Recently I received a package in the mail from Carrie Strimel with Wildtree Foods. Inside the box included a selection of their natural food products including their Natural Grapeseed Oil, Cheddar & Herb Skillet Meal Mix, Cocoa Cayenne Cupcakes Mix, Scampi Blend Seasoning and Gingerbread Cake Mix.
Jason and I decided to try the Cheddar & Herb Skillet Meal Mix for dinner last night. The Cheddar & Herb Skillet Meal Mix is a blend of cheddar cheese and 3 different herbs and the picture of the box looks pretty tasty. One on our favorite things to make together is Cheesy Hamburger Helper so we were excited about trying this healthy version. For $8.00, you get 2 packets of the mix which makes 5 servings each, which comes out to $0.80/serving for the mix.
The first thing I noticed was they I recognized all of the ingredients!! Check out what is inside each packet:
Ingredients: Cheese Powder (pasteurized milk, salt, cheese cultures, enzymes), Whey, Tomato Powder, Non-Fat Milk Powder, Sea Salt, Cornstarch, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Spices, Lactic Acid.
The instructions call for noodles, water, milk, Wildtree Grapeseed Oil and ground beef/turkey/chicken. We went with a ground beef sirloin since we have been trying to eat healthier and I prefer beef. This package from Aldi was 90% lean and 10% fat.
Grapeseed Oil allows the pure flavor of fresh food to come through. Its delicate flavor and body make it perfect for sautéing, baking or frying. Grapeseed Oil is ideal for frying at high temperatures. It may be heated up to 419 degrees (F) without burning, – one of the highest flashpoints.
The first thing to do is to cook your ground beef throughly with the Wildtree Grapeseed Oil. The Wildtree Grapeseed Oil allows the beef to cook evenly and allows the true flavor to come out.
I have a weird phobia of raw meat so I made Jason do this. I’m glad we chose the sirloin beef because there was no fat in the entire pan.
After Jason cooked the beef, I added the milk, seasoning packet, and the noodles. I covered the pan and let that sit for 12 minutes since the package said 11-13 minutes. I like averaging times out.
Here is our finished result. Overall I liked the flavors in the Cheddar & Herb Skillet Meal Mix. It tasted fresh, unlike the boxed Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper counterpart. The only thing that we both didn’t like was that it was too runny, so I would recommend decreasing the amount of milk used in the product, for a thicker sauce. We will be try that on the next go around.
There are other great recipes that you can use the Cheddar & Herb Skillet Meal Mix with including Cheesy Chili Mac, Butternut Squash Lasagna, Cheddar and Mushroom Scalloped Potatoes, and Stuffed Acorn Squash. All of the recipes can be found on the website.
Would I order the products? I would order the seasoning mixes because they are inexpensive and healthier when compared to national brands. For example, McCormick Fajita Seasoning is $1.99 in stores for 6 servings ($.0.34/each). Wildtree’s version is $9.00 for 36 servings ($0.25/each).
When calculating total price, make sure that you are calculating off of the number of servers and not the total ounces. This will give you an accurate price for each meal served.
Buy It
To order Wildtree Natural Foods, contact Carrie Strimel at (214)493-9672 or though her website here.
Rediscover Cooking the Wildtree way! Simple. Healthy. Natural.
