IT'S CHICKEN LICKIN' GOOD, FOLKS! (Heinz Weight Watchers Chicken Hotpot)

Member Name: totalserenity

Product:	Heinz Weight Watchers Chicken Hotpot
Date:	03/04/09 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: QUICK, CONVENIENT HOTPOT TASTY, HEALTHY FOOD FIX FOR THE HUNGRY DIETER.

Disadvantages: NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH TUMMY-FILLING VEGGIES WITHIN IT...

Had to write about my most much-loved frozen ready meal of Weight Watchers from Heinz - it's been an old tried and tested must-have favourite of mine, plus its chicken lickin' good, folks!

As some of you will know I'm a Weight Watchers Gold member, but what I've not mentioned until now is that this is my third, and to date, most successful goal weight achievement.

Now for those of you - like myself, who sweat through just about every dirty rotten diet plan on the market will know, 'extreme healthy eating purgatory' as I not-so-fondly call it, can be excruciatingly difficult.
Depravation of any means can be soul destroying, but when it's literally means doing without life-sustaining sustenance by limiting the intake of certain foodstuffs (especially the good stuff like butter, chocolate, cream, and the fatty, tasty like... *sob*), it can be a horrific experience to go through.

Been there, done it, got the skinny fit t-shirt; thus I'm all for finding tasty lower fat alternatives for substantial tummy-warming, filling meals - so this succulent baby definitely comes under that banner, dear dooyoo'ers!

Finding this 'Chicken Hotpot' offering from Weight watchers many, many moons ago was an absolute godsend as it's delicious and satisfying, meaty and chunky too...bit like my lovely boyfriend really, bless him!

Obviously found in the freezer section of any good frozen food outlet, the box provides the vital information on the front us avid points followers require - 4 ½ points which equates to 274 calories per 320 gram helping.

Quoting 'less than 3% fat' that's a great achievement for what is, in effect, a decent sized portion of "food, glorious food"!

The box itself is the usual rich purple colour, which has come to be synonymous with many Weight Watchers products of late - with a photo of what promises to be a luscious-looking vegetable and chicken stew strewn amongst a thick, creamy sauce.
Prices on these packs can vary, usually around the £1.49 mark, although they do appear on Special Offer from time to time, so I generally stock up on my 'standby' grub at that time...

Containing 'crispy parmentier potatoes' which top the hotpot nicely off, it looks mighty fine, folks!

So let's get to the nitty gritty then, shall we? Heinz tell us on the outer packaging there are no artificial colours or hydrogenated fats; the actual fat content is 8.8 gram of which 3.3 grams is of saturated fat, plus it contains 12% chicken along with 23% potatoes, carrots, peas and mushrooms equalling another 11% of the total content.
Of course you have the usual flavouring such as onions, maltodextrin , vegetable oil, chicken fat and bouillon, herbs and the like and skimmed milk powder that contributes towards the creamy sauce...

As with most of their ready-to-cook straight from the freezer products, Heinz inform us on the side of the pack we can either nuke it for either 7 or 8 minutes depending on the power of your microwave, or it can be cooked in the oven for 40-45 minutes on gas mark 6, or equivalent. The meal comes within a plastic tray that one needs to remove the thin cellophane-type sealed cover off first before cooking.

Considering I only use this type of meal as an emergency standby after a busy day, or a late night weigh-in at my dieting class, it goes straight in the good old microwave with a: 'Wham, Bam, thank you Ma'am'!

Here's the important bit of course - the taste, satisfaction, texture, and so forth.

Firstly, I have to say I absolutely love this particular offering due to the rich, creamy nature of the delicious sauce, yummy!

Secondly, the amount of succulent pieces of tasty, nutritious and lean chicken breast pieces are pretty darned reasonable in my book.
On average I'd say you get about half a dozen decent bite-sized chunks, with the taste of the lovely sauce permeated within the firm texture of the meat.

Thirdly, the vegetables are a bit of a let down though - not at all like on the box! You tend to find a smattering of bits and pieces of mushrooms, a few peas and carrots that, to be honest, are not the best I think that could be incorporated within such a meal. 'Frugal' is the word I'm searching for here.

'Could do Better', a befitting food report would say!

Weight Watchers constantly encourage us to eat more 'free' food to fill up with - veggies being a huge part of that healthy eating ethos, and yet they are more than a tad mean with their inclusion of the healthy tummy fillers.

That aside, the 'parmentier' potatoes are just heavenly!

I can best describe them as miniature roast potatoes, and just as scrumptious and crunchy as their larger, more fattening versions. In fact it feels almost decadent to be eating both a luscious creamy sauce 'and' golden mini roasties too for less than 5 points for the whole, aromatic lot!

This isn't a spicy dish, nor is it overpowering; but that's why I like it. I feel as though I am actually eating 'real food' as it's quite filling, especially when accompanied with lots of free vegetables to pad out the plate.

As a main course it is very satisfying, if you enjoy the contents of the pack of course!

There is plenty of creamy sauce to soak any extra food in you may choose to add, I tend to have broccoli florets, baby sweetcorn and maybe sweet potatoes all thrown into a steamer just before I cook the hotpot - but the choice of added extras is yours really.

In my opinion though, if you were to have this as your main meal you would have to add to it in some way.

However, one of this classic's all time bonuses is that it already contains your potato carbohydrates included in the calories, leaving you hopefully enough points afterwards for a truly luxurious dessert...Mmmm....


Top Tip
*******
If, like me, you are ravenous by mid-evening, therefore are cooking the chicken hotpot as a speedy and nutritious fill-me-up-quick-fix, then tip the heated contents onto a cold plate - it will cool a lot faster than leaving it in those awful plastic trays, plus it will feel like you're having a 'proper' meal too. :o)

Summary: MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE WEIGHT WATCHERS READY MEAL FOR AN AMAZINGLY LOW POINT VALUE!