Tai Pei Microwave Meals Ranked

If you are anything like us, you have really missed eating out. It’s not just the taste, or the ambience; it can sometimes just be the time saving convenience of not having to make something yourself. (not to mention all the clean up!) Specifically this week I had a hankering for some Chinese food and missed being patrons of our local establishment. Husband to the rescue!

While perusing our local grocery store, my husband noticed a big sale on Tai Pei Frozen Microwave meals. Rather than prepare our own macaroni salad for lunch, he picked up a couple for us to try to get a taste of what we had been missing.

One thing I really liked about the meals were the ease of use. You just take off the wrappers, pop them in the microwave, and enjoy! We just ate out of the containers, so clean up was an absolute breeze.

I am sure I don’t have to tell you though, that nothing replaces the real, freshly prepared thing. If that is what you are looking for, these may not be for you. However, if what you are looking for is a cheap and easy meal that wets your taste buds without all the work, then look no further.

We decide to rank our favorites so you can pick easier for yourselves. We tried 4 varieties and the Potstickers. Here are our thoughts:

#1 Tai Pei Beef & Broccoli

The rice was soft and sticky. The broccoli had some crunch. The beef was soft without being too chewy. The flavors were light, but not completely lacking in flavor. Nothing to knock your socks off, but nothing offensive either. This tasted the most similar to our local establishment, though not the same.

#2 Tai Pei Orange Chicken

The chicken was breaded which aided the orange flavor. The flavor was lighter than we like, but still good. The veggies were crunchy and added to the profile of the flavors. I thought the Bamboo shoots were a nice addition to the texture and flavor.

#3 Tai Pei Pork Pot Stickers

The potsticker dough was soft. The meat was very soft and lacking in texture, almost as if it had been over-processed. The sauce had more vinegar than we are used to and a different quality of soy sauce than we were used to. The flavor of the dumplings was good and with our own sauce, came out alright.

#4 Tai Pei Teriyaki Chicken

This was similar to the Orange Chicken, but these chicken bits did not have the breading which actually made the chicken less tasty. I thought the sauce, which was already light in general, was even lighter in this one. We were not a fan of the amount of red peppers in the box, nor the texture or flavor of the soybeans.

#5 Tai Pei Pepper Beef

The flavor was much stronger in this one than the others, but the only flavor you seemed to get was pepper. The celery and peas were not tasty in general. I did not even finish this one.

In general we still miss our local place, and will be back soon when it is safe to do so, but these were a good taste tease to hold us over a little longer, while giving us a weekend break on cooking and cleaning.

Have you tried these? Would you change the ranking? Let us know your thoughts!