For Capt. M’s birthday party we cheated and served frozen lasagna. Sometimes things have to give in life and I have learned that I can easily get overwhelmed. Frozen lasagna saved the day as I had little time to prep food since I was working on decorations and party games.
Michael Angelo’s asked me to do a lasagna challenge. They are so confident in their frozen lasagna that they felt comfortable having me test it against Stouffer’s and Marie Callendar’s. Of course, I had the perfect taste testers too!
I had one issue- I had a hard time getting my hands on a Michael Angelo’s Lasgana. I checked the store finder on the Michael Angelo’s website and found that Walmart and Harris Teeter carry the products. The problem that I ran into was that the shelf was empty at the two stores I went too. I guess their lasagna is that good that it is flying off the shelf! Since I was shopping just before the party, I decided to substitute the Michael Angelo’s Eggplant Parmesan. Yes, I know it’s not the same as lasagna but I was in a pinch.
So, for the party I served Stouffer’s Family Size Lasagna With Meat Sauce, Marie Callender’s Multi-Serve Three Meat and Four Cheese Lasagna and Michael Angelo’s Eggplant Parmesan.
The Michael Angelo’s Eggplant Parmesan was a favorite! My sister-in-law exclaimed “It tastes like homemade!” But since this was not a fair comparison to the lasagnas, I had people rate their favorite lasagna. Hands down out of seven people they all preferred the Stouffer’s Lasagna over the Marie Callender’s Lasagna. The Stouffer’s looked more appealing and it had more flavor.
A few days later I went to yet another store to find the Michael Angelo’s Lasagna in stock. Oh yes! So hubby, the boys and I ate the Michael Angelo’s Lasagna and tried to compare it to the Stouffer’s in my memory. The first thing I noticed is the texture of the Michael Angelo’s noodles. They were cooked just right and nor overdone and mushy like the Stouffeer’s or Marie Callender’s lasagnas. The color of the sauce was also red unlike the orange color of Stouffer’s. Hubby and I both thought the Michael Angelo’s lasagna tasted like homemade. You can also see that the other lasgana’s were very messy and the Michael Angelos actually stayed together! The sauce was thicker and had more meat.
Nutrition Comparison:
Click on the images below to enlarge.
Michael Angelo’sThe sodium levels in all of the lasagnas immediately caught my eye. Michael Angelo’s has the lowest sodium at 500mg where Marie Callendar’s has the highest at 800mg. All of the lasagna’s had 290 calories per serving but Michael Angelo’s has only 90 calories from fat compared to 110 for the others. The one other big difference was Michael Angelo’s has the most cholesterol at 60mg while the other two are at 35mg. I am not sure why there is such a big discrepancy.
Overall, we really enjoyed Michael Angelo’s products. I will definitely serve them to my family again! If you have ever dreamed of going to Italy, make sure you enter the Michael Angelo’s Trip to Italy contest!
What is your favorite frozen lasagna brand? I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: I was provided a gift card in order to purchase the lasagna’s for review purposes. All opinions expressed are mine.
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