whats your opinions on lean cuisine microwavable meals?

RobynMWilson

I can't stand them anymore and their portions are too small. What I do is cook up recipes from Gina's Skinny Taste (Google it) and freeze them for weeknight suppers...that way I'm controlling the ingredients, portions and I'm getting home cooked food. There's only so many frozen meals a person can take before they all taste like cardboard. And Lean Cuisine is way high in sodium and their chicken reminds me of McDonald's old McNuggets with pieces of gristle in them...yuk!

elle18287

In my opinion....If you just want a quick something to grab and go b/t going, going, going...I say go for it...It's much better than going through a quick drive through and messing up your whole day....I understand being to busy to cook so eat them when needed...It is also better than not eating at all by far!!

Agree. Much better than a Big Mac.

ccbennett2000

I used to stock up on Lean Cuisines and deli turkey until I realized just how much sodium and simple carbs these had. I don't touch them anymore and have found I can eat just a quickly and inexpensively if I prepare on Sundays for the whole week. I typically grill some extra chicken over the weekend and then use it as filler in a couple of go to options including salads, wraps or casseroles. I am following a low carb plan and so these may or may not work for you but here's my quick list just in case you find one or two winners:

100 calorie package of Wholly Guacamole of a Low Carb Tortilla (60 calories) with 2 T. of Garden Salsa (30 calories) and 2-3 oz of grilled chicken (100 calories). I usually pair this with an apple (60 calories). Other wrap options on the go: Spread a 35 calorie Laughing Cow wedge on a low carb tortilla - any flavor but I like the blue cheese wedge. I then top with 2-3 oz of grilled chicken and depending on my mood I will either add (a) a dash of hot sauce and a cup of raw spinach, (b) 2 T. of Mango salsa and a cup of raw spinach or (c) whatever low carb vegetables I might have roasted during the week and some sprays from a bottle of Wishbone vinagrette.

Make a curry chicken salad by shredding 4oz of chicken (110 calories) and mixing it with 1 green apple chopped up with peel (60 calories), 1 stalk of celery chopped finely (who cares), 1 t. lemon juice (ditto), 2 oz. of plain Greek yogurt (60 calories - I go light here because I like my chicken salad meaty vs. creamy) and then some salt, pepper and curry to taste. I eat this on lettuce and tomato if I have it or by itself if I don't. It can go on some Wasa crackers, celery or a low carb tortilla. I sometimes make a larger batch of the above recipe and add in reduced fat cheddar cheese and reduced fat cream of chicken soup. I then spoon it over a bunch of raw broccoli and bake for 40 minutes @ 350 degrees for a pretty decent family meal that reheats well if it's just you and you are in to leftovers.


I made a dozen hard-boiled eggs on Sunday and go ahead and peel them all. This way I can pull a couple for a quick lunch and/or slice some up to make a protein-packed salad. For example, 2 hard-boiled eggs (160 calories) that have already been peeled and pair them with an ounce (180 calories) of almonds or sunflower seeds, 3 cups of spinach, 1/2 oz. of blue cheese crumbles and some salad dressing spritzer.

Every Wednesday night, my family does BFD night (Breakfast for Dinner). You can't beat an egg white scramble or omelette with low fat cheese and veggies when it comes to filling up with something that is tasty and low in calories. Similarly, when I am lazy, we will have a spontaneous BFD night that includes cereal on top of yogurt with fruit for the kids and for me, I go with 5.3 oz of nonfat Greek Yogurt (160 calories) paired with 1 package of Sunny Cranberry Trail Mix (190 calories) which has golden raisins, cranberries, pepitas and almonds. It's made by Archer Farms (Target).

Hope some of these ideas help!

autumnk921

I used to stock up on Lean Cuisines and deli turkey until I realized just how much sodium and simple carbs these had. I don't touch them anymore and have found I can eat just a quickly and inexpensively if I prepare on Sundays for the whole week. I typically grill some extra chicken over the weekend and then use it as filler in a couple of go to options including salads, wraps or casseroles. I am following a low carb plan and so these may or may not work for you but here's my quick list just in case you find one or two winners:

100 calorie package of Wholly Guacamole of a Low Carb Tortilla (60 calories) with 2 T. of Garden Salsa (30 calories) and 2-3 oz of grilled chicken (100 calories). I usually pair this with an apple (60 calories). Other wrap options on the go: Spread a 35 calorie Laughing Cow wedge on a low carb tortilla - any flavor but I like the blue cheese wedge. I then top with 2-3 oz of grilled chicken and depending on my mood I will either add (a) a dash of hot sauce and a cup of raw spinach, (b) 2 T. of Mango salsa and a cup of raw spinach or (c) whatever low carb vegetables I might have roasted during the week and some sprays from a bottle of Wishbone vinagrette.

Make a curry chicken salad by shredding 4oz of chicken (110 calories) and mixing it with 1 green apple chopped up with peel (60 calories), 1 stalk of celery chopped finely (who cares), 1 t. lemon juice (ditto), 2 oz. of plain Greek yogurt (60 calories - I go light here because I like my chicken salad meaty vs. creamy) and then some salt, pepper and curry to taste. I eat this on lettuce and tomato if I have it or by itself if I don't. It can go on some Wasa crackers, celery or a low carb tortilla. I sometimes make a larger batch of the above recipe and add in reduced fat cheddar cheese and reduced fat cream of chicken soup. I then spoon it over a bunch of raw broccoli and bake for 40 minutes @ 350 degrees for a pretty decent family meal that reheats well if it's just you and you are in to leftovers.


I made a dozen hard-boiled eggs on Sunday and go ahead and peel them all. This way I can pull a couple for a quick lunch and/or slice some up to make a protein-packed salad. For example, 2 hard-boiled eggs (160 calories) that have already been peeled and pair them with an ounce (180 calories) of almonds or sunflower seeds, 3 cups of spinach, 1/2 oz. of blue cheese crumbles and some salad dressing spritzer.

Every Wednesday night, my family does BFD night (Breakfast for Dinner). You can't beat an egg white scramble or omelette with low fat cheese and veggies when it comes to filling up with something that is tasty and low in calories. Similarly, when I am lazy, we will have a spontaneous BFD night that includes cereal on top of yogurt with fruit for the kids and for me, I go with 5.3 oz of nonfat Greek Yogurt (160 calories) paired with 1 package of Sunny Cranberry Trail Mix (190 calories) which has golden raisins, cranberries, pepitas and almonds. It's made by Archer Farms (Target).

Hope some of these ideas help!

Love these suggestions....This may be a silly question but how long can cooked chicken last in the fridge?? All week? Just for future reference b/c I only cook for me and a VERY picky 3yr old so it won't go quickly...Thanks for any help!!!

ETA: Btw, it's great that you have your kids eating healthy as well...These ideas sounds delicious and I am sure my son would like some of them as well...You just don't see many people feeding their kids healthy these days just b/c of how busy life gets and b/c kids always like McD's....A little too much!!

EvEboEvie

Yuck. Also not enough food!

Impy84

the sodium alone is reason to avoid these.
Not saying for life but it should not be a regular option in anyones diet.

Enigmatica

I learned not to heat food in plastic when I developed severe endocrine imbalances a couple of years ago. Plastic food trays are full of chemicals that get into your food when you heat them. Between that and the high sodium/low nutritional value of most of those meals, no thanks.

Now I spend some time on the weekends "cooking ahead" to make my own quick and easy meals for later. It's so easy to roast some chicken or other meat, slice it up, use a food scale to weigh out desired portions, seal them in snack size zip-lock bags, and freeze them. I do NOT heat in the plastic bags. I put food into a glass or ceramic bowl for heating in microwave.

Combine with a variety of frozen veggies, make quick sandwiches or salads - I end up with a wonderful variety of good healthy food using this approach. And I'm in control of what's in there.

HMVOL7409

I haven't bought one in over 4 mths. I use to eat them a lot for portion control but when I started watching my sodium content and only eating whole wheat pastas etc, I got rid of them. They are ridiculous in sodium content, around 1000 mg for one dinner, and I just didn't find them nutritionally filling. I work late, go to school all day and workout 6 days a week so I'm pretty busy too but I rather pick something better over convenience.

Lambeze

Don't do it. The amount of Sodium is horrible. Just go ahead and put the extra work into making it fresh.

karylee44

chillies, soups, pot pies, all freeze well.. portion them out and make your own "dinners" .

Keiko385

they are not all the bad except for all the sodium, try "Healthy Choice" entrees as they do have less sodium. I still would try to eat not more than 1 or 2 a month

mstifb

I like Healthy Choice meals that I use for dinner and I use Slim Fast during my lunch and sometimes breakfast. Healthy Choice to me has lower sodium and overall I like the choices better.

MaraDiaz

Well, I for one can't stand them (see ticker)

:laugh: I feel that way about Smart Ones or whatever it's called. Two bites, scrape the inside of the container, go to the fridge to find more food.

pullipgirl

I eat the steamer ones occasionally they are okay if there isn't too much sodium

dls06

They are expensive, don't taste very good and aren't very filling.

You can find them on sale almost every week. I look for the sale and stock up.Can't make a meal for 2 bucks. Add a side salad some extra veggies and it's good for me.
I stay away from the pizza's and high carbs entrees

NoAdditives

They are expensive, don't taste very good and aren't very filling.

You can find them on sale almost every week. I look for the sale and stock up.Can't make a meal for 2 bucks. Add a side salad some extra veggies and it's good for me.
I stay away from the pizza's and high carbs entrees

Actually, when you cook from scratch, food is very inexpensive. I make meals for less than $1.50 a person and we eat very well.

Dave198lbs

Throw them away.

this

take some responsibility and eat real food. many people justify eating this crap by saying they are just too busy. thats bs. its because they are lazy

Wow. Judgemental much? I eat them. Not every day, but I eat them. I work outside the home and have two small children. Sorry if you don't consider that to be "busy" but I'm on the move from the moment my youngest wakes up (usually between 5-6am) to the moment they hit the sack. Don't judge a book by it's cover. You never know what a person's day is like.

Wow, yeah I'd say judgemental! Spend days on end at hospitals with ill family members, try to fit in exercise, work, laundry, all of the yardwork, home maintenance AND then come home and prepare a meal from scratch? Yeah, I guess on those days I'm lazy when it comes to my meal but there is such thing as mental and physical exhaustion and I pray you never get there!

Yeah there is no room for judgement here. Of course we all want to cook our meals from scratch each day and eat clean. This just isn't reasonable for 99% of people and I won't feel bad about that. Eat on frozen meal lovers, eat on.

you dont have to cook from scratch to avoid putting crap like lean cuisine in your body. a can of salmon or tuna and an apple or orange is faster than waiting for a lean cuisine to heat up and about the same price.

there is no excuse for putting this factory food with salt added into your body. none.

elle18287

Throw them away.

this

take some responsibility and eat real food. many people justify eating this crap by saying they are just too busy. thats bs. its because they are lazy

Wow. Judgemental much? I eat them. Not every day, but I eat them. I work outside the home and have two small children. Sorry if you don't consider that to be "busy" but I'm on the move from the moment my youngest wakes up (usually between 5-6am) to the moment they hit the sack. Don't judge a book by it's cover. You never know what a person's day is like.

Wow, yeah I'd say judgemental! Spend days on end at hospitals with ill family members, try to fit in exercise, work, laundry, all of the yardwork, home maintenance AND then come home and prepare a meal from scratch? Yeah, I guess on those days I'm lazy when it comes to my meal but there is such thing as mental and physical exhaustion and I pray you never get there!

Yeah there is no room for judgement here. Of course we all want to cook our meals from scratch each day and eat clean. This just isn't reasonable for 99% of people and I won't feel bad about that. Eat on frozen meal lovers, eat on.

you dont have to cook from scratch to avoid putting crap like lean cuisine in your body. a can of salmon or tuna and an apple or orange is faster than waiting for a lean cuisine to heat up and about the same price.

there is no excuse for putting this factory food with salt added into your body. none.

I eat them often for lunch and I rarely go over my sodium when I have them.

kmm7309

I also meant to add something else I do (it may or may not be feasible for you). I cook dinner 5-6 times a week. I cook for 3-5 people (sometimes stepkids and lots of guests!). I cook portions for 8-10 people. I put the difference in bags and freeze them into portions that I can count. Then I stick them in the microwave, and they are done pretty quickly. This might be a great alternative to lean cuisines if you are on the fence about some of the nutritional issues that they present. They last 2-4 weeks in the freezer, and taste delicious! Some things freeze better than others (for example, pasta freezes better than salad). This might be a quick alternative to setting aside a few hours a week to cook for yourself. It does only work really well if the family is eating healthy food!

One of my favorite frozen meals is wheat or veggie pasta (either works, but I lean towards veggie pasta for the bonus vegetable count) with Prego Veggie Smart Sauce and ground turkey cooked in. I set aside 1/2 Cup of noodles, 1/2 Cup sauce with meat in it. I don't know the calorie count, but you're looking at 3-5 servings of veggies in one meal, a handful of protein, and all deliciousness!

sofia0586

invest in a crockpot and spend one day a week prepping meals for the week (maybe while your baby is napping?). Freeze what you won't eat in the next day or two. Then take out what you want to eat the night before and either thaw it in the fridge, or put it in the crock pot overnight. You can google recipes or find a bunch here.

I started doing this a month ago and now I don't have to worry about eating healthy. My biggest enemy in eating healthy is time, so this helps me avoid that. Knowing I have a warm meal waiting for me when I get out of work stops me from popping in a frozen meal or even worse, stopping at a fast food joint for a greasy dinner.