REVIEW: Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake

I am generally a fan of Kashi products — being a lazy pseudo-hipster who likes to buy overpriced food that’s touted as healthy without having to go through all of the effort of visiting hippie food stores and co-ops to make my own healthy food. It’s what I like to refer to as “The American Way.” And when it comes to frozen meals I’ve found that Kashi tends to be the Cadillac of the frozen food aisle. Or rather, should I say the electric Cadillac-hybrid with a solar powered espresso maker in the dash.

Kashi’s Mayan Harvest Bake was really no exception. Perfect for autumn, the harvest bake (or, harvest microwave, technically) consisted of plantains, kale, sweet potatoes and black beans over a bed of Kashi’s trademark 7 grain pilaf, polenta and amaranth — whatever the hell amaranth is — covered in a spicy Ancho sauce. It’s like, seriously Kashi? Sweet potatoes, plantains and black beans? (Oh my!) Those are only some of my favorite things in the food universe. The only way I could have been more content eating this meal would be if Kashi accompanied it with a warm towel and back rub.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And did I even mention the pumpkin seeds? The glorious, glorious pumpkin seeds? Indeed, the meal came with a generous portion of pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top, which I picked off and ate separately because I am what I like to call a “food separatist.” Seriously though, name me another frozen meal out there that comes with actual pumpkin seeds. See? You can’t even do it.

Lucky for food separatist me, the mish-mash of a food bowl was layered in such a way that I was able to eat the plantains, which were plump and delectable despite somehow coming from a tray out of the microwave, apart from the sweet potatoes, which were charred on the edges in such a way that I assume the product had once been, in fact, baked. The Ancho sauce complimented the meal well, which was sweet, spicy and delicious, although while the plantains and sweet potatoes were flavorful enough on their own, some of the parts on the pilaf underneath didn’t get much sauce on it, making it taste a bit bland.

The Mayan Harvest Bake is one of Kashi’s vegan meals, which means it’s also ideal for lazy pseudo-hipster vegetarians. It’s also all natural, which means Kashi didn’t want to make us have to pay another dollar for it by making it say “organic.” It’s really considerate of them, if you think about it. The Harvest Bake is also a nutritional smorgasbord, touting an impressive nine grams of protein (for something that doesn’t contain any meat), eight grams of fiber and 400 milligrams of potassium from the plantains, which is basically just a fancy way of saying “banana.”

Unfortunately, for the steep price tag of over $5.00 a box, regularly priced, it would probably be more cost-efficient to get your potassium intake the old fashioned way by just eating actual bananas.

(Nutrition Facts – 10 ounces (1 package) – 340 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 58 grams of carbohydrates, 8 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, 9 grams of protein and 20% iron.)

Item: Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake
Price: 2 for $6.00 (sale price)
Size: 10 ounces
Purchased at: Fresh Grocer
Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Delicious. Sweet potatoes. Black beans. Fancy bananas. Pumpkin seeds, bitches.
Cons: No warm towel or massage with meal. Goddamn expensive regularly priced. Not stocking up on more Mayan Harvest Bake while they were on sale.

21 thoughts to “REVIEW: Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake”

  1. If I ever need to detox from eating too much fast food, I’ll be eating this. Actually, I should be eating this right now.

  2. This sounds so good I am going to go buy some right now! Yes, right now, screw work. Must have it.

  3. This sounds so good I am going to go buy some right now! Yes, right now, screw work. Must have it.

  4. That is freakin’ sweet that it has pumpkin seeds!!! I love almost all KASHI food items. I wish it was a little cheaper tho

  5. This one gets me out of lurk mode. I hate frozen meals, but am seriously addicted to this one, and have eaten it for lunch at work at least once a week for the past 2 months. (It’s still cheaper than takeout in NYC at full price, but I look out for sales and coupons.) I am actually willing to put on rubber gloves and clean one of my office’s disgusting microwaves out so I can heat and eat it.

    Thanks for all the hilarious reviews!

  6. That’s all fine and good (well, for grazers anyway) until the Spanish meals get wind of it and start sending microwavable conquistadors across the freezer section.

  7. Hmmm this sounds nice, I love the idea of pumpkin it sounds delicious, it seems a might pricey but like it or not, that’s the price of eating healthy

    @ Marvo: Mabey you should stock up on these, to help regulate your body in between reviews.

  8. Hmmm I can see that kashi is thinking very creativly, I must wonder if the meal is filling though, at 5 dollars a pop, I don’t think I could afford to be hungry or dissapointed. Still with some of those flavors it’s gotta be worth a try

  9. I am a food seperatist too! Thank you for coining the term, I will be using this to describe my affliction to friends and relatives.

    In a perfect world none of my food would touch.

  10. This does taste truly amazing. Kashi sucked me in when they were offering free coupons, and now I am forced to buy one of these every other week or so.

  11. I am currently eating this ^_^ I get mine for 2.99 at Target! This is one of my favorite things to take to work for a quick lunch 🙂

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