The worst meal I have had so far is the SWEDISH MEATBALLS. They were really bad and can't think of any way to make them better. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be interested, but it would have to be really great for me to purchase this again.

I couldn't agree more! I had the pan pizza today for the first time and was VERY disappointed! I actually said out loud, "Where's the sauce?!"

you can saute some fresh mushrooms and add the Swedish meatballs to that? and also a tablespoon of Fat free sour cream? I don't mind them really .........

The only thing I've had that I truly disliked is the salmon - ICK!

I like the potstickers, but not the rice that goes with them.

And not a fan of the soups...

The chicken sandwich (with mustard sauce) was gross, I didn't even eat it. I'm extremely picky about meat, I don't eat beef or most pork-products, and I'm very picky about the type of chicken I will eat. I took one look at the chicken patty, then nibbled the end, and spit it out. I threw that item away...YUCK! They said that was a chicken breast...but it sure didn't look or taste like one!

My one dislike so far is the homestlye chicken with noodles. Why don't they just call it what it is, chicken noodle soup?

Hi Everyone,
I am so happy to find this thread! Everyone at the JC center RAVES about all of the food. I don't want to hurt their feelings but:
I do not care for the following (and I am on week two of the program):

Sunshine breakfast sandwich
I will try this again this week as it is on my menu (I will make my own salsa, though!)

Stuffed chicken sandwich
Totally gross! I threw it away and at twice as much salad and got myself bloated! Would do it again in a hearbeat to avoid touching this one again

Macaroni and cheese
Truthfully, I don't like the stuff, period.

Salmon:
In a word, horrific.

The salad kits were too scary for me and I have opted out of them!


Now for the foods I enjoy:
1. The morning cereals! I was pleasantly surprised!

2. Cheese enchiladas and the burrito
(Arriba!)

3. Lemon cake
Lovely!

4. Rotini and meatballs: just like spaghetti O's from my childhood
Why did I EVER stop eating them ha ha ha

5. Meatball stuffed sandwich, mmmm

6. Finally, I LOVE the anytime bar in peanut butter. Reminds me of a chewer version of the Tiger Milk bards

Happy eating!
Knievel

I had the stuffed chicken sandwich today and loved it! Funny.

Breakfast sandwich. was the worst thing I eat on jc. Will even eat the agian. I didn't care for the salman, but I anly had it once, so I will try agian and see if i can dr-it-up a little.

oh, the anytime bars.

I enjoyed reading this post and I am a newbie. Doesn't scare me at all. I know there are some things I won't eat--not from anything I read here, but because they are things I don't eat..such as meatball sandwiches or swedish meatballs. I LOVED the chicken sandwich and am looking forward to my Hawiian chicken salad kit tomorrow. I think the Anytime bars are extremely tasty, but did not like the chicken rosemary soupitizer. It's all a matter of taste and wouldn't this world be boring if we all liked and disliked the same things!

Just thought I would chime in again on this thread and note that you can always "Personalize" JC foods to suit your individual tastes. When I first started I had several foods that I had a problem with but after awhile I learned to add fresh herbs, spices and veggies to totally change the taste of my JC meals. I even learned to use the salad kits that I hated so much at first. (I dump the can on a veggie and mixed greens salad and mix it in. Ain't bad!) I think it would be better to share ideas on "Doctoring" and seasoning up JC foods. We all love variety in our menus so maybe with some minor changes foods we didn't like at first will become an option again.

SHELF FOODS ARE HORRIBLE AND A WASTE OF MONEY.....STICK WITH THE FREEZER FOODS!

I agree with you, other than the turkey chilie. I don't think I will order anymore shelf food, for now. I don't see how JCD people can eat them every day.

I had the Swedish Meatballs with Noodles yesterday and I won't be ordering them until I get really bored with the other lunch entrees. It was very bland. I guess bland it better than having a bad taste though.

Rebecca, thank -you for your suggestion. I am on JC Direct. Do you know how much the cookbbok is
? I live in Newport News VA. and the closest center is 40 miles away in Va. Beach. I have read all comments on this Post and yours was the most insightful and very helpful. Thank-you. I started the program yesterday, and so far so good. I am blessed that my parents are paying for this weight loss venture. I am sticking with the program, and staying 110% focused! I have too! I am loosing weight for: 1.Myself 2. To look and feel better 3. Health reasons 4. I am getting married for the first time this year and I want to look pretty and look slim.
Tell me about yourself>Where do you live>Are you married,kids>What do you do for a living>
How long have you been on the program,do you like it? My name is Christine my e-mail is : cmmccnn@yahoo.com It is nice to met new people and become friends. I will you add you on as a new friend if you aren't interested,I respect that. Have a good day!

The Pasta Fagioli is not frozen and is soooooooooooo good!!!!

The shelf food creeps me out. It has to have Huge amount of preservatives to last without refrigeration and they seem somewhat gelatinous. I really only like the frozen food and ironically it is the most expensive. I think they plan it that way.

I'm still new at this... At the end of my second week, and I must agree that the chicken salad kit was horrible. It was oily, and tastless. I noticed that I had to keep wiping the oil off my lips which to me was just so gross. Further, I was not satisfied with the meal and was very hungry afterwards. Other than that, I am not a "sweet" eater, and I find that I cannot handle all the sweet snacks. I even got a sugar zit from this diet, which I haven't gotten in years. I will have to talk to my counselor about that.

The Chicken Rosemary Soupitizer is the only thing I have tried that I will NEVER buy again--totally not something I could gag down!

Well, guess it had to happen sooner or later--today for lunch was the turkey chili--two bites was all I could handle--it was awful!! Any ideas on how to doctor it up? I added hot sauce--didn't help.

I threw away and went hungry when I had the chicken stuffed sandwich (gross!)
Additions to the horrid list include:
Soups: Wedding soup, tomato soup, Mxican tortilla soup
Chicken a noodles (actually "slimy")
Salad kits (looks like a cat coughed the stuff up)


Double ugh!

I can't stomach the tuna salad. I choked it down beacuse I was at work and that's all I had to eat! I like the Swedish Meatballs! Go figure.

Ok - almost done week one, using a planned menu, and have to say so far I am impressed. However I do not like:

Oatmeal Breakfast Bar
Chicken Carbonara (I volumized it but it was still tasteless)
The cheesy enchilada didnt impress me, and everyone told me it would be GREAT!
The soup was tasteless, I had to add salt and pepper, and I heard the soupatizers gross- so I havent bothered with them

Other than that I have been impressed, things i wouldnt normally eay actually taste not too shabby...

But I will say there is a consistent thread with the Tuna - so I think I am going to skip that one...

The most disgusting Jenny meals are:

1) Mashed potatoes (The mushroom sauce is sick + the potatoes don't stay moist like the ones
with the turkey dinner)

2) Homestyle Chicken with Noodles (I guess this must be popular in the midwest or something. Bland and not
very tasty)

3) Chicken Rosemary soup (Nobody likes this one. I'm glad to see two new soupitizers on the horizon)

4) Pesto Pizza - (Pizza wasn't meant to be microwaved. Mine turned out to be a cardboard dud)

5) Rotini with Meatballs (Can you say Spagehttio's. This loser meal brought back memories of canned
nightmare meals you had when your dad had to cook dinner!)

6) Swedish Meatballs (If an *** had an ***, it wouldn't smell as bad as this)



Happy eating

Add the cheese stuffed sandwich and the nasty rosemary soupetizer!

Boy, I would rather eat yesterday's trash than touch these items again!


Knievel

As a JCC, I try hard not to prejudice other people against the foods. Personally I would definitely get rid of a lot of the dry foods... but I LOVE the cookout style chicken! YUM! The salad kits work so well when I travel, too. I am grateful for the choices of (some of) the dry foods so I have an option of traveling with JC food.

I can honestly say there is only one thing that I could not even fathom more than one bite of, and that was the Oatmeal Breakfast Bar. I never expected that, so it really took me by surprise. I couldn't even force it!

I'm not crazy about the Sunshine Sandwich, but I got a bunch of great tips on here to try it other ways, so I might give it one more shot. Likewise with the popcorn. It was tough to get down, but I am willing to try it one more time with a few of the tips I've gotten here.

I've had a few shelf-stable items so far, and I don't hate them at all. I had the Southwest Chicken with Rice and Beans today, and rather liked it. I had the Chicken Pasta Parmesan yesterday, and it was OK. It was forgettable, but not unpleasant.

Two items on the rest of my planned menu this week are the chicken salad kit (which I'm going to put over romaine as someone suggested) and the Swedish Meatballs, so I'm keeping an open mind.

I just tend to love food, of all kinds, and especially the convenience food of my childhood. The chic/tuna salad kits? Kind of fun, reminding me eating vienna sausages on saltines. I also enjoy the chef boyardee collection of shelf-stable meals.

My worst is so far the fish and chips, given the incredible number if bones I had to pick out of my mouth. I'm also no big fan of the oatmeal square thing.

My worst is so far the fish and chips, given the incredible number if bones I had to pick out of my mouth


I eat the F&C about twice a week and have never had any bones. I think that it is the best dinner out there.

Also, how can anyone not like the popcorn? It's just regular popcorn. You don't like it because it's not drowning in butter?

It goes without saying that "to each his own." Anyone reading these who are new to JC, or unsure about an item, make sure to take these comments with a grain of salt. Taste is subjective, not objective. Try for yourself before forming your opinion.

That's all.

I love the oatmeal bar, but then I nibble on it with my latte in the morning. A small bite, then drink coffee and I'm happy. I didn't like several of the meals until I stopped microwaving them and used the oven. It made a big difference, esp for the fish and chips in stoneware pan! The salmon I only liked after cooking it in the oven. The same with the chicken and meatball sandwiches. Baked a a pizza stone in the oven, they are awesome!

The mystery shelf stable casserole dinners are the worst. Swedish meatballs, rotini, etc.

As far as the Oatmeal Breakfast bar goes, I rather like it--or did once I nuked it for about 20 seconds--it was warm and soft and full of gooey goodness.

I never thought of microwaving the oatmeal bar. I can't wait until my appt tomorrow so I can get more and try that. Have you done this to the Honey Oat bar also?

put the honey oat bar in the toaster oven on light setting or in the micro (I am not a big micro fan). Spread the top with raspberry preserves or ff cream cheese sweetened with a little splenda. Reminds me of carrot cake with the cream cheese.

I warm both of the breakfast bars, they're much better that way.

-The Chicken Pasta Parm. (it made me sick)

- The buscetta chips are a little too salty but, okay

everything else I have liked so far.

I am not on JC yet but I enjoyed reading this thread. I did Nutrisystem this past winter, yes can you believe it I lived to tell about it too! Anyway the funny thing is most of the foods mentioned here are the same foods people complain about on NS. Over there there is a huge thread about "cat food kits", soggy bland pasta dishes, crappy muffins, scary chicken and burgers and sad little pizzas. It just goes to show that some foods are really hard to get right when packaged.

Also in my experience with the NS shelf stable foods cooking on the stove top or in the oven was the key. Adding extra veggies, spices, and some fat free cheese and baking the pasta dishes covered a multitude of bland sins Adding extra veggies and broth to soups always worked well too.

I look forward to the time when I can try the JC foods

I've liked most of the things I've tried, except for:

Chicken Pasta Parm: Maybe it was because it was the last thing I ate before I got sick, but just thinking about it makes me gag.

Potato Soup: Mixed in cheese, made the texture worse.

Pancakes: I know it is weird, but I don't like them. The veggie sausage is ok, but the pancakes just don't work.

Potstickers: The dumplings are good, but I hate the aftertaste of the tofu, and since there is so much for it I couldn't pick around it and ended up hungry shortly after.

But other than that, everything is yummy!

I didn't like Chicken Tortilla soup.

I had one bad run-in with the Chicken Potstickers- the chicken/tofu/whatever's cubed outside the potsticker had a VERY funky taste. I'm afraid to have it again, but I definitely had one that didn't have that funky taste!

I don't care for the Brushetta chips either.

Generally, I have to say most of the food is pretty good. I have found that some things you really do need to add your own touches to, such as adding some additional sauce, herbs, limited fat free sour cream, etc. If I do that, then I pretty much like most things. The shelf foods definitely are not as tasty as the frozen foods, but they are much cheaper. Probably my least fave is the swedish meatballs.

I think for some things you just have to be cautious about how much additional salt you add to the meal. Packaged meals are generally high in salt content, and since salt causes you to gain water, it's best to minimize it.

I really appreciate this thread. It has definitely encouraged me to try some items that I thought I never would. I still have a few things to try in each category (on my fourth week with JC), but so far...

My least favorites:
Breakfast - Honey Oat Bar and Breakfast Burrito
Lunch - Chicken Tortilla Soup
Dinner - Potstickers (ugh...didn't like these at all)

My favorites:
Definitely more likes than dislikes
Breakfast - Silver Dollar Pancakes and Breakfast Scramble
Lunch - Meatball Stuffed Sandwich, Turkey Burger, Hawaiian Chicken Salad
Dinner - Fajitas, Cashew Chicken, Meatloaf

Ooops...forgot my snacks/desserts

Least Favorite:
Peanut Butter Bar

Favorites:
Lemon Cake, Cinnamon Twists, Veggie Chips

Without a doubt the worst item has to be the swedish meatballs, I could stand even one bite and I tried to eat them but just couldn't, the soup kits are bland and without any flavour and most of the pasta's are all sauce and no substance. I do like the lemon cake, turkey chili and macaroni and cheese. the pizza's weren't bad but very disappointing considering the cost. I don't buy them just because I feel like I'm being ripped off for my money.

I guess tastes really do differ... although I love the cheesy enchilada, I could eat the cat food kits every day! I dislike the anytime bars, mesquite chicken, the Modular soups, the salmon and the sweet and sour chicken - barf!

I love the fish and chips, meatloaf, either breakfast muffin, and of course the cat food kits. But hands the thing I look forward to most is the lemon cake! YUMMY!

The only thing I really can't eat is the French toast. So far, I've liked all of the rest - some more than others...

I'm new to the program (just finishing week 2). So far most of the food has been good.

The one I liked the Least - FISH AND CHIPS. I live on the coast of Connecticut about 1/4 mile from Long Island Sound. I'm not sure what part of the fish was in that meal but it certainly wasn't anything that I've seen before. YUCK!!!

I have only been on the program for 1 week for far... however, my least favorite food is definitely the cHicken salad kit........ ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!!!!!!!

It's funny how some of my favorites are other people's least favorites. My least favorite so far is the pizzas. I can't seem to get them right no matter how I fix them - too dry and not enough cheese of course.

I hear you, I'm from CT myself and I am not fond of the fish in the fish and chips.

it is funny- the different tastes people have- i could live on nothing but the french toast!!

also from new england but i really like the fish and chips but i tried the salmon tonight for the first time and i had to throw it away. it looked good, the texture was good but the fishy taste was just too much to handle.

and the anytime bars were a big waste- it was like chewing on sand i could barely swallow any of it.

also the mesquite chicken- i tried to like it- i heard so many others say they loved it ans i couldn't pinpoint what it was but i had to toss that one too.

( my advice: always make sure you have enough back up meals when you try something new- just in case!)

I just started on the program today, and had French toast for breakfast and LOVED it! Then came lunch...not so good. I had the Swedish Meatballs and have been getting sick ever since!! I only ate about 1/2-3/4 of the package and started feeling sick, but I guess it was too late! I hope the rest of the foods are better than that was..