The Worst Frozen Pot Roast Dinner We Tried Is Also The Cheapest

The numerous pot roast recipes we supply prove that it's a comfort meal that most of us could eat on repeat. But if you can't spare the time and effort to make pot roast from scratch, we found a few frozen options for a convenient and quick fix to satisfy your cravings. We tasted and ranked different frozen pot roast dinners, according to flavor, texture, nutrition, and price. The worst we tried was Smart Ones Homestyle Beef Pot Roast.

While Smart Ones Homestyle Beef Pot Roast is the cheapest, it's low price doesn't compensate for subpar flavor and texture. We were hopeful as this dinner comes with a wealth of veggies, including onions, carrots, green beans, and potatoes, and is dotted with large chunks of beef. However, the first bad sign came with the foul aroma that emanated from the microwave when heating it up. It only went downhill from there. The vegetables were lackluster, with only the green beans maintaining a tender crunch, whereas the potatoes and carrots were a puddle of mush. The gravy that was supposed to bring flavor to the veggies and meat was bland, and there was barely enough to cover the small portion. But the most offensive element was the tough, chewy meat cubes that couldn't be further from the fall-apart, melt-in-you-mouth beef that most of us associate with pot roast. Despite its low calorie count, we still wouldn't waste calories on this dinner.

Like us, customers on Reddit were most disappointed by the beef. "The 'meat' is just awful ... [it's] probably scraps that weren't suitable for human consumption fused together with gelatin ... definitely not something I'd consider 'pot roast,' " one Redditor wrote. In another Reddit post, a user gave the Smart Ones Homestyle Beef Pot Roast a low score of 3 out of 10, while one disappointed diner referred to the meat as "beef jello" — an unappetizing, yet accurate, term for a protein that most customers deemed inedible. Yet another reviewer on Reddit stated, "There was only 1 piece of actual beef ... the rest were gelatinous beef-flavored cubes. The veggies were not bad but the sauce was flavorless." Some Kroger customers weren't even keen on the veggies, with one shopper stating that the "carrots were crunchy raw even after full cook time."

While pot roast isn't a frozen meal that a lot of brands offer, there are two other dinners that rank higher than Smart Ones. The number two spot in our frozen pot roast tasting comes from Marie Callender's. However, in a taste test of 16 Marie Callender's frozen meals, it came in dead last. So, considering the pot roast is one Marie Callender's frozen meal we'll likely never buy again, you might want to go for the top-ranked option from none other than Dolly Parton's brand, which features large chunks of tender beef and flavorful vegetables all covered in a delicious gravy. You can enjoy the famous Southern singer's pot roast for dinner, and follow it up with one of the many delicious Dolly Parton baking mixes for dessert.