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Wholly Guacamole at Target

What to get: Wholly Guacamole, box of six 2oz packets (also available as one large family size packet)

Where to get it: Target Stores (and Fresh & Easy, too).

Each box contains six of these packets

Why we approve: Guacamole is almost pure avocado, and super healthy. Guacamole makes almost anything taste better, including leftover chicken and raw veggies!

Preparation: Just tear open a packet and squeeze the guac onto your food or plate.  

Variations: Great on meat, chicken, veggies, or eggs. It takes everything to the next level. Guacamole should be enjoyed with breakfast foods, lunch foods, snack foods, and dinner foods!

Pros: Avocado is a practically a superfood. A measured amount means controlling portions and calories is easy. Vacuum sealed packets keep it fresh and green. Just enough salt and peppery zing. 100 calories is more than you expect. As you can see in the above picture, it's quite a little blob of awesome.
Cons: More expensive than making your own, but still not bad. Garlicy...

Enjoy!

Broccoli and cheddar soup from Fresh&Easy

What to get: a tub of Broccoli & cheddar soup 
Where to get it: Fresh&Easy Market

Why we approve: Because it's a pain in the butt to make your own? NO! Broccoli and cheddar is a super easy soup to make, yet we are all about saving you time here. On a day when you are a meal survivor, you have no time for making your own. This one has great texture, amazing taste and hardly has any added ingredients, that we don't approve of. It has real cheese and real cream.  From a weight loss or maintenance perspective this is a great central dish to your meal: it  has 260 calories per cup, and 14 grams of protein.

You can serve with some hard boiled eggs or fresh mozzarella cheese or turkey breast on the side and you will have a very satisfying meal. 

 

Preparation: open the package, measure out your desired amount and place it in a pot. Add 1/4 cup of water for each cup of soup - I feel that it needs a bit of thinning, it's super thick. Use the microwave instructions from the package ;) 

Variations: Serve this soup with a couple of extra slices of turkey, leftover chicken, hard boiled eggs, mozzarella cheese. You can also add some spinach or arugula leaves while heating it up to spike the greens content.

Note: This soup really goes bad close to expiration date. I find this to be the best testimony for real ingredients and no nasty preservatives :)

Pros: great taste at a reasonable price, saves time and it's very filling. They have a 2 for 6 dollar special right now, so it's very well priced. The taste is better than you would expect from anything store bought. You could eat this cold in the office along your hard boiled eggs.

Cons: This soup has a bit more sodium than some of you may be comfortable with. Make sure you eat your fruits and veggies that day, and drink plenty of fluids. 

My overall rating of this soup is very positive ;) Give it a shot!

Bon apetit!

Beef and barley soup from Fresh and Easy

What to get: a tub of Beef and Barley soup
Where to get it: Fresh&Easy Market

 

Why we approve: This soup is a winner in a few departments: it's thick and extremely satisfying, it's a recipe that takes forever to make at home and it's super delicious. From a weight loss or maintenance perspective this is a great central dish to your meal: it only has 110 calories per cup, and 8 grams of protein. Double the serving and you have 16 grams of protein - not too bad. They put kale in there, which adds texture, and the barley is not a lot but proves that we love the childhood memory of this soup, because it's fun to chew on. There are not huge chunks of beef in there, so you can fix that by adding some slices of roast beef on the side. 

Preparation: open the package, measure out your desired amount and place it in a pot. Add 1/4 cup of water for each cup of soup - I feel that it needs a bit of thinning. For those of you microwave loving folk, I am sure a microwave instruction is on the package - I personally have no clue how to heat anything in a microwave.

 

Variations: Serve this soup with a couple of extra slices of roast beef, and why not some leftover chicken or pork. You can even add some crisp bacon bits if your diet permits. Grate cheese on top? Why not! I have a feeling that you can add some precooked quinoa or barley and thicken it up with a more solid carbohydrate source if you have had a very active day. Feel like more greens? Add a cup of spinach leaves and a bit more water while you are heating it.

Note: I found this soup to be a bit salty. Roland said it was not salty enough. At 300 mg of sodium per cup I don't think in needs any extra.

Pros: great taste at a reasonable price, saves time and it's very filling. They have a 2 for 6 dollar special right now, so it's very well priced. The taste is better than you would expect from anything store bought. The ingredients are mostly good. You could eat this cold in the office - maybe along some string cheese :)

Cons: There is no telling what the natural flavoring in there is. Well, those are the risks of a grab on the drive home meal - it's a small amount, so I would not sweat it.

Bon apetit!