KJ Poultry Kosher Ready Meals - Matza Ball Chicken Soup & Vegetables, CHOMETZ NOT for PASSOVER, MRE Meat Meals Ready to Eat, Shabbos Food, Halal, (12 Pack) Cooked Entree, Shelf Stable Microwave Dinner

I wish companies would stop putting idealized product photos on food like this because IMHO it never resembles the graphics... I wanted something easy, filling, made to a higher standard, that didn't require refrigeration and was shelf stable. I will admit, the soup is not pretty but it tastes great. The broth is not clear like in the photo (clouded by matzo), there are two small matzo balls, not one, and the carrot had cooked to mush and blended with the broth. The chicken had fallen from the bone which is fine by me. But the broth tasted like "real food" and not just salty chicken flavored bouillon which abounds in most packaged meals like this. Who cares what it looks like? I'm not serving this at a state banquet. But when you put a photo on front that sets expectations to such an unrealistic degree, you are bound to have people who are disappointed. I started to give this 4 stars based on mildly deceptive advertising, but I thought, when have I tasted a packaged chicken soup that tastes this good? Honestly, never. So gave it a 5. So don't be put off by the appearance. Even my husband said--soup like mom makes... Doesn't mean it's pretty, it just tastes good.

Very salty and small portions One tiny matzoh ball To eat occasionally convenient

I placed the meal in boiling water to “cook” and honestly I almost felt guilty that it tested so good to me. I didn’t get the carrot as pictured but got 2 matzah balls which I prefer with pieces of carrot mixed in. Overall, considering the ease of cooking, the flavor and almost no cleanup was so worth to me. The fact it doesn’t require refrigeration was the icing on the cake for me.

The KJ Pantry meals are more expensive than most shelf-stable meals. They are also a much better quality and are easily heated in the microwave. I especially like them as a healthy meal when my family is sick and we are too tired to cook.

flavor good, but so small and expensive

They are just like Ima (Mom) and Savta (Grandma) used to make it.........

This review will be tough to write. I love experiencing new foods, and my whole life I've been hearing about matzoh ball soup yet have never tried it. I suppose the bar was set high. I also suppose that it's probably not a good idea to have an instant version of anything be the first experience you have. I live in gumbo country. Cajuns eat strange things (I can say that as a non-native, yet someone who has lived here for a long time and married one). I still cannot wrap my head around some of that. Seafood gumbo, for instance. How are you supposed to eat large pieces of shell-on crab when it's swimming in HOT, semi-spicy soup? Can't we just take the blasted shell off first? Anyway, this reminded me of that quandary. On the box, there is photograph of a chicken leg, a giant whole carrot, and a large matzoh ball. I remember thinking, surely that's just for show? To a degree, I was right, but I'll be damned if there wasn't an entire chicken leg in there with the skin still on. Maybe that is normal for matzoh ball soup? Since I didn't know, I consulted Dr. Google. Y'all, nowhere did I find a photo with an entire chicken leg (and skin...having a hard time with that part). Usually, the photos have a beautiful golden broth, maybe some vegetables, large matzoh balls perfectly formed, and MAYBE chicken pieces. Call me a ninny, but even here in Cajun country, that was off-putting, and we sometimes eat alligator meat. The soup comes in one of those sealed containers. You're supposed to heat it for like a minute or so on 50% power (I forget the cooking time exactly), but I was a bit confused....Usually with those sealed containers, you have to vent them or they blow up. There was no mention of that. I went rogue and cut a tiny slit in the top and I'm glad I did. Even with that slit, it was bulging when I took it out. That is when I got my first look at the leg. The rest of it looked reasonably good. The broth was a good color and had that lovely fattiness to it (schmaltz, I think?). The carrot was not, in fact, whole. The balls? There was sort of one in there. There were also a lot of crumbly bits (wet, of course). The broth tasted ok. The carrots were fine. The matzoh ball was crumbly and a bit disappointing. The chicken? Y'all, I just couldn't. I even broke it up with my spoon (and it did break up easily), but A) the meat was very pink (and this may be me not understanding this cooking/butchering process), and B) how in the world could I possibly eat a chicken leg (with skin) - any chicken meat for that matter - that was not refrigerated? It was a mental block, obviously, as I eat canned chicken soup and the like all the time. At the end of the day, this entire dining experience may well be a function of my own ignorance on this dish. I still maintain a whole chicken leg is just odd. I am now very much curious about "real" matzoh ball soup, and for what they charge for this, I can probably get the ingredients to make a reasonable approximation on my own.

Purchased this soup for my son and he totally loved it. The price is high and that's why I gave only 4 stars.