Frozen meals...work of the devil or heaven sent?

I eat Lean Cuisines for lunch for convenience, you gotta watch the Soium in them, if you eat 3 a day your sodium will be really high, otherwise they are a good option, but if you can do Home Preparered its definately better

I often eat the "weight watcher" frozen meals, usually on a non-exercise day as they are low in calories.

I have to say that I never have any problem with my sodium levels, my daily totals are around the 1,100 mark.

The thing is, it all depends on a persons lifestyle and how busy they are, how many days per week they work and how long for etc etc.

It is better that somebody were to eat a frozen meal than crap out of the chocolate vending machine, let's just say that

I know that frozen/processed options aren't always the healthiest route for a healthy lifestyle, BUT I am a fan of frozen entrees for the following reasons:
1. Convenience - easy and quick; no fuss means less of a chance I'll grab something unhealthy
2. Portion Control - as a consistent overeater, these entrees are perfect. No more double portions!
3. Variety - like most of us, I get bored quickly of eating the same items each day. Frozen entrees come in such a wide variety that I can choose my meal based on my mood and not be stuck with chicken and veggies every meal
4. Nutritional Info - no more guesstimating how many calories or carbs I'm eating, the info is right there on the box!

Hope this helped! Best of luck to us all on our weight loss journeys!

They aren't so bad, just gotta watch the sodium (a lot of the entries in the database don't list it, since the package will list salt rather than sodium content), if you eat them a lot that is.

They aren't terrible, but they shouldn't be your first choice. My biggest concern here, is that for the calories in them, they are a pretty small volume of food, which may leave you hungry and eyeballing the vending machines. It would be for me, at any rate.


If this is a recurring thing for you, I would recommend making some of your own frozen meals in advance (for example, have a big cooking session on a day off, portion, and freeze the meals). That way you know what's in them, you can most likely get more food for the same calories, and they will be cheaper in the long run.

I rely on them for many of the reasons you mentioned and outlined above. Most of the time I prefer to being leftovers from a previous night's dinner for lunch, but if there are none, I keep a few of these in the freezer. I do not find them to have exceptionally high sodium (and for many people sodium is not something they need to significantly restrict anyway) or a lot of scary ingredients (another reason people mention to avoid them). I do find them to leave me a little hungry, so a lot of times I will also include extra protein (I keep grilled chicken strips in my fridge at home) or go to the work cafeteria and get a salad or extra veggies to supplement, or bring a yogurt for later.

I also like the frozen breakfast options, the Special K sandwiches, the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage and egg white bowl, etc. I alternate between those and a Greek yogurt during the week.

I regularly include frozen or prepackaged good as part of my meals. Last night I had a frozen cafe steamer of pasta and veggies. I added spinach and meatless meatballs. I often have microwaveable rice, and beans and frozen broccoli.

I don't see anything wrong with convenience. Eat a michelinas and have an apple for a snack. Add in some fresh or frozen veggies. Cook when you can. Just make it work.

they are nice to have for days when you don't want to cook

IMO, Both. Home-made food tastes better and is healthier (and can also be pre-portioned) but the Lean Cuisines are very handy, will help with portion control and have calories listed for people who are counting.

I used to eat a lot of frozen dinners. I cut them out and make my own stuff now. But I totally understand why people like them.

If you like them, that's what you should eat!!

JTick wrote: »

I eat them occasionally, especially when I'm craving something that's hard to make in a single serving. For instance - Stouffer's lasagna.

This^

or Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo ....yum.

Where I find most frozen meals lacking is veggies. I will steam some broccoli, green beans, or whatever to add to my dish. Fruit makes a nice add on for dinner meals. Gotta get my fiber in.

Slaite & Melimom....beat me to it!

I eat one of these almost every week day. I try to stick to Healthy Choice because they are a little lower in sodium but I eat Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones too. I try to pair it with maybe a Greek yogurt and some raw fruit or veggies. I like the portion control and the convenience of them.

I don't eat them very often, but that is more due to the fact that very few actually fill me up as is and the fact that there are so few I can actually have due to food restrictions due to medical reasons. That said, they are not the worst thing in the world to eat and I keep a few on hand for those days where cooking is just not going to happen.

I do prefer to make my own frozen meals though. Get some decent containers and make meals that are more then the number of servings you need. Pack and freeze. Homemade food with the convenience of a frozen meal. Heck ya!

LOL Not the work of the devil. I think most don't offer enough vegetables to get in the required number of servings, so if I were eating them regularly I'd snack on fresh fruit or vegetables to fill in the gaps. I've never had any I liked the taste of enough to eat with any regularity, but if you like them, they certainly are convenient.

I used to eat it, but I found that for a little more effort, I could make something tastier and more filling.

I sometimes eat Lean Cuisine dinners in a pinch. I usually buy the cannelloni and as many bags of steam-in-the-bag veggies, such as string beans, as dinners. I dump the steamed veggies into the sauce to bulk up the meal without adding a lot of calories.

What I've found I like better is cooking a side of salmon, dividing it into 6 oz portions in freezer containers, and thawing those for dinner, also with a bag of frozen veggies to steam in the microwave. That way I always have fish and veggies available for dinner without last minute shopping or planning. I also keep small containers of cooked barley or quinoa in the freezer if I need to add some complex carbs - depends on what I've had the rest of the day.

Another dinner in a pinch is egg and bean salad. I usually have eggs and canned beans in the house, so I chop a couple of hard boiled eggs and add them to a can of drained, rinsed beans, such as cannellini or navy beans. With some type of onion, depending on what's in the fridge, and tomato, cucumber, or celery, again, depending on what's in the fridge, and balsamic vinegar or other low cal dressing, it's another healthy dinner that doesn't require much shopping or planning. If I have herbs, I add those too for flavor.