I confess. I’ve been waiting for months – with a sense of dread – for the new frozen offerings by Ina Garten to show up in my grocer’s freezer. Despite her laid back demeanor, she’s a shrewd business woman, so I wasn’t surprised last year when I heard she was coming out with a line of frozen dinners; just a little disappointed.
For me, Garten conjures up French favorites carefully prepared in her fabulous kitchen, not another food personality-branded frozen meal from a wrinkled plastic bag. So, when I finally spotted those red-and-pink striped bags, I had to try one out. I side-stepped the pasta dinners and went for the most ambitious – beef stew bourguignon. I’m French so, growing up, boeuf bourguignon was my Dinty Moore. I can spot an impostor from 20 paces.
If you want to see her commercial and get more information, click here.
So, did Barefoot Contessa frozen beef stew bourguignon pass la moutarde? Here’s my review.
Barefoot Contessa beef stew bourguignon, about $7.99 for a 22-ounce bag that serves two, at select grocery stores, including Walmart.
First look: Barefoot Contessa Sauté Dinners for Two come in nine flavors, including garlic-and-ginger chicken, jambalaya, creamy chicken stew and tequila-lime chicken.
Each serving of beef bourguignon contains 270 calories, 10 grams of total fat, 4 of which are saturated, 45 milligrams cholesterol and a whopping 1,350 milligrams of sodium.
The main components of the meal include sauce, vegetables (carrots, mushrooms and onions) and seasoned beef. Specific ingredients in the sauce include water, onions, Burgundy, beef base, pre-cooked bacon, unsalted butter, mushroom base, flour, soybean oil, salt and sugar.
The beef includes modified food starch, and the whole meal contains some milk, soy and wheat.
Here’s what’s inside the bag:
Sauce, chopped parsley and veggies and meat.
The directions are straightforward.
Place the bag of sauce in a bowl of hot water.
Place the meat and vegetables in a pan, then add 1/4 cup of water or wine. I used water since wine already is present in the sauce.
Cover and cook over medium heat for about four minutes.
Then add the slightly thawed sauce to the mixture.
Cook for about six minutes more.
And you’ve now got a pot of beef bourguignon.
Stir in the packet of parsley, which will bring to mind frozen spinach.
Good news: Portions are generous, and the calorie count is pretty low. The bite-sized cubes of beef were well flavored and tender. You could easily taste wine and a little bacon in the sauce for the first few bites.
Quick and easy to prepare.
Finished product looks just like the photo on the package.
Bad news: Can someone please explain to me how a vegetable can simultaneously feel squishy and firm? Maybe I’m just not familiar with frozen carrots, but these were not edible. Odd texture and didn’t taste the way a carrot should — no matter the dish.
And, let’s discuss these fish eyes, shall we?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat pearl onion stems. In fact, I hate pearl onions, so if I have to look at them, I’d rather they not look back.
They don’t look any better in the finished dish, either.
I have to admit that the mushrooms were a bit mushy, too.
The sauce was smooth, but it had a heavy black pepper finish. I didn’t mind it too much, but it really went to battle with the wine and beef. After three or four bites, pepper dominated. And, I adore pepper of all types, but it’s not the flavor you’re going for with beef bourguignon.
Last words: I suspect that Julia Child is going to stomp on the Barefoot Contessa’s toes for this frozen fiasco when they meet up in that great kitchen in the sky.
Wow! Thanks for the warning! I’ll pass on this for sure!
Laura, it just isn’t worth it.
No parsley so they cheated and i tossed those horrid onions away before cooking it. It is just another way to make them more millions ..
I’m sorry it wasn’t a better product. And surprised. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Well, silly me, I decided to check reviews only after trying the product. I just had to go double check the bag in the trash to make sure I didn’t miss the parsley, but sure enough, there’s no parsley in the dinner now.
And I don’t get a heavy black pepper flavor either. What I do get is a strong flavor of a bad red wine. I managed to doctor it up since it’s a lazy Sunday night and I don’t want to get involved cooking, but my curiosity is now satisfied and I won’t be trying any of her other varieties of frozen foods.
Jay, now you don’t have to wonder. I have to think that TBC puts out some good products, this just isn’t one of them. Thank you for your input.
The bag suggests that you can use red wine instead of water, which I did. However, the red cooking wine that I used contained salt which made the dish way too salty. I bought 2 bags on a buy 1 get 1 free so I’ll make the 2nd bag with just water and see how that tastes. I did’t have any problems with the vegetables so perhaps they’ve fixed that issue now.
Not much food in bag, pasty texture and WAAAAAyyyyy too salty!
Everybody’s taste buds are different. I didn’t mind it, though while cooking it I also threw in some cooked baby new potatoes, some fresh herbs and tasted and adjusted. Added good red wine while simmering and extra mushrooms. I have made Beef Bourguignon from scratch a few times and though this is not the real thing, it was not terrible either. A good cook will always taste as they cook and add their own flourish. If you just dump it into a pot and stir, you will be disappointed. Mau as well just open a can of Dinty’s…
Jody, it sounds as if you had to do a bit of work to make a dish that’s supposed to keep you from working.
Carrots were weird. ‘stringy’, chewy. Never had carrots like that before. Expected a more finished product from INA.
“Finished” is the perfect word for it. You’re right, we expect more from her.
Wish I had read this review before wasting my money. Easy to prepare, rich sauce with a nice flavor if you can tolerate the pepper.I couldn’t find any mushrooms. About the third bite, I actually looked down into my bowl and counted seven onions. I purposely left most of them in the pan. Too many carrots, too many onions, lots of sauce(good) but, not enough beef. And, the beef texture was similar to beef that has been treated with meat tenderizer. Way too expensive for a bag of vegetables. I too will skip the rest of her products.
The carrots were definitely ‘spongy’ onions, I didn’t mind. The sauce was good but I bought the frozen meal for $4.99 on sale but wouldn’t buy again. If you have to doctor it up quite a bit to make it edible, you might as well do the whole meal from scratch and bypass Ina altogether. Sorry Ina,
I’ll still use your recipes tho.
I agree, I’m a big fan of her recipes. Thanks for reading, Anne!
LEAN CUISINE’S new “HONESTLY GOOD “6 new dinners are pretty good, but best news is low sodium content, also fat content is acceptable. They also contain separate sauce packages to pour over meal, ( once it has been cooked required amount of time) & then reheat briefly & serve. Also about $4.00 cheaper. Not a good seller in major supermarkets, even tho its cheaper & nutritionally superior than Ina’s. Only Target stocks it in my are, so outlook for BFC brand not rosy.
I’m sorry, but I disagree with most of the comments. I thought the Beef Stew Bourguignon was very good! It was well seasoned, tender beef, vegies good, and consistency great. The only thing I added was a tiny bit of salt and pepper and a little garlic powder. As for the price, right now (as of the time of this writing) there is a coupon on her website you can print to give you $1.50 off the price. I got the dinners at Walmart for $4.99 and with the coupon that brought the price to $3.49. Pretty good for a meal for two. I’ve had other frozen meals that were more expensive, the meat tough, and the whole dinner tasteless!
Just one piece of advise, everyone’s taste is different so all you can do is try them and make your own judgment for yourselves. I liked it and plan to buy more.
I agree with you, Patti. We tried the Creamy Chicken Stew (with the additional suggested homemade biscuits) & were pleasantly surprised. We’re going to try more. They’re great when you just don’t have the time or energy to make dinner from scratch at the end of the day. Just don’t go into it expecting homemade quality from a frozen meal– that’s unrealistic.
It was a bit salty but otherwise a good frozen meal. My husband and I both enjoyed.
We tried this tonight. No parsley, and so so salty! My taste buds still haven’t recovered.
I just made this tonight because the local supermarket had a $6.99 sale price, which matched the level of my curiosity. Well, I was disappointed. It just isn’t worth the money. I DID notice a high peppery flavor to it. Better than Dinty Moore, but not by much. If it were $5.00, OK. But not $6.99 on sale, and more when not. This will disappear from the shelves and go out of production soon, as it is just an overpriced big time chef name exploitation.
Compared to any of the other “restaurant” frozen meals, this is by far the best on the market. I’ve tried most if not all of them and never returned. This is the very first frozen meal I’ve gone back to and will try the other varieties. There is a good amount of protein and little starch. I’ve been able to serve this meal with baked potatoes and I did not feel like I overdid it. I don’t understand the reviewers who condemned the carrots as compared to anything else on the market; they were not overcooked or mushy. Not all of us can get home in time to cook an entire meal from scratch. This should not be compared to a home cooked meal – it’s not. It’s a frozen entrée in a grocery store sold at Walmart and compared to the competition, finally a welcome relief. I love good food, but work at a high level and this is really the best brand of frozen food out there. I highly recommend this and will probably buy one of her cookbooks as a result!!! Thank you! Whoever said this could be compared to Dinty Moore … I just don’t know what to say. Maybe I should stock up for when the predicted demise comes. I don’t know. PF Changs is still out there and absolutely hideous. I will keep promoting decent food for us women who work and also take care of the family.
Tried tIna Gartens chicken fried rice ,most of the chicken was sinew and one piece had a small bone, counted 6 peas, definetlly would never buy these frozen foods again, threw most of it away, what a waste of money!
Sorry i love it and cant buy it anymore in south Texas. i just add to it what i want Like extra mushrooms and pearl onions