tasty.
The pasta was a little overcooked, but the main knock here is the sauce and assembly.
This is just two wide noodles with sauce on top and cheese stuffed in the middle.
That’s not lasagna.
That’s a massive open ravioli.
It’s not a bad bite, but it isn’t a harmonious one either.
An 11-ounce single serving oflasagna with meat saucecost $5.29 at Giant.
The pasta got hard and crispy.
Lowering the cook time to your own taste will make this experience much better.
The Look:Not great.
The Taste:This tasted fantastic, but everything else dragged it down.
The sauce is smooth, and the meat is well seasoned.
The ricotta also provided a creamy texture that the rest didn’t quite deliver on after the freezing process.
Lower the time or the temp in the oven, and you’ve got a good product.
(Its jarred marinara sauce is a supermarket sensation.)
The Prep:The cook time of 40 minutes is optimal here.
The Taste:Inoffensive.
I didn’t find myself wowed by anything, but I found nothing to complain about, either.
The cheese wasn’t the best, but it was nice.
You will have nothing to complain about, but maybe not much to write home about, either.
A large 19-ounce size meat lasagna cost $5.99 at Giant.
The Prep:This was easy to make.
Preheat your oven to 350 and cook for 48 minutes.
It takes a while, but all you need is patience.
The Look:This is exactly what a frozen lasagna should look like.
There’s beautifully melted cheese on top, and it just begs you to dig in.
The Taste:It tasted warm.
Does that make sense?
It’s not the best thing you’ll ever taste, but it’s exactly as advertised.
Even so, there’s still one brand that’s even better than this one.
The substantially sized 32-ounce package costs $5.99.
The Prep:This was the largest lasagna I purchased, leading it to the longest cook time.
It just looks like what you want a lasagna to look like.
The Taste:The cheese is a little heavy-handed, but other than that, it’s perfect.
Also, who’s complaining about extra cheese?
The rest seem to have sauce and meat separately.
Here, you have something more akin to a traditional lasagna.
It makes for a much more complete flavor profile.
When it comes to frozen lasagna at least, I’ll say this for Trader Giotto’s: Bravo!
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