Its good! It comes in pieces that vary in size, ill say smaller than the tuna in oil, but don’t think its mushy; Whenever I open a tuna can I always press the top of the can down to drain all the water or oil out, I think thats what most of us do, and of course, you don’t want your tuna to come spilling out; this wont happen with the chunk light tuna in water from fresh and Easy; its got a solid texture. It is low in fat and high in protein, only 50 cal per serving (2 servings per container). It is good by itself but i enjoy it more mixed with veggies as a salad, or with some mayo in a sandwich.

In a recent visit to one of the store’s I was able to get a hold of a few product list’s that fresh & easy has available in their stores. These list’s are helpful to those in look for items that are free of gluten, vegetarian, vegan, or kosher in nature. I post these files here to make them more accessible to anyone who has special needs.

Although I must warn you, that freshandeasyreview.com nor its writers take any responsibility as to the accuracy of these list’s. Should you have any concerns please make sure you read the packaging of specific products to make a proper decision on whether these items are suitable for your needs!

I was also led to believe that these are the most up to date lists available, although fresh&easy’s product selections have changed a lot in the past few months, and not all products are available in all stores. So you can check and see if the store you plan on visiting carries the specified products by finding the store’s phone number and getting in touch with a store associate.

Link to List’s:
F&E Gluten Free Product List March 2009
F&E Kosher Product List - Dec 2008
F&E Milk Free Product List August 2008
F&E Vegan Product List July 2008
F&E Vegetarian Product List August 2008

Click Here for Store Locations, Hours and contact information.

Fresh & Easy has carried the Chicken Enchiladas for quite some time now, and I have decided that I wanted to try them out and see why it still remains as part of the collection of Fresh Meals which are ready to heat.

Coming in at right under $5 at the time of purchase, the container came with 2 Chicken enchiladas covered in red Tomato Chili sauce, accompanied by a side or rice and beans.

After heating it in the micro-wave for the recommended time, I continued to taste the side’s first. 

The re-fried beans that came as a side I found to be lacking in terms of flavor, but had just the right consistency.

The Spanish rice they place in the container is the same as the rice that is used in their burritos and the everything else with Spanish rice. Personally I like my Spanish rice to be a tad more mild, and a bit more on the “tomato-ee” side. 

Although I’m not a big fan of the sides by them selves… After mixing them up a tad, I found the taste to be just right(The package does recommend mixing the rice and beans.)

The enchiladas!

The enchiladas were completely covered with a red Tomato and  Chili sauce, topped off with a bit of cheese on top. The enchiladas themselves contained a mixture of chicken, cream cheese, corn, poblano chilies, and Monterrey Jack cheese.

As far as the flavor goes I found that the enchiladas were awesome. They had just the right amount of spice(mildly spicy). Just the right amount of tomato, and the cream cheese certainly added to the overall flavor, while complementing the chicken.

My only gripe would be the uneven placement of the stuffing, which seemed to have all gone to the “middle” which the ends being nothing more than tomato and chili tortilla.

I would definitely buy this again!

Now for those of you  interested in some of the nutritional value here’s the deal breaker:

270 calories per serving (2 servings in a pack(640cals per pack))

530mg sodium per serving or 22% of Daily recommended (double that for a pack)

10g fat, of which 3.5g is Saturated, per serving.

At 15oz per package, I would say this is probably not the healthiest choice by far, at 640 Cal’s and 44% of the total recommended intake for Sodium. I myself consumed the whole package in one sitting. 

On a final note the FnE Chicken Enchiladas do claim to be free of Artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.

Apple slices, honeydew melon and canteloupe chunks, pineapple and orange pieces topped off with some grapes is what Fresh & Easy’s Fruit Salad is all about!

15 ounces of pure freshness, packing 3 recommended servings each coming in at 5oz with 60 calories, 16g carbs(2g fiber, 14g sugars) and 1g of Protein!

I must say that this must have been my lunch time meal for about a week, when I was on a diet, Very satisfying, I usually consumed the whole package in one siting.

Coming in at under $4 and probably under $2 when on daily special, I must say this is definitely worth the money.

I must warn you that you should always look at fruit inside the clear plastic container to make sure it passes your own personal comfort level, quality test, I have taken notice that some of the pre-packaged fruits can look a bit “gnarly” and questionable. Although if you happen to get it a few days from its expiration date it seems to be no problem at all, with nice firm fruit awaiting to be consumed!

William Thompson, an English Viticulturist born in 1839, made on of the biggest contributions to vinyards in California. Over a four-year period the grapes W. Thompson was able to produce came to be what we know now as Thompson seedless grapes. Today the Thompson seedless grape is the most popular table grape as well as one of the most versatile. It can be used for juice and wine and accounts for 95 percent of the raisins produced in California!

Fresh & Easy is now on its second week running a 2x$2 seedless grape special.

I decided to pick up some green seedless which I enjoyed the most. The grapes were very fresh and crisp. The flavor is a bit tart just the way I like them. Most of the grapes I found were not too ripe. Although I must say I prefer many of my fruits just right before they ripen too much.

At the store I had plenty to choose from, and did not have to sort much to get some good looking ones! 

The package the grapes come in is a 16oz clear plastic container which you should provide you with a medium to judge the grapes accordingly.

Links:

Information & History on Grapes:
http://tonytantillo.com/fruits/grapes.html

Viticulturist Career Profile:
http://www.schoolsintheusa.com/careerprofiles_details.cfm?carid=1538

Wikipedia on Grapes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape

After visiting my local grocery store and buying some of the beer that intrigued me, Caguama, I felt that it resembled Fresh and Easy’s Taurino a bit too much.

After reading the label and a bit of googling, Ive come to the conclusion that;

Taurino & Caguama are one and the same! Except FNE has made Taurino their mark.

Here’s a few things to look into…

both are product of El Salvador.

both are Brewed and Bottled by Cerveceria La Constancia San Salvador, El Salvador.

both have same bottle shape.

both are best with a lime wedge and salt!

both have a fabricated story on the bottle which explains the ‘mascot’ for the beer.

Maybe its just me, but just thought I would point this out.. I still say FNE has the best deal on this specially right now at $5.99 for a 12 pack!

Links:

http://www.caguamabeer.com/

World Brews - Winery Exchange

a couple reviews on caguama and taurino

http://yourliverhatesyou.blogspot.com/2008/05/taurino-cerveza.html

http://yourliverhatesyou.blogspot.com/2008/03/inexpensive-beer-report-cerveza-caguama.html

Also, if im wrong about my assumption on taurino=caguama, i need to go out and get more beer and see if there is a similarity when they are side to side…:-) Ill post an update!

Canned Items, Baking, Baby Products, & Pet Food!

During a recent visit, I came made the realization, that fresh and easy has completely revamped their petfood section, it looks like now they have a bit more variety, although they still have the same amount of modules dedicated, they have cut down on product fronts, and added more to their selection. 

Their baking sections has also come under seige, and been revamped with some new items, such as flour, which now comes in a plastic bag, and they have also added other items like the pillsbury funfetti cake mix. 

Canned food underwent a large change as far as I can tell, they have introduced a larger variety of the canned tomatoes, and added some FNE branded canned veggies. It also seems like they have replaced their FnE branded fruit bowl snack packs with branded ones, along with the addition of Cranberry sauce, and a couple more branded apple sauces.

Baby food came as the biggest shocker as I notice they carry FRESH AND EASY BRANDED BABY PRODUCTS, such as lotions, petrolium jelly, and shampoo’s! They also added Pampers to their diaper selection.

I must say new products are great! But I for those bargain hunters out there…be on the look out for their discontinued items, which they often sell at up to 50% off (sometimes more… )…And it seems they have baby products, canned food, baking items,  and pet food which might go on sale soon!

Cheers!

I have added enabled a RSS feed, that will update automatically on any news relating to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

On the top of the list now, is “Fresh & Easy Introducing 25 New Wines Over Next Three Months” , so now you will also be able to stay a bit more upto date with whats going on with FNE when you visit this site.

I am still tweeking portions of the site, so please do bear with me…

Cheers!

At last I must admit I have been neglecting my project for some time now, and I have taken it upon myself, to try and enable some of the feature I had envisioned slowly but surely….As you can see to the right of the posting you will now be able to see some of the reviews posted on the Yelp social network about some of the fresh and easy neighborhood markets out there…I think that will make this website less bias in terms of 1 person dictating the content, For now this page is pretty static, soon I will enable a news link, so you will also be able to stay in touch with some of the most up to date news dealing fresh & easy.

Later this week I will be hopefully completing some of the planned features.

Cheers, and till next time!

This time I’m going to write about one of the most consumed beverages in the world, tea. Fresh and Easy offers a large variety of tea flavors; chocolate flavored black tea is my favorite. Take a look at the nutrition facts chart, no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or proteins; its like water! Theres 20 tea bags in each box; each bag is 2g, and makes 8 fl oz. It doesn’t really have a strong chocolate taste, so don’t excpect it to taste like hot chocolate. You make it as sweet as you want by adding sugar, if you decide not to add sugar it will taste a bit bitter. If you like tea, and chocolate, this tea is the choice for you, try the two as one!