As heat and serve meals go, this one is certainly a little different to the run of the mill. Fish, Thai flavors, a pretty clean and fresh packet – sold. You’ll find this one in the freezer aisle for about six bucks – and there are two portions per pack.
Taste: This one does what it says on the tin. It’s tilapia. It’s in a Thai-style sweet chili sauce. And that’s errr, it. The fish is decent enough tilapia, which is to say, thin white fish with a relatively strong ‘earthy’ flavor. The Thai sauce is a by the numbers affair, more sweet than spicy. There’s no further complexity or nuance that you might ordinarily associate with Thai cooking.
Cooking: The fish and sauce will cook up equally well in the oven or microwave, depending on your mood. I actually threw mine into the air fryer, hence the crispier edges in the picture below.
Verdict: It’s a fairly pedestrian affair, but it beats many other frozen fish options which are downright poor. I can’t say tilapia is my favorite fish, nor was the sauce all that inspired; but I quite enjoyed these as a quick and simple way to put a meal together.
Here’s the plated and cooked fish over jasmine rice and a side of sambal.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!