There is something innately comforting to me about Chef Boyardee products. I grew up eating them on cold winter days when I was a kid, and in particular was thrilled when my mom taught me how to open a can and heat it on the stove. I mean, it wasn’t like I was learning to cook, but it’s liberating to a kid knowing that he can heat up his own lunch (I’m dating myself here, but we didn’t own a microwave until the mid-’80s.

Anyway, Beef-a-roni is still awesome, and so are the raviolis and standard spaghetti and meatballs. But the one small drawback to some of these items is the lack of meat. Enter the Overstuffed Beef Ravioli. I mean, it’s not exactly premium beef here–I’m guessing it’s akin to ground chuck and/or the kind of ground meat used at Taco Bell. And it has fillers in it, but so do standard meatballs or the filling in your typical ravioli.

But I digress. The Overstuffed Beef Ravioli is delicious, and it really does have 25% more meat as promised, and it seems like even more than that. It’s also nice that it is doused in a rich meat sauce as well. Yum. And Chef Boyardee’s tomato sauce is really tasty, and always has been. For you guys who need some quick meals to have on hand and do not have time to make something from scratch or even from a box, you should keep a few cans of this meaty pasta in your pantry.

One word of advice though–one can equals two servings, and that equals 500 calories. If you are not watching your waistline (and I’m guessing most of you that are reading this are not), and you like meat, this is some good stuff right here. You done well, Chef!

I am not sure when Campbell’s bought Franco American, but I just had some Spaghettios for the first time in years and the flavor has not changed one bit–it’s comfort food to the Nth degree, no matter when or where you grew up. I’ll be honest, though, I originally was going to review the ones with sliced hot dogs and those hot dog slices were pretty disgusting so I didn’t finish the dish or the review.

But the one with mini-meatballs is delicious. And let’s face it, it can’t be easy to make processed meatballs taste real, and these do have that canned food meatball thing going on, but they still taste real enough not to be considered mystery meat (I think). And with ground pork being the first meat ingredient, the flavor is a bit milder than all-beef meatballs.

As for the pasta rings, they were done about to the degree you’d expect for canned pasta, but those and the familiar mild tomato sauce with a slightly cheesy taste is still really great. Of course, at 480 calories a can (who’s going to eat half a can?), it’s a pretty hefty calorie binge for lunch. But still worth a once-in-a-while binge at that.

A few weeks ago, I posted my Grub for Guys chili recipes. But if I have to eat chili from the can, it’s almost always going to be Hormel Chili. I mean, right on the can, it says, “Since 1891.” Holy crap, they’ve been making chili for 120 years and in three differet centuries.

And being that they make several different kinds of chili, I thought we’d review a few of them on our “A Can A Week” feature. This week it’s Hormel Hot Chili with Beans. Hot as in spicy, and when the word “HOT” is almost as big as the “Hormel Chili,” you sure expect at least three chili peppers on a scale of 1 to 5. I’m going to give it about a 3.5 there–I love spicy food, and this chili is maybe one of the spicier canned foods you’ll find, but it’s not like I was reaching for a glass of milk after each spoonful, or even water. I’d say, though, that it’s just the right amount of heat, so as not to overpower the chili.
The heat also creeps up on you a bit, like a swift kick in the back of your throat.

Flavorwise, you really can’t beat Hormel Chili, and this one is no exception. There is a real depth of chili flavor, with tomatoes being there but more in the background. The bean to beef ratio is about 50/50, and pretty decent for a can of chili.

If you eat the whole can (and just like with last week’s Chef Boyardee review, why wouldn’t you?), you’re ingesting 520 calories…but you’re also talking 32 grams of protein and 14 grams of fiber. So no, Hormel Chili may not be classified as health food, but it’s got some nice nutritional value too. And as I write this, I’m FULL and may not eat until dinner time.

So if it’s been a while since you’ve tried Hormel, or if you haven’t tasted the Hot Chili with Beans, go check it out and see if you agree with this assessment. And now, time for a nap (well, not literally).

Next for the Hormel line, we’ll review their Turkey Chili.