Sun-Bird Sweet & Sour Seasoning (.87oz Packet)

The Sun Bird Sweet and Sour mix packet I purchased had a recipe for sweet and sour pork on the back. I liked the idea. I also liked the relatively low sodium level for a mix. The instructions were printed in extremely small type, and I had no idea what I was getting into when I purchased the rest of the ingredients--pork, an onion, a green pepper and two carrots. I saw soy sauce, canned pineapple, catsup, cornstarch and sugar mentioned, but I always have those things on hand.By the time dinner was ready, I'd spend twenty minutes slicing, peeling and chopping, and had dirtied three bowls, two whisks, two measuring cups, a slotted spoon, a wooden spoon, a pair of tongs and my wok. I'd also used a LOT of cornstarch and another twenty minutes mixing the pork marinade (which called for 2 T of soy sauce, upping the sodium content considerably), mixing the sweet and sour sauce, marinating the pork, trying to brown the wet pork, removing the pork, adding the vegetables, adding the sauce back along with the pineapple, stirring frantically while the sauce was reducing and trying to judge when the sauce was thick enough. I was exhausted, the sink was full of dirty bowls and utensils and the kitchen was HOT.The chopping and the dirty wok go with the territory of Oriental cooking and I expected them, and I knew I'd have to make a pot of rice, but I certainly didn't expect to have to work so hard nor provide so many of the sauce ingredients to make dinner from a mix. I wouldn't complain if the results had been spectacular, but they weren't. Dinner was just OK. The finshed dish was bland and I added some red pepper flakes to perk it up. I must say I was disappointed both in the method and in the results. I've made sweet and sour pork from scratch before; it was only a little more work than this sauce packet recipe and the flavor was a lot better.It wasn't terrible, hence the two stars, but certainly not worth the time and effort. I'll stir fry with orange juice and soy sauce before I'll use this mix again. And in future, I'm going to read the back of packets much more carefully!