The Pot Roast Frozen Dinner Walmart Shoppers Say Gets The Texture Just Right

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Few things in the culinary world are more comforting than a nice slow-cooked pot roast – the tender chunks of beef, savory gravy, and the soft and delicious carrots, celery, and potatoes that go perfectly with all the tasty seasonings. It's pretty easy to make on your own by allowing a boneless rump to simmer in the slow cooker for several hours.

But if you need a last-minute dinner option — and don't have the time to get out the slow cooker — a frozen pot roast meal isn't a bad choice. And, thankfully, one well-known frozen meal brand seems to have figured out how to perfect a home-cooked meal like this one. Marie Callender's Slow Roasted Beef Pot Roast Bowl comes in an 11-ounce portion at Walmart for less than $3. The meal includes USDA Choice beef (the most common of the top beef grades), hearty potatoes, and farm-grown vegetables in a scratch-made gravy. It's not a huge portion, as several reviews point out, so you might need a few if you're serving a family. But it's hard to beat the price, and the customer ratings are outstanding as well.

One reviewer on Walmart starts with, "I'm pretty picky about frozen dinners, especially those with meat in them." But, after tasting, they changed their mind on this Marie Callender's meal. "The beef tastes and feels like real beef and the veggies are great as well. I love the overall flavor but the gravy makes it taste really good." The brand's claims about this meal's texture and flavor seem to hold up when you consider that review — along with the many other positive takes. 

Overall, Walmart customers give Marie Callender's Slow Roasted Beef Pot Roast Bowl a 4.4 rating out of 5, with over 6,000 reviews. Another Walmart customer says, "Tastes almost like homemade pot roast. It was absolutely delicious!! The meat was pretty good size pieces and very tender and tasty! The texture was great, the potatoes were fork tender, not mushy. Carrots and celery were good too!" A different reviewer gives this meal the ultimate compliment by saying, "As good as my own mom's and Grandma's pot roasts!" Now, that's high praise. Amazon customers seem to agree, as this frozen meal has a 4.4 rating there.

The meal is also incredibly easy to make. The package instructions say to microwave it for a total of about six minutes on high, or in a conventional oven (no toaster oven) at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for around 50 to 55 minutes. While both methods will warm your meal just fine, an oven has the ability to brown the food better and add more texture.

This isn't the only meal offered by Marie Callender's. The brand has a wide range of options, from pot pies and family-size dinners to multi-serve meals and even desserts. If the pot roast is any indication, Marie Callender's might have a few other hits like this: a quick and easy meal that tastes almost homemade. Frozen meals tend to get a bad rap — and no one claims this is Julia Child-level pot roast. But for the price and the overall quality, this is hard to beat.