Cooking Light: Episode 3

Epic fail in the Hanson kitchen. And it is NOT because of the geniuses at Cooking Light had a slow day. It was because of Target. Yes, the company that employs my husband.

Let me back up. Nate and I decide to try our hand at Shrimp and Broccoli Fried Rice. The lesson this week was how to stir-fry. Now we fancy ourselves a pretty killer stir-fry without a cook-book, which is why we skipped right past the basics and went to the fried rice, and kicked it up a notch with shrimp (vs. our standard chicken).

So I take my list to Target, where I buy their Archer Farms brand of shrimp to the exact specifications that the recipe called for (i.e. UNCOOKED, deveined). See exhibit A:

Fast forward about 40 minutes after prepping and cooking the entire meal (complete with cooking and freezing the rice to make it sticky..neat trick!). We are ready to put the cherry of our meal onto the sundae..or in this case the shrimp onto the rice and GASP! This is what we find:

Half of the bag was uncooked and half of the bag was cooked. Now, to be clear you have to cook the uncooked shrimp longer than the already previously cooked and then frozen shrimp. So when you add it in all together half of the shrimp either come out tough and nasty (which is what we opted to do) or half come out undercooked.

Either way, we were NOT happy with this meal, because not only were half the shrimp tough, but they tasted disgustingly fishy.

Ironically, as soon as I took a few bites and realized it wasn't going to work for me I turned to the treat I bought for us, which also happened to be an Archer Farms product:

Now, I am NEVER a person to call and complain about a consumer packaged good but this was so obviously a mistake Target, and shrimp isn't cheap. So I call the handy dandy consumer services number and this is where Target's epic fail for the night comes in:

1) I call the number.
2) I am prompted through about 7 different menu options.
3) I finally get to my topic, and I press #3 for the last time only to hear: "I'm sorry but our offices aren't open. Our hours are...."

REALLY Target? You couldn't put that message at the BEGINNING of your call-line menu? ARGH....

If Nate didn't get a bi-weekly check from this company, I would call for a boycott of Target. But since he does, and since mine come from Genearl Mills I feel totally justified calling for a boycott of Archer Farms. Still shop at Target people...just buy General Mills food.