By Mike Thayer
Who doesn’t like a good meatball sandwich right?
So when I saw these in the freezer section at Costco and always looking for something in a convenience food to have at the ready at home, I picked up a box of Raybern’s Meatball Marinara Sandwiches and threw it in the cart.
The description of the sandwiches on the box is pretty straight forward: Italian style seasoned meatballs with Marinara sauce & melted mozzarella cheese.
The picture sells it, but will the actual product live up to the picture hype?
No.
Prepared in the Microwave
I sampled these sandwiches for lunch and dinner on a work day, meal one – lunch – was done in the microwave per the box instructions and for meal two – dinner – the sandwich was done in the oven. Raybern’s recommends thawing the sandwiches in the refrigerator for eight hours prior to nuking or baking, which I did.
Prepared in the Microwave: The bread remains soft, fulfilling the Raybern’s promise, but the rest of the sandwich is a bit of a disappointment. The meatballs are under-seasoned and the sandwich is under-sauced. The portion of cheese is OK, but the sandwich does not deliver on the box photo hype and overall, the flavor is, “eh”….
Prepared in the Oven: This was the better sandwich – no surprise here, the oven beats the microwave in helping to deliver better flavor and texture every time. The bread had some crispy edges that you like in a ‘toasted’ preparation and considering the underwhelming flavors I got in the lunch sandwich, I doctored this sandwich up a bit, adding some shredded pizza blend cheese along with a bit of black pepper. It still suffered from being under-sauced.
Prepared in the oven
I purchased a box of 6 sandwiches for $11.99 at Costco, that’s $2 per sandwich. And while that $2 is cheaper than what you might pay for such a sandwich at a fast food restaurant and about on par flavor-wise, I was hoping for more from Raybern’s for a convenience food made at home. I’m giving Raybern’s Meatball Marinara Sandwiches 3 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars and they are a borderline repeat buy, a Plan B kind of thing. They need some doctoring to kick up the “eh” factor up another notch.
$pend Wisely My Friends…..
Convenient, but needs doctoring to bump up the flavor
$pend Wisely My Friends…
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike
Food Review: Raybern's Meatball Marinara Sandwiches – Bachelor on the Cheap
By Mike Thayer
Who doesn’t like a good meatball sandwich right?
So when I saw these in the freezer section at Costco and always looking for something in a convenience food to have at the ready at home, I picked up a box of Raybern’s Meatball Marinara Sandwiches and threw it in the cart.
The description of the sandwiches on the box is pretty straight forward: Italian style seasoned meatballs with Marinara sauce & melted mozzarella cheese.
The picture sells it, but will the actual product live up to the picture hype?
No.
Prepared in the Microwave
I sampled these sandwiches for lunch and dinner on a work day, meal one – lunch – was done in the microwave per the box instructions and for meal two – dinner – the sandwich was done in the oven. Raybern’s recommends thawing the sandwiches in the refrigerator for eight hours prior to nuking or baking, which I did.
Prepared in the Microwave: The bread remains soft, fulfilling the Raybern’s promise, but the rest of the sandwich is a bit of a disappointment. The meatballs are under-seasoned and the sandwich is under-sauced. The portion of cheese is OK, but the sandwich does not deliver on the box photo hype and overall, the flavor is, “eh”….
Prepared in the Oven: This was the better sandwich – no surprise here, the oven beats the microwave in helping to deliver better flavor and texture every time. The bread had some crispy edges that you like in a ‘toasted’ preparation and considering the underwhelming flavors I got in the lunch sandwich, I doctored this sandwich up a bit, adding some shredded pizza blend cheese along with a bit of black pepper. It still suffered from being under-sauced.
Prepared in the oven
I purchased a box of 6 sandwiches for $11.99 at Costco, that’s $2 per sandwich. And while that $2 is cheaper than what you might pay for such a sandwich at a fast food restaurant and about on par flavor-wise, I was hoping for more from Raybern’s for a convenience food made at home. I’m giving Raybern’s Meatball Marinara Sandwiches 3 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars and they are a borderline repeat buy, a Plan B kind of thing. They need some doctoring to kick up the “eh” factor up another notch.
$pend Wisely My Friends…..
Convenient, but needs doctoring to bump up the flavor
$pend Wisely My Friends…
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike