ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna – we check out how frozen food compares to the real thing

ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna was one of the items that we picked out of the frozen food section of Fairprice Finest when we were there recently. The frozen food section at supermarkets is always attractive with many kinds of food to choose from. Local cuisine to international selections, but the question is : which frozen food to buy?

Since we were unfamiliar with almost all the frozen food products. We made our purchase based on ease of use and appearance. The ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna was attractively packaged and can be easily heated up and ready to eat by just using the microwave. It costs $6.80 each and had an expiry date of 14 July 2020.

The production date was only visible after we started opening the package. This item was produced in January. Compared to canned food which may last for years, a shelf life of around 6 months is short, but good enough for us. We plan to eat what we buy within weeks. Anything kept longer will be forgotten and then eventually expire.

Looking at the packaging, the ingredients looked like that of regular lasagna – beef, tomato sauce, eggs, cheese etc. The only thing that stood out was “Permitted Preservatives”. I don’t know what that is but I guess some preservative is not unexpected in a frozen food item. ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna is manufactured locally by a company known as Zac Meat & Poultry Pte Ltd at Burch Lane, Singapore.

Cooking Instructions

The cooking instructions on the side of the box provided two options – either by regular oven or microwave. Both take around the same time – up to 15 minutes. We decided on the microwave option.

This is what the frozen ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna looks like straight out of the box. Pale and not very attractive looking. We were not sure the container was aluminium foil or plastic that looks metallic.

To be safe we placed it in a tray that is oven-friendly. It is the most Italian looking dish in our cabinet. The dimensions look right as well. We set the microwave to 13 minutes on medium (mid-way between the recommended 12-15 min).

ZAC Meat Beef Lasagna – Ready to Eat

This is what the beef lasagna looks like after 13 minutes of cooking. We were glad we used a heavy tray as the heat had managed to creat some burnt parts where the cheese meets the tray. It has a more healthy colour than at the beginning. Some added pepper made it look even more authentic. If we had some herbs as topping it could be made to look like almost restaurant-like.

Perhaps it was because we had rather low expectations of frozen food, but the ZAC Meat beef lasagna was better than expected. The taste was good. It had a good balance of minced meat, cheese and tomato paste. We thought that its main shortcoming, as compared to fresh lasagna was its texture – it was soft, almost creamy. We like the sheets of pasta in lasagna to be distinct.

Overall we thought it was a good beef lasagna. A glass of Chianti was a nice drink to go with it. The portion is not very large, probably just enough as lunch for a person with an average appetite.

The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog