Good and bad

People seem to be really divided on this and it's true this pre-cooked pasta takes a little getting used to if you're not sure what to expect, but personally, I was okay with it. It seems to me that if you tend to like ready meals that are salty or sweet and designed for fast meals (as my partner does) you will enjoy this pasta and if processed fast meals are always a little poor quality to you (me) you will not like it as much. If you're the kind of person who eats ready-meals, you will undoubtedly enjoy this. Those who eat 'real food' will find it salty and a little strange.

It's hard to describe what it's like, but the texture is not unlike canned pasta you might find from Chef Boyardee. It's soft and a bit limp, but not the way that over-cooked pasta is too soft. Because it's stored in oil, the texture is a bit odd before you add sauce. It has a flavor that is quite pleasant, and not very strong. I like my pasta al dente and by following the cooking instructions for al dente, it's a bit softer than I'd like. It tastes a bit like a cross between regular and whole wheat pasta. It does taste quite salty, if you're not used to a lot of salt it could be off-putting.

From a nutritional standpoint, this pasta has some upsides and some downsides. The good news is that a pack of this pasta (which enough for a big serving for one person, or as a side dish for two) comes with 40% of your daily fiber, and is only 400 calories. The downside is that it also has about 20% of your daily sodium, which is a bit higher than I would like from a product like this.

Preparing the pasta is as simple as you can imagine. You tear the top, microwave it for one minute, and it's done. You can also cook it in a skillet, but I can't imagine I would choose a much slower option like that, as it would also be messier. Once it's cooked, just tear off the top and add it to your sauce. In terms of convenience, it's pretty much the best thing to have in the kitchen. The tradeoff, of course, is the cost. A pack of six will cost you around 15$, which is a lot of money for six servings of pasta. If you're the kind of person who needs fast options for supper in the house, no matter the cost, I can see why this product would really appeal to you.

I personally am a bit more hesitant, as that seems like a lot of money to me for what you get. While I like the flavour and my partner really liked it, given the high level of salt and the overall cost, I feel three stars is fair. If it was cheaper I would recommend it much more heartily, but it's not that difficult to make regular pasta and it doesn't save that much time.