Lean Cuisine Meals etc

I pack my leftovers into take-to-work containers right after dinner so it's just as easy to grab as a box. I freeze portions of larger batches, too, but I have an extra freezer. I also sometimes have a lean cuisine (actually like a couple of the pizzas) and I can always manage to work in a Michael angelo's eggplant parm because that's a treat for me. Love it when they go on sale! I think I would avoid eating a processed meal every day, 5 times a week, though. It's a heck of a lot of salt.

It depends on what your goals are. Frozen foods aren't gonna kill you, but the sodium tends to be on the higher side. My fingers swell and I feel like crap when I have too much. You'd just have to make sure to get balance with the rest of your day. Also, I find that they are not very filling. If you want to eat more, for the same amount of calories I'd just cook in big batches over the weekend, and make your own individual meals, like someone already suggested.

True, the Lean Cuisines aren't too bad on sodium. I think most of them are pretty tasteless, though. I wish they appreciated garlic more! I do have a dry green chile/garlic mix that does wonders for frozen food!

People always knock frozen meals for sodium. But most Lean Cuisine's I have eaten have between 400-600 mg. I think they are lower than they use to be.

I can get more sodium than that with a salad or a sandwich. Dressing is high in sodium as if I add 1/2 oz of cheese, croutons and/or sunflower seeds. Or course lunchmeat, cheese, condiments and bread are also high in sodium.

true

I totally agree and I really don't understand why people think they are so high in sodium. If you put sauce on a bowl of pasta, you get more sodium than in most Lean Cuisines! On the other hand, they are highly processed. I love them in a pinch though.

Yes, they can be low calorie and convenient, and even may have less sodium than some of the traditional microwave dinners, but they are overly processed, and there's so many additives and chemicals in the ingredients list that aren't even close to being as healthy as whole foods. Also, say you have one for 300 calories.. usually, the small portion of Lean Cuisine would be less filling for those 300 calories than if you cooked a "whole foods" meal for the same amount of calories (such as lean protein like chicken or tofu + veggies + brown rice).

It probably won't slow down your weight loss since you'd still be watching calories, but it's just not optimally healthy. It won't necessarily "hurt" you but cooking meals to take would definitely be healthier and cheaper.. win/win.

It's easier than it sounds. Just pick something very simple that you can cook a large amount of at one time, then portion it into containers for the work week and freeze them. Then each day for work all you have to do is grab one! There's a couple videos on youtube showing people how to cook a week's worth of meals in this way without it taking a long time.

I will say I love the Lean Cuisine spring rolls, and I have them once every two - three weeks as a part of my "fun" dinner.

Typically though I personally don't think they are doing you any favors. I'm biased though b/c I do prefer to make a lot of my food at home. What I do is cook ahead and freeze and then I always have leftovers to take for lunch that don't take any longer to heat up than a freezer meal.