Mama Lucia Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs Review

There are many brands of fully cooked frozen Italian meatballs available in today’s marketplace.Large meatballs, cocktail meatballs, pure beef meatballs and meatballs made from more than one type of meat. One of the leading brands of fully cooked frozen meatballs sold in America is the Mama Lucia(R) brand of Italian Style Meatballs, which are manufactured by Quaker Maid(R) Meats, Incorporated.

On a recent trip to the supermarket, I happened to notice that Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs were on sale. Being a pasta and meatballs lover, I was very curious as to how these frozen meatballs tasted. Normally, I prepare and cook meatballs from- scratch, but I figured it would be nice to have a back- up container of Italian style meatballs on hand. Partly because of the appetizing illustration of delectable brown meatballs printed on the carton, I decided to purchase one 12 oz box of this product. Approximately one week later, I was cooking pasta for dinner, intending to just top the pasta with jarred marinara sauce, when I remembered that the package of Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs was still in the freezer. I removed the package from the freezer and read the heating instructions printed on the container. The manufacturer’s suggested stovetop heating instructions recommend adding the frozen meatballs to unheated gravy or spaghetti sauce, then heating the gravy or sauce as directed, while stirring the meatballs, until hot. Although I had already started heating the jarred sauce, it really made no difference, since these excellent meatballs are already fully- cooked. In the amount of time that it took to cook and drain the pasta, approximately 12 minutes, the meatballs were fully heated. With the stove burner set at medium heat, the Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs began releasing their delicious cooking aroma after just 3- 4 minutes. Before I even finished cooking the pasta, I must admit, I had to sample a taste of these delightful meatballs. Upon first bite, I was extremely impressed. These frozen meatballs were every bit as good, actually even better than, my own from- scratch variety. In the past, I had eaten several varieties of frozen meatballs, but none of them ever tasted like “homemade” to me. In fact, most of the frozen meatballs that I had previously eaten tasted nothing like homemade and were somewhat rubber- like in texture. The flavor of the Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs was that of real beef, accented with hints of Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, onion and garlic, just like homemade. The texture of these frozen meatballs was also very close to homemade. Although I am a trained chef, with many years of experience cooking in Italian restaurants, I would proudly serve these meatballs in place of the homemade variety, at any time.

Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs can also be heated in a conventional oven or microwave oven. They are ideal for meatball sandwiches or subs, as a pizza topping, or served with brown gravy and sour cream, as a variation on Beef Stroganoff. Nutritionally, these frozen meatballs contain 280 calories, with 210 calories from fat, per 4 dinner- size, or 8 cocktail- size meatballs serving. These meatballs are very competitively priced and are available at major food retailers everywhere. All things considered, Mama Lucia(R) Fully Cooked Italian Style Meatballs are highly recommended by this reviewer.