^^^ I've heard others rave about the Concrete Mixers...I've never tried one.
I will next time at Culvers.

Was in the deli section of Walmart Thurs and happened to notice these pot pies. They are next to the Burnt Ends Dip....not frozen.
$6.28 and it's large enough for three servings easily. Very good it was. :)

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This is what makes me walk on down the aisle...

Chicken Broth, Wheat Flour, White Chicken Meat (Chicken Breast Meat, Water, Modified Food Starch, Salt And Sodium Phosphate), Vegetable Oil (Palm And/or Soybean), Carrots, Water, Peas, Modified Food Starch, Rendered Chicken Fat, Margarine (Liquid Soybean Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Water, Salt, Lecithin, Mono & Diglycerides, Sodium Benzoate Added As A Preservative), Salt, Sweet Dry Whey, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Flavorings, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Maltodextrin, Autolyzed Yeast, Sodium Propionate, Nonfat Dry Milk, Dried Whole Eggs, Dehydrated Chicken Broth, Spices, Soluble Turmeric, Dehydrated Chicken Meat And Soy Lecithin.

Marie Callender's is/was a SoCal thing. Still only CA (as far north as Sacramento) with one in Vegas, Utah and one other state. Maybe 25 in all. MC was a real person but her son Don Callender made the restaurant a chain, somewhat uspscale, but not white tablecloth snooty and with a full bar instead of being a Denny's.

MC is now owned by a NYSE company. Branding the pies and distributing them frozen has to be an outgrowth of the popularity of being able to buy a fresh baked pie at a MC location to take home. That's how they started, no restaurant.

In fact, they started out cooking pies at home just after WWII and selling to restaurants before opening the first sit down MC location. The first pies were cooked at home in a trailer park in Huntington Beach CA and later a home in Long Beach. That was followed by a quonset hut in central LB. The first retail restaurant was in Orange County, next door, instead of LB. That could be because there was another CPP baker in LB called Phillips. They are still talked about today inspite of never expanding beyond the bakery stage. Both made excellent pies but I'd have to give the nod to Phillips in a close race.

Of course the Callender family became very successful and Don sold to Ramada Inns in 1986 for 80M. Don wanted to continue in the restaurant biz and did until health failed. Marie died at 88 in '97 so she did well. Don died in '09 of a head injury sustained at home. He was '81.

The pies were probably not the healthiest meal from the beginning being pretty heavy on the gravy with a buttery crust. IDT the word comfort food was coined yet but this was it. And of course you had to get some mashed potatoes to go with it.

I grew up with this food AFA take out. There was no fast food then unless you considered a TV dinner fast food.

^^^ I'm not sure what year it was....prob late 90's and it was in N Carolina.
Driving along and saw a MC restaurant. I didn't even know they existed but had loved their frozen pies. I stopped in and wasn't disappointed...excellent pie.

Never saw another MC Restaurant after that. :)


As far as the ingredients....sure, if a person eats them twice a day every day, they prob aren't the best for a person. I have a diverse diet and really don't watch things like that at all...as long as I stay active. It's worked great for me so far and I'm going on 71 years old.

That Marie calendars frozen stuff is good. I keep some in the freezer.

The only decent chicken pot pies are the ones you make from scratch…

I disagree...Have you tried a MC pie?

I have no chickens to butcher and pluck...nor the time. :)

Yep. The fancy sounding name doesn’t impart any special qualities to the pie.

And, if you’re the lazy type, you can buy the chicken precooked, I suppose.

A cheats way of making the excellentest chicken pie in a long time.

Brown/sear boneless chicken thighs on the BBQ. Drop them in a pan with Campbell's Condensed Chicken Soup. Reduce it until it's the right thickness. Supermarket pre rolled pastry, you know the rest.

Your friends and family will be amazed at how talented you are in the kitchen :D

^^^ Now that sounds good....I'm def a dark meat fan.

It prob won't be on the bbq outside any more this year.

You don’t want to grill a chicken for a pot pie…

And Campbell’s cream of chicken… just say nope.

I was at an Amish Grocery and Bakery store last week and they had chicken, beef, and pork pot pies that they make on-site.
I bought a chicken one and it was good. The crust was different, but tasty when soaked into the gravy. :)

So..what is wrong with eating these?

Sounds like it was hand made, so why would you think I would have a problem with it?

I just don’t like mass-produced, processed crap from grocery stores.

Oh yes you do. Brown/seared at about 220 celcius to give it the maillard reaction. Cooked only a few mm in. You are only browning it.

Campbells is the good stuff. And in the theme of it, it has to be easy, and Campbells is right there on the supermarket shelf.

Next time there...I will try the pork pot pie. Never had a pork one.
I also bought a loaf of bread...bacon cheese...delicious lightly toasted with butter.

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There were some veggies in the CPP. You need a small bag of frozen peas, carrots and something else I can't quite remember. Wasn't celery although celery salt would be tasty. And I'd hate to think MC put lime beans in there. I hate LB's.

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Alas, I looked it up, there is celery in the recipe along with some onion. I just remember the carrots and peas.

Get creative and put some mini bell peppers in there; red, yellow and green. Gotta love a Cuisinart.

^^^ If there were lima beans in pot pies....I would never eat one again.

I have memories of picking the lima beans for my mother in the early 60's.
Pull the vines, pick the pods, unzip the pod, resulting in the worst tasting mealy bean ever.

Leeks is a good easy vegetable for a chicken pie.

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