Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Lean Pockets Ham and Cheddar

Meatballs and Mozzarella, Pepperoni Pizza, and Ham & Cheddar

I was convinced recently by one of my co-workers to give Lean Pockets another chance. We had reviewed two of these some time back and my criteria for choosing them was that they have some veggies in them. Neither of those were any good at all - in fact they were pretty terrible. But they are popular so here’s another try at them.

This time I went for the three popular flavors without regard to whether they were ideal or not -- Meatballs and Mozzarella, Ham and Cheddar and Pepperoni Pizza.

The first two tasted were the Meatballs and Mozzarella and the Pepperoni Pizza. This wasn’t intentional, it just worked out that way. Both suffer from the main problem with Lean Pockets, a chewy crust and a very high dough to filling ratio (too much dough and too little filling). The crust isn’t awful but it’s not all that great, and the microwave just makes it even more doughy. This is in spite of little “browning sleeves” that come with the lean pockets that are designed to help crisp up the outside.

The little bit of filling in the Meatballs version as well as the Pepperoni Pizza just makes this worse. The fillings are predictable for frozen food and if there weren’t little tiny meatballs in the Meatballs and Mozzarella to give it some texture, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between these two. They taste exactly alike. Bland, typical, boring and doughy.

There was some surprise in the Ham and Cheddar. The filling to crust ratio is a little better and the ham has a smoked flavor. The cheese melted well and overall this just barely gets a Dr. Gourmet thumbs up.

That said, there are so many better choices in the freezer case including Amy’s Black Bean Burrito and Lean Cuisine Paninis. Here are all the Dr. Gourmet reviews.

Reviewed: May 16, 2008