4/3/06 | Rice Gourmet Chicken Bowl
[ Currently Eating: Spam Sandwich ]
I spend a lot of time at the local CostCo, formerly known in my neighborhood as Price Club. Although it seems like there are these amazing bargains in bulk, the key for Cheap Eats is to buy things that you at least have a chance in hell of using up before they go bad. This means no 6 pound blocks of mozarella cheese (my mom bought this, and then proceeded to start handing out 1 pound blocks to me and my brother).
I’ve been getting these Rice Gourmet Chicken Bowls which is made by Delimex, the CostCo store brand. At a cost of nearly $10 for 6 bowls, it’s definitely not the cheapest thing around… it works out to over $1.50 per bowl. Not exactly Cheap Eats, so they get zinged as far as score goes right away. However, since it’s frozen food you can easily use them up before they go bad.
However, I have to say they’re pretty decent in terms of the quality. This is an all in one type of meal that you just pop into the microwave for about 6 minutes or so, and then take it out and stir it up.
The chicken, rice and sauce actually mix up together pretty well. You have to really get in there with a fork and mix it up so that your sauce gets distributed on the rice.
The chicken (breast meat only) actually seems to have been pre-grilled (you can see the marks in the picture). The teriyaki sauce is not overly powerful, which is usually my beef with these type of meals. I don’t know why manufacturers think teriyaki is some sort of super sweet, orange tasting glaze. This sauce has a good soy flavor and is actually a bit gingery which was nice.
The rice can get a bit clumped up depending on the power of your microwave, but it’s not too bad. The veggies (carrots and broccoli) are actually very decent… I’m surprised they don’t taste like mush.
So, if this were like $7 for 6 then it’d get a much higher score. Still, it beats the pants off a lot of frozen meals.
Price: $9-10 for 6 pack
Bought at: CostCo
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Yeah I get these from my parents, they’re okay, but you really have to nuke them to get it cooked well otherwise you’ll be eating frozen chicken in the center.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
$1.50 isn’t Cheap Eats? That’s cheap enough for hobos…if they had a Costco membership.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:22 pm
eric - true enough… the center always seems to give problems. but mixing it up seems to help distribute the “cold part” at least a little bit.
marvo - well… yeah, it’s actually pretty good for the amount and quality of food you get. man, actually the best tip is to share your costco membership w/ parents if you can. Getting the year membership, you’re already behind $40-50…
April 4th, 2006 at 8:27 am
I agree with Marvo: $1.50 is pretty damn cheap, and so it also beats the pants off of a fast food meal. We don’t have Costco where I live, but I’ll check at Sam’s Club next time I go. Me, I’d put some chili oil or something on it too.
Also, I’m just curious: what’s the calorie and fat count on this?
April 4th, 2006 at 9:35 am
peggasus - unfortunately we have since eaten all the bowls up! I’ll report next time on the nutrition aspects if we pick them up again.
April 4th, 2006 at 10:39 am
One; I’m trying to figure out why you’re eating Spam. LOL And two; I totally laughed at Marvo saying “hobos” because its one of the funniest words out there.
I have a Sam’s membership because much to my disappointment there is no Costco or BJs by me. Anyway, I buy those huge blocks of cheese!
I shred it up, seperate it into individual servings and then freeze. This way I always have shredded cheese on hand and it’s good cheese as opposed to the processed preshredded cheese in the pouches. 
April 4th, 2006 at 11:34 am
andie - oh, just you wait there is probably a post on Spam upcoming =) I have been thinking about trying to freeze cheese. How long does it last, and do you need to shred it in order to freeze it properly?
April 5th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Frozen cheese lasts a really long time. I have even bought the preshredded kind (when on sale) and freeze that. Then I take out what I need and stick it back in the freezer. Very handy! You don’t have to shred it to freeze it but I don’t suggest freezing a whole block. I would cut that up into smaller individual slices or smaller blocks to make it more manageable.
I knew a person in college who loved her grandfather’s
“roasted Spam”. LOL I think he did it up like a ham, with pineapple.
October 9th, 2006 at 11:03 am
I always buy these because they are a quick snack and dirt cheap. HOWEVER I just ate one bowl and it did not have a SINGLE PIECE OF CHICKEN!!!! I’m tempted to drive to Costco and get a refund if any more of the bowls are missing chicken.
December 16th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
i go to the costco in edison, nj and they stopped selling these! im so addicted, is anyone in another area of NJ still getting these at their local costco??
August 28th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Well, for one thing my family and I love the GRILLED CHICKEN TERIIYAKI RICE BOWLS. They are filling, they cook well and my 3 kids can just pop them in the microwave for 6 1/2 min. and it perfect. I just don’t know why my local BJ’S CLUB STORE stop selling them. I am so diappointed it drive me to find this website and type this. I started a lot of my friend and clients to buy this too. Since i’m a salon owner/ hairstylist here in Wash. Dc. and it’s hard to make a good meal with veggies it that tasted good. I AM HOOKED. I need to know where I can get it from now. I don’t have COSTOS OR SAM CLUB LET ME KNOW PLEASE ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!