Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’m always a bit sorry when I have to give a product a four star review or less. I consider myself a very fair reviewer and a honest one. Since I was a kid I’ve enjoyed Marucan cup of soup, they call it instant lunch, as well as a different brand. I have them in the house all the time and enjoy them when I’m lazy or alone. I have Parkinson’s disease and I’m very limited in what I can prepare for food. I do have an aide who does prepare some nice dinners when she is here four days a week for four hours a day. I could have her more often but I enjoy my alone time more. When I ordered these here at Amazon it was mainly for convenience. The aide who does the cooking also does my shopping and I try to make it easier for her. The twelve pack of the Maruchan arrived quickly and immediately the shipping box was broken down and the twelve individual cups were placed where I would be able to reach them easily. To be honest I almost forgot them and only remembered them on a day my aide called in due to a blustery and snowy day. Going through the cabinets to see what I should eat and came across these. I usually have two of the soups if I don’t have anything to go with them and one if there will be something. There’s nothing better than a bowl of soup accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich. I had the soup, I had the white bread, I had butter and of course I had cheese. I put the kettle on to boil some water while I prepared the sandwich. The sandwich looked great and I left it on the grill to keep warm while I prepared the soup. The minute I pulled the foil back on the soup I didn’t recognize it. There was something definitely wrong. The noodles actually looked so bleached out it reminded me of dry straw. I figured it was a bad cup and prepared a second cup only to find this cup looked exactly like the first one. I went ahead and finished preparing the soup. I remember when the boiled water was poured over the noodles your nose was filled with the smell of chicken soup. Not this time. I resealed the cup and covered it with a small plate to let it brew. About three or more minutes I unsealed the soup expecting a big cup of noodles and that fragrance of the chicken with the little green peas and corn. What I was presented with was a cup of hot water, noodles which hadn’t expanded and a almost clear soup. Even after a couple of minutes trying to get the noodles loose so they could expand and blend them into the soup the noodles remained hard and brittle and maybe one pea and a couple of corn pieces floated to the top. This cup of soup ended up in the disposal. The second cup I prepared was somewhat better but not as good as I remember it being. To be absolutely sure that it was just not a couple of bad cups I tried to prepare a couple of more and ended up with the same results. I knew I could of sent them back to Amazon but because of the price and the trouble repacking I through them in the trash. I’m only guessing here but maybe it’s because Amazon carries such large amounts of the same product, the dated merchandise may have made it through the shipping process. The very next time my aide went shopping, I had her pick up a couple of individual cups of the same Chicken Flavor. After preparing them they were delicious. Once again, I hate writing bad reviews but I really didn’t want others to have the same problems.