Wanchai Ferry Complete Meals for Two. Orange Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Spicy Garlic Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Szechuan Style Chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, Sweet & Spicy Shrimp, and Beef & Broccoli. $7.99 to $8.49 per 24-ounce frozen package.
Bonnie: I had very low expectations for these frozen alternatives to Chinese takeout. Wanchai Ferry frozen meal kits include chicken, shrimp or beef, noodles or jasmine rice, sauce and veggies that you can turn into dinner in about 14 minutes. Just cook the chicken, shrimp or beef in a skillet, then set aside; cook the sauce and veggies, and return the chicken, shrimp or beef to the skillet to simmer in the sauce while cooking the rice or noodles in the microwave.
Yes, these are way too salty, but so is most Chinese takeout. (Sweet & Sour Chicken has the least, with 850 milligrams; Shrimp Lo Mein the most, with a whopping 1,770 milligrams.) My main complaint is that these contain too much sauce and not enough veggies: two problems easily solved by adding your own extra vegetables. With grilled asparagus or steamed broccoli, carrots or cauliflower added, I found these quite acceptable — although at $8 a bag, you probably shouldn't have to add anything.
Carolyn: General Mills' relationship with Wanchai Ferry dates back to 1997, when the Pillsbury company that General Mills eventually acquired expanded its international dough business by hooking up with a Hong Kong dumpling company. Wanchai Ferry got its name and start from the Hong Kong pier where Kin Wo Chong sold Chinese dumplings from a wooden cart.
These frozen Wanchai Ferry meals are an improvement over the shelf-stable Wanchai Ferry meal kits General Mills introduced in 2007, as you need to add only oil and water. Cooked separately in the microwave, Wanchai Ferry noodles and rice also retain their texture, which is a big improvement on skillet meals where everything is cooked together.
Wanchai Ferry's authentic origins show in these dishes' intensely flavored sauces. The Spicy Garlic Chicken is actually too spicy hot; the heat is only an undercurrent to basil in my favorite, Shrimp Lo Mein.
Ads for these say that these offer "restaurant quality Chinese without the restaurant" — and in general, I agree, including in one way I've never liked: Wanchai Ferry and many Chinese restaurants batter the protein in many of their dishes, adding a lot of calories without significantly improving the taste.
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Vanilla Grahams Snacks. $2.19 per 6.6-ounce bag.
Bonnie: Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Grahams snack cookies followed the iconic cheese crackers by almost five decades. Vanilla is the latest flavor. All the grahams are made with whole-wheat flour as their primary ingredient and contain 1 gram of fiber — both good things. These cute little fish are also modest in sugars for a cookie; the vanilla contains only 7 grams per 50 mini-fish, 1-ounce serving. Compare that to the 12 grams in Bordeaux, one of Pepperidge Farm's plainer cookies for adults.
But if I'm at all typical, even adults should enjoy nibbling on these not-too-sweet, whole-wheat kid treats, and can feel good about doing so.
Carolyn: You've got to feel sorry for kids: We get Double Chocolate Milanos; they get just barely indulgent Goldfish Grahams (a fish-shaped clone of the Teddy Grahams that preceded them). These new vanilla-flavor Goldfish Grahams taste like Barnum's Animal Crackers, the just barely indulgent kids cookie from an even older age, though with a grainy-graham overlay.
In other words, these are quite good if you haven't yet experienced some of the Pepperidge Farm cookie line's more indulgent offerings.
Kraft Philadelphia Mini Tubs. Plain, Chive & Onion, Strawberry, and Reduced-Fat Plain. $1.79 for four 1.5-ounce snap-apart mini containers.
Bonnie: These mini tubs contain "cream cheese spread," not the cream cheese found in the traditional brick, nor the variety that is whipped with added air. Spreads, according to a Kraft spokesperson, contain more moisture and have an added preservative to prevent mold and increase shelf life. When packaged in full-size tubs, this product is sold as Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Soft.
That product retails for about 26 cents an ounce depending on the size tub purchased. These 80- to 100-calorie individual portions cost almost twice as much.
Yes, convenience comes at a price, but it just might be worth it if you like cream cheese and are traveling.
Carolyn: Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a late but welcome guest to supermarkets' individual-serving-size party. Weight Watchers has been selling single-serving cups of reduced-fat cream cheese spread for a number of years. But Philadelphia offers a wider variety of flavors — full-fat Plain, Strawberry, Chive & Onion and Reduced-Fat Plain — in a smaller package size. For Philadelphia, you need only invest $1.80 for four mini-tubs at a time, instead of $3.60 for eight Weight Watchers cups.
Both lines are great for keeping your cream cheese consumption to a reasonable amount (although individually packaged whipped cream cheese would be even better for that). With most bagel shops charging a dollar per bagel smear, the appeal of these 45-cent tubs extends to on-the-go penny-pinchers, as well.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. She has an interactive site (www.biteofthebest.com) about products she recommends. Follow her on Twitter: BonnieBOTB. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book" (Running Press). Each week they critique three new food items.