Archer Farms Bacon Carbonara Lunch Bowl

So far, AF is batting straight zeros on these lunch bowls. No wonder I see them on clearance every time I'm at Target. I was hoping that an Italian-inspired dish like this would turn out to be tastier than the Kung Pao Noodles or the Southwest Couscous, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

It took a great deal of stirring to completely dissolve the powder into the water. That combined with the six and a half minute heating time is a little lengthy if you happen to be in a breakroom at work where you might be sharing a microwave with a bunch of hungry co-workers who need to use it, too.

Even after stirring profusely and heating for nearly seven minutes, the pasta was still too firm, although once I let the bowl sit for four or five minutes after it was out of the microwave, the little penne noodles did soften up a tad.

The resulting entree was soupy, though I had used the indicated amount of water. The sauce was both too thin and a bit chalky. But the worst part of the product were the bacon bits.

At first, certain bites seemed worse than others, and I couldn't figure out what was causing the inconsistency. Soon, I realized that the bites with the most bacon bits were the worst ones of all. The bacon felt and tasted like cardboard, and it was almost bitter. Bitter bacon. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Terrible.

The product would have been edible if not for the bacon bits. If you happen to try this product, leave out the bacon, but sprinkle it on later just to confirm how awful it is. Without the bacon, I would have given this lunch bowl about 6 stars.

As it is, I give this product 4 out of 10 stars.