Hungry Man - just a little off

Boy, it sure has been a while. And what a busy while it has been. A trip to Massachusetts, a new Palm, lotsa classic games, a great six-month mark with the girl, new boots(!), a laptop I'm borrowing until after finals, and I'm probably forgetting a few things.

Finals are upon me, so I have to keep this short.

Ever had a "Hungry Man" dinner? I used to rave about these things. When I found them on sale, that is- I don't like spending $3 at Shoprite on a single meal. It's too expensive, so I wait for these to drop to $2 or less before I'll get them. And even then, I try to get the cheaper $1 meals when I'm looking for easy food.
They're lucky Taco Bell doesn't deliver items from the 99-cent menu for free...

Anyway, I enjoy the quickness of the meal, and the rather large portion (considering it comes out of a box). And a few are downright yummy- the pulled pork sports dinner, and the fried chicken is a classic. And man oh man can they make meatballs! Try the lasagna dinner...

But I'm growing less (can one write that?) attached to them. Especially with this new lasagna one I just enjoyed. First, it comes with green beans. What the hell kind of sweaty, macho, Blue Collar TV-watching, hungry man is gonna want green beans? And I personally don't like em. Good thing they were all stuck together and not to the tray- flopped right into the can.

Secondly, the instructions are unsuited to an easy dinner. I'm supposed to cook not once, but twice. First for four minutes, after removing the plastic from the brownie. Next, I'm supposed to "remove the brownie carefully with a fork." Sure, no problem. I carefully ate the brownie right out of the microwave. With a fork, as instructed. Then, I'm supposed to stir the lasagna (which was still frozen) and put it back in for another 2.25 minutes.

If you ask me, that's too much work. For a frozen dinner with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $3, I expect an easy meal. Limit yourself to one instruction: microwave for x minutes.

And so help you if you waste printing costs telling me something I microwave is gonna be hot.