Hi guys! Bryan contacted me and asked me if I would mind doing some food reviews for Cheaplander. Now I’m not one to pass up free food, and I’m a big fan of Cheaplander, so I had no problems accepting the offer!

My first task was to review a Smart Ones breakfast item. This made me a tad nervous because aside from waffles, frozen breakfast foods aren’t really my forte and I was scared of possible mystery meat type fillings. As I scanned the frozen food aisle, I came upon the items of my first mission. Looking them over I was pleased to see that they either contained turkey bacon or Canadian bacon. I can live with that. They also had egg whites as opposed to whole eggs, okay, I can live with that too. I decided on the Breakfast Quesadilla.

There are two quesadillas per package and one quesadilla consists of a serving. The ingredients list is long and a little disturbing with its myriad of unpronounceable items. I decided to stop reading and move along to the instructions. There is a crisper sleeve to place the quesadilla in before heating it in the microwave. This is supposed to help keep the tortilla from getting soggy. The instructions are very specific, directing me to heat the quesdilla for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Which I thought seemed a tad odd, having such a specific time requirement. Aren’t the instructions usually a little more general? After the required 2 minutes and 15 seconds heating in the crisper sleeve, my quesadilla wasn’t very hot or even heated through. I have a feeling this is more a result of my ancient microwave and preference for foods to be extremely hot than misguided heating instructions. Because let’s be serious, if there is such a specific heating instruction, I’m guessing they researched that part out the wazoo. I removed it from the sleeve, cut it in half and heated it up for another minute like a rebel.

Ah, that resulted in a quesadilla that I would rather eat. I did think it strange that the egg whites weren’t actually white but a normal scrambled egg color. Is this because they aren’t official egg whites or because they are mixed with cheese? I am not sure and decided not to ponder it too long. On to the eating! The first thing that struck me was the fake “smoke” flavor of the turkey bacon. I actually enjoy turkey bacon quite a bit and the smoke flavor isn’t something that usually sticks out as overly potent to me. However, in this quesadilla it was quite potent and definitely fake tasting. It reminded me of a flavor you would find in an off-brand or really cheap frozen dinner containing “bacon”. It also tasted very salty which is probably the flavor of all the preservatives jam packed into this smart breakfast item.

I was pretty surprised by the tortilla. It was hefty and a bit on the thicker side. I wouldn’t say it was crunchy, but it did hold up well and was not soft or soggy by any means. The overall taste of the quesadilla reminded me of a breakfast burrito common on fast food breakfast menus. We’ve all had those and know what those taste like.

For the sake of research, I opened up the heated quesadilla for a photo op. Oh look, we can easily identify pieces of red and green pepper. That’s a good sign! I can also see strings of cheese which looks to be white. Funny how the cheese is white but the egg whites are yellow. And I assume the other wee flecks of color to be the turkey bacon. Interesting how something so small and lacking major presence gave off the most flavor. Should this be cause for concern? I’m not sure.

Admittedly, it wasn’t an overall appealing taste and I could only eat half the quesadilla. The high salt and fake smoke factor are what doomed it from the start. I gave the other half to my husband who had no issue whatsoever eating it. In fact, he liked it. He has a weird attraction to frozen breakfast foods and I knew this would be right up his alley. He did think the tortilla was odd but only because by the time he got to eat his portion it was already cold. I assured him that it was much better hot and that the tortilla was actually the best part of the quesadilla.

I personally would not get this to have as a meal. For me, while the texture of the quesadilla was fine, the downsides, again being the salt and smoke flavors, resulted in an overly processed tasting meal. However, if you like frozen breakfast foods, I do feel this is one of the better options that are widely available. I’ve still got the second quesadilla sitting in my freezer. I’ll probably heat it up for my husband and make his day.