I was checking out the Market in the Reamer Campus Center the other day, and I was very excited to see that they’ve introduced a beef stir fry to the UCook meal plan. For a meal swipe, you can get a bag of chips, a fruit cup or yogurt, a drink and plastic takeout container that has beef, broccoli and onions cut up and prepared for a stir fry, along with some brown rice and stir fry sauce.

I own a wok and I like making my own stir fries from scratch, so I decided I’d pick up the Reamer stir fry and give it a go. Upon first glance at the container, I realized that the beef is placed directly on top of the veggies, which is unsanitary, and a big no-no from the food preparation standpoint. It’s a little error that I’m sure the Market will correct, and it’s really my only criticism of the stir fry, aside from the serving size being a little bit small.

On the positive side of things, I like the addition of the brown rice as a healthier option as compared to white rice. The broccoli and onions were cut up nicely, and the beef is of good quality. The cooking time is also quite low – not counting the rice, which had to simmer for about 35 minutes, the time that I spent cooking the rice and beef was less than 15 minutes. While cooking the stir fry, I did add a few of my own ingredients – I marinated the beef in sesame oil, soy sauce and a bit of cornstarch. I also used sesame oil to stir fry the ingredients. Everything cooked up nicely, and I threw in some red pepper flakes that I had, which gave the food a nice bite. The sauce was a bit more gelatinous than I was expecting it to be, but it mixed into the rice and veggies well once it was heated a little bit by the pan. After I got done cooking it, I let two of my friends try some and they both thought it was really good, and I agree with them.

All in all, I think that the Reamer Campus Center Market’s beef stir fry is a great addition to the UCook menu, and I look forward to making more of it in the future. I definitely recommend it to anyone – for a meal swipe, you get a nice meal, and even if you just buy the stir fry container, it’s just $3.99. I believe this is a really awesome deal when you consider that you are actually getting a full meal that only requires some minimal assembly.