Frozen dinners?

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briscogun
briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Have a new job that isn't friendly to my diet. Anyone have any suggestions for good healthy frozen dinners I can bring with me? Thanks!
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Replies

  • hannahsadler_tn
    hannahsadler_tn Posts: 77 Member
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    The Lean Cuisine Marketplace and Culinary Collection lines of frozen meals are actually very good, IMO. From the ones I've tried, they vary in calories from 250-310 and some of them have over 12 grams of protein. As with most frozen meals, they're high in sodium but I just make sure to drink a lot of water to compensate.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I like Healthy Choice Steamers. I opened a package yesterday and I saw green! The dinner actually had a fair amount of veggies (broccoli). I look for protein counts in the high teens/low 20's.

    That said, I think most dinners are made for ladies (sorry). You are going to have less variety of meals with a good calorie count for you. Plan on bringing a side dish and a piece of fruit.

    Lean Cuisine & Healthy Choice have good websites. LC let's you sort by nutrition stats, protein, sodium, etc:

    https://www.leancuisine.com/products/search?orderBy=Calories

    I would try Stouffer's (red box) & Marie Callender's too.
  • hannahsadler_tn
    hannahsadler_tn Posts: 77 Member
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    I used to eat the Healthy Choice Steamers and they are good! I just got burnt out on them. I'll have to pick some more up on my next grocery run. Thanks for the reminder, @TeaBea
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    @Batemama I agree with your idea, but I've been working 12+ hour days 6 days a week, and with only one day off to do everything I need to do, its hard to spend it in the kitchen making food just for me (family of 5). I barely have enough time in the AM to make my turkey sandwich and throw some yogurt and a banana in a sack for lunch!

    @TeaBea yes I think you're right, mostly a female market for these. But I did see that Stouffer's has a Fit Kitchen line of meals that seem to be gender-neutral, so I may try to grab one of those.

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
  • queenofpuppies
    queenofpuppies Posts: 189 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I like the amy'sfood options in the natural food section...the Indian food and the lasagnas are awesome...but I've also discovered lean pockets recently and they are pretty on point http://www.amys.com/products/product-categories/entrees
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
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    brian_gunther wrote: »
    @Batemama I agree with your idea, but I've been working 12+ hour days 6 days a week, and with only one day off to do everything I need to do, its hard to spend it in the kitchen making food just for me (family of 5). I barely have enough time in the AM to make my turkey sandwich and throw some yogurt and a banana in a sack for lunch!

    @TeaBea yes I think you're right, mostly a female market for these. But I did see that Stouffer's has a Fit Kitchen line of meals that seem to be gender-neutral, so I may try to grab one of those.

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

    I love lean cuisines and healthy choice meals. They are quite small though and never fill me up but taste good. What kind of job do you have?! I couldn't handle 12+ hours 6 days a week AND you have kids. I am so sorry, you must be exhausted.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,388 Member
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    I second the Amy's meals. They have several options and so far I have loved every single one except one, and that was still preferable to any other frozen meal I've ever had.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    I usually have a frozen dinner... Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, etc. They are often around the 230 - 300 cal range and have anywhere from 13 - 20 g protein. (My favs are Thai Peanut Chicken and Spicy Szechuan) I often will cook 5 chicken breasts on Sunday and then take an extra breast with me each day, cutting up the chicken into the dinner. It makes it a larger portion and adds additional protein.

    Works great!
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    brian_gunther wrote: »
    @Batemama I agree with your idea, but I've been working 12+ hour days 6 days a week, and with only one day off to do everything I need to do, its hard to spend it in the kitchen making food just for me (family of 5). I barely have enough time in the AM to make my turkey sandwich and throw some yogurt and a banana in a sack for lunch!

    @TeaBea yes I think you're right, mostly a female market for these. But I did see that Stouffer's has a Fit Kitchen line of meals that seem to be gender-neutral, so I may try to grab one of those.

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

    I love lean cuisines and healthy choice meals. They are quite small though and never fill me up but taste good. What kind of job do you have?! I couldn't handle 12+ hours 6 days a week AND you have kids. I am so sorry, you must be exhausted.

    Ha! Well, not quite 12 each day, but close. 9-12 most days, but it can go 13+ on bad days. I'm in a commissioned sales role, so if I need to stay to make a sale, I stay. Today I'm on 9AM-9PM, but if things get goofy I've been known to stay until 10:30PM or later. It makes it hard to plan my meals and meal periods because if I'm in the middle of a sale, my food needs to wait. So there have been days I get home late and I'm so hungry I start plowing through everything not nailed down. That's why I thought having a few frozen dinners around would keep me on track better (I've put on almost 10 lbs since I started this job 2 months ago so need to get back on some sort of track here).

    Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm going to try and pick up a few of them today and have them on hand for the bad days. Thanks!
  • Linzon
    Linzon Posts: 294 Member
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    When I eat frozen meals I usually stick with Lean Cuisines because of the price, but next time Health Choice Steamers are on sale I'm loading up. The one I tried actually looked like the picture on the box and didn't taste half bad!

    I tend to pair them with a salad or some fruit since they're never quite enough for me.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Evol and Amy's in the natural foods frozen section. Aldo PJs burritos and Kashi.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm actually eating a Stouffers Fit Kitchen meal as I write this. It's pretty tasty! 30g of protein and 460 calories. I also grabbed a lasagna dinner from Atkins I think? Looked good so why not.

    Some of the Lean Cuisines have just too few calories for me! I try to eat about 500 calories a meal, give or take, and then have a snack (or 2!), and those LC's are really skimpy, so I'm afraid I'll be hungry in like 2 hours!

    Thanks everyone!
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I eat a Marie Callender now and then, way more food than a Lean Cuisine and usually 450-500 calories. Too much sodium of course. I make it a rare treat not a habit. Amy's are a little pricey for me, plus I'm a meat eater.
  • pie_eyes
    pie_eyes Posts: 12,965 Member
    edited June 2016
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    I like Healthy Choice Steamers. I opened a package yesterday and I saw green! The dinner actually had a fair amount of veggies (broccoli). I look for protein counts in the high teens/low 20's.

    That said, I think most dinners are made for ladies (sorry). You are going to have less variety of meals with a good calorie count for you. Plan on bringing a side dish and a piece of fruit.

    Lean Cuisine & Healthy Choice have good websites. LC let's you sort by nutrition stats, protein, sodium, etc:

    https://www.leancuisine.com/products/search?orderBy=Calories

    I would try Stouffer's (red box) & Marie Callender's too.

    Yassss Healthy Choice
  • gentlygently
    gentlygently Posts: 752 Member
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    Your new job sounds very hard work ! Good luck with it...

    Why not do a mix - have some ready made meals, sure. But if you or whoever are already cooking a big family meal - why not ask them/plan youself to make it extra big or even double size a couple of times each week, and freeze the leftovers in portions. It's not much more effort if you are cooking already...and much healthier.



  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
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    I make my own-- batch cook on the weekend, then freeze meals for the week. Bought a bunch of covered freezer-meal type trays on Amazon.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    gentlygently wrote: »
    Your new job sounds very hard work ! Good luck with it...

    Why not do a mix - have some ready made meals, sure. But if you or whoever are already cooking a big family meal - why not ask them/plan youself to make it extra big or even double size a couple of times each week, and freeze the leftovers in portions. It's not much more effort if you are cooking already...and much healthier.



    This is a good idea! Just cook larger portions. Some meals this wouldn't work, but others it could be a good option!

    Thanks!
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    brian_gunther wrote: »
    gentlygently wrote: »
    Your new job sounds very hard work ! Good luck with it...

    Why not do a mix - have some ready made meals, sure. But if you or whoever are already cooking a big family meal - why not ask them/plan youself to make it extra big or even double size a couple of times each week, and freeze the leftovers in portions. It's not much more effort if you are cooking already...and much healthier.



    This is a good idea! Just cook larger portions. Some meals this wouldn't work, but others it could be a good option!

    Thanks!

    Yeap, that's how I do it these days. I tend to work 12-16 hours per day, so premaking larger meals on the weekend, and diving them into smaller containers is a major time saver.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    Gallowmere1984 wrote: »
    brian_gunther wrote: »
    gentlygently wrote: »
    Your new job sounds very hard work ! Good luck with it...

    Why not do a mix - have some ready made meals, sure. But if you or whoever are already cooking a big family meal - why not ask them/plan youself to make it extra big or even double size a couple of times each week, and freeze the leftovers in portions. It's not much more effort if you are cooking already...and much healthier.



    This is a good idea! Just cook larger portions. Some meals this wouldn't work, but others it could be a good option!

    Thanks!

    Yeap, that's how I do it these days. I tend to work 12-16 hours per day, so premaking larger meals on the weekend, and diving them into smaller containers is a major time saver.

    I've done this for 8 years now. Total lifesaver. I just grab whatever meal that I'm in the mood for (they're all within a 100 calorie range) and eat that.

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