#FitKitchen by Stouffers [ Review ]

Steak Fajita Shown

Eating healthy is not one of my, how you say, strong characteristics. Being a father of six kids, I make the excuse of not having enough time for myself or the energy to put back into my well being.  I can drink a Monster Energy Drink or multiple Dr Pepper's a day and not feel bad about it.

Heck, I'm even wearing a Dr Pepper shirt as I type this.

I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I do drink coffee occasionally, but the caffeinated sodas are my weakness.   

Also being the cook of the family, and always trying to beat the clock for bath, bedtime or softball practice, I make the meals that's easiest and most cost efficient to feed a huge family.  There's Spaghetti Monday's and Spaghetti Leftover Tuesdays.  Taco Tuesdays on Wednesdays.  Something with Chicken on Thursdays and Little Caesars on Friday's.  

It's just the way it is. 

My wife is the one who keeps saying we need to eat healthier.  I don't disagree with her, it's just when I buy "healthy" I usually can only end up getting a third of what I could get buying what I normally do at the store.  It's a tough situation and like I said, it's just the way it is in our big family on our income.

Because of this, I need a wingman and I was excited to be chosen as a Brand Ambassador for a new line of healthy meals created by Stouffer's  [ Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest ] with their FitKitchen series of meals.

Now I occasionally stop by the frozen food section to pick up some frozen dinners for lunch at work.  They're never Stouffer's brand foods.  Mainly because I sacrifice quality of food for the price of food.  I'll get the brands that cost less than a dollar that just fill me up to not be hungry until I get home.  Now I never go, "Hot Dang!! That's some good chicken fried steak from Brand X", because it's usually really sad.  But it's just one of the things I've grown accustomed to in a large family.

Before I reviewed the products, I couldn't remember the last time I had anything Stouffer's.  It could have been some frozen lasagna.  Or the frozen lasagna could have been the cheaper store brand kind.  And so based off my past experience with frozen food, while excited to be a Brand Ambassador, I didn't quite know what to expect.

Fit Kitchen offers six protein-packed meal options made with modern flavors and whole food ingredients:

• STEAK FAJITA in smoked red chile sauce with a mix of red & green peppers and seasoned brown rice
• CILANTRO LIME CHICKEN white meat chicken with a black bean & corn mix, seasoned brown rice and a verde tomatillo sauce
• ROTISSERIE SEASONED TURKEY with a mix of diced red skin sweet potatoes & green beans
• MONTEREY CHICKEN with diced red skin & sweet potatoes, lightly buttered green beans with BBQ style sauce
• BOURBON STEAK with chipotle mashed sweet potatoes, seasoned broccoli & red peppers

I happened to be with my mother-in-law when I was picking up the products and I read to her the different entrees. Now my mother-in-law is Hispanic and we're from San Antonio. So we take our Mexican food very seriously here and no company in Ohio is going to replicate a Mexican food plate as authentic as they do in San Antonio. So she tells me..

Don't get any Mexican food plates, the one's we have aren't very good.
 - Nana

I let her know, it's okay if I have a varying opinion on the product and can say I don't like it if that's the case. 

I end up picking up the FitKitchen Steak Fajita and the FitKitchen Bourbon Steak.

I thought about putting the Bourbon Steak back and get my wife one of the chickens for her to try out (since she's the healthy one), but I was selfish and wanted it all for myself.

I tried the Steak Fajita first.

I even warmed up a couple of flour tortillas to go with it just to try and make it as authentic as possible. the Steak Fajita comes in smoked red chile sauce with a mix of red and green peppers and seasoned brown rice. From past experience with "TV Dinners", I always remember the "Mexican rice" being real tomatoey and not very good.  I was also concerned the steak would be tough.

Well my first bite in threw all those negative experiences out the window and over the back fence into the street behind myself into oncoming traffic.  The steak itself was tender and flavorful as was the rice. 

No "real tomatoey" flavor at all!!!

It was especially delicious on the warmed flour tortilla.

Me finishing the last bite

Rosco cleaning out the rest.

The next day it was Bourbon Steak time.

No tortillas needed on this one.  Also, reservations about the quality of the steak were no longer a concern because they were still getting run over in the street behind my house after the Steak Fajita.

The Bourbon Steak comes with chipotle mashed sweet potatoes, seasoned broccoli and red peppers..

I made the mistake of eating this in front of my five year old daughter.

Being a Brand Ambassador's Daughter Has It's Privileges 

She took a break from playing the Wii U to taste the food and volunteer as my WingDaughter.  While she wasn't a fan of the potatoes, she did really enjoy the steak and the broccoli. She even made the following statement...

When I get in Kindergarten, I want to have this as my lunch.
 - Emma (age 5)

BOOM!!!

Great job Stouffer's. 

I even had my wife try it.  She's not a steak person, but she thought the steak was nice and tender and was very tasty.  She also didn't care for the potatoes.  The potatoes did seem a little off.  It could be they are sweet potatoes and we don't eat those as a family so we're not used to them. Yet other than that, the meal was just as great as the Steak Fajita.

The meals cost right under $4.00.  It's not unreasonable for a good healthy meal.  Stouffer's Fit Kitchen uses quality ingredients which are freshly made and simply frozen for your convenience.  You can check out their website for nutritional information.

I have partnered with Life of Dad and STOUFFER's for this promotion and review.  I have received product and compensation for my participation, but the opinions are my own.