What do you think of froze diet foods?

24

Replies

  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
    Not worried about sodium. I'd just rather eat cardboard.
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
    Well I'm guilty of eating them. I use Lean Cuisine for my pizza fix and I used Healthy Choice complete meals for dinner at times. When cooking for my partner she wouldnt dare eat the healthy foods that I fix for myself so I get tired of doing complete meals, one for her full of calories but she weighs 105. Actually last nite she ate a whole chocolate pie for dinner 1800 calories. So I do use them for convenience if we arent eating the same food that day. i drink a lot of water so the sodium usually isnt an issue for me as I also take a prescription diuretic with my blood pressure meds.

    Freshly prepared foods are always best but I keep these in my freezer for times I need them.
  • Sharon009
    Sharon009 Posts: 327 Member
    They have a lot of sodium and make me retain water. However, I do keep a couple in the freezer for lunch at work for times when I'm too busy to do anything else and want to eat something low cal. But I dont eat more than one or two in one week and rarely eat any in a given month.
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
    Absolutely NOT!
    Filled with sodium.
    The portions are never the same, nor what they advertise.
    Preservatives and chemicals added..

    If I wanted a salt-lick, Ill eat my mother's cooking. If I wanted preprocessed garbage food, Ill eat my mother-in-law's cooking. LOL!

    Fresh foods are the only things consumed in my home..... I work as a chef (who has a medical background also) who firmly believes fresher the better...

    I was going to say something similar.

    Just cook extras and have left overs!!

    there is no such thing as left overs in my house. anything left over from dinner my husband will eat it after work. (he works 2nds) i hate it that he eats so late, but i can only control myself, not him.

    My husband is kind of the same way. I cook extra, take and portioni my meal out into a container and he can have the rest.

    And it makes no difference when someone eats during any period of the day. My husband woke up at 3 am this morning and ate some leftover chicken and vegetables that we ate last night for supper.

    There are only a few things I will eat the next day as leftovers, but in general... I only make enough for three servings: One for me, two for my husband.

    I do alot of bulk cooking as well to make individual frozen meals ahead of time. When I get up on Saturday morning, I just yank two days worth of food then one each day from that point on, because it needs a two-day thaw in the fridge... Home-cooked, made-from-scratch using only fresh foods, meals that can be reheated. If I have a day off, I dont take any of my made-ahead meals out, I cook fresh that day...
  • idaretodream
    idaretodream Posts: 27
    Frozen Diet Foods = BAD

    freshly prepared food = GOOD

    Freshly prepared foods frozen then taken out when needed.....just fine

    I cut chicken up cook it and bag it in 6 oz bags then put into the freezer...pull them out and use them in anything from salads to fajitas to just alone. Quick and easy.
  • infamousmk
    infamousmk Posts: 6,033 Member
    Every now and then I get stuck in the office, without leftovers or appropriate snacks. When I find a LC in the freezer that I left in there a couple months ago, I am very grateful for it. Other than that, I don't use them to assist in portion control or calorie minding ... they're just a reasonable convenience food when I'm stuck in an especially rough spot.


    And yeah, I buy them and throw them in the freezer at home and work, for just in case times.
  • candiada
    candiada Posts: 11 Member
    I have to say I bought some lean cuisines this morning, they were on sale. I don't think they should be consumed on a regular basis. I am currently in the middle of a kitchen renovation. Literally the middle. I am hoping it doesn't take as long to finish the second half as it has taken to get this far. Once It is done I am going to make healthy meals and freeze portion sized leftover, for lunches and quick meals. But mean while I am not going to be cutting any raw meat in my dining room. :smile:
  • jill___
    jill___ Posts: 188 Member
    They absolutely help you lose weight, but they are loaded with garbage! I think it's a good starting point if portion control is your problem.

    I dropped 26 lbs in ONE month by switching 2 meals a day to Lean Cuisines.

    I've completely cut out frozen/processed foods from my diet to actually get healthy, but Lean Cuisine meals definitely helped me in the beginning!
  • sexforjaffacakes
    sexforjaffacakes Posts: 1,001 Member
    I have them in the freezer, just so that if I come in and CBA cooking anything, I go for them instead of a take away or other convenience food. Don't eat them every day, they're just there for those days. Yknow. THOSE DAYS. Better than other ready meals/take away food.
    Weight watchers spaghetti bolognese is DELICIOUS, I eat that for a treat sometimes :L
  • Chrisborro
    Chrisborro Posts: 85
    I eat them about 2 times a week but only when i make my hubby a steak that is loaded with fat or one of his philipino dishes he loves.. Hes philipino.. Im not.. So i like to keep them on hand and just account for the extra salt in it and drink more water that day
  • RosaR2012
    RosaR2012 Posts: 1 Member
    Generally, I dont think theyre very good for you. Not to say that once in a blue I wouldnt have one if I have no choice. Although, yes I am worried about the sodium content. It is super high and are usually starchy foods, What I used to do instead of buying frozen dinners, is to buy the ingredients ahead of time for about a week or so, prep them & seperate into individual servings to pop in the freezer. Then I can just heat/cook it up when I need. It significantly cuts down on prep time when your ready to eat. Also, having some healthy snacks available so that I dont get anxious & just eat whatever until meal time.

    Ive been on this journey for about two years but since then gain much of the weight back due to lifestyle changes. Previously, I had a similar app to myfitnesspal and it helped to keep me focused. Downloading this one is a great booster and support system.

    Good luck to everyone! If anyone is interested, I began a wellness group/program which you can follow, comment & post. See: www.forwardmovementri.blogspot.com Ill be updating shortly.
    Paz!
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    I used to eat them but now I never touch the stuff! They lack adequate nutrition, are loaded with sodium and chemicals, and they never satified my appetite for more than 1-2 hours.

    Since becoming educated and committed to fitness (diet & exercise) I've pretty much eliminated all processed foods from my diet. I've never felt better!
  • lilithe1
    lilithe1 Posts: 30 Member
    I like the Smart Ones Lasagna in traditional meat. They are much more filling than most of the microwave meals. Look at the ounces on the box. If it's a 6 oz meal, it's not filling enough. I haven't checked the sodium on these yet as it's been a while since I had one and I wasn't tracking sodium then like I am now.
  • iuew
    iuew Posts: 624 Member
    i had one for lunch today. they were a staple of my weight loss, and i still eat them in my maintenance phase. they are heads and tails above what they were in the 80s and 90s.
  • thatsnumberwang
    thatsnumberwang Posts: 398 Member
    I'll buck the trend: YES. Are they the healthiest possible choice? Of course not. Are they a lot healthier than grabbing takeout or a muffin for lunch because you didn't have time to cook so you didn't bother bringing anything at all? Yup! I don't think they're the ideal long-term plan, particularly if you need to watch your sodium, but if you have a hectic schedule and don't have a lot of time to cook (or really hate it), I think you could be doing a lot worse.
  • rayleansout
    rayleansout Posts: 234
    totally agree - way to much sodium, and processed with god knows what else!
  • sylvuz323
    sylvuz323 Posts: 468 Member
    When I started my weight loss journey, frozen foods were a regular item on my menu. I think they helped with teaching me portion control plus forced me to include veggies or else I was hungry again. I knew I'd eventually have to cook for myself, but I lost a good 50 lbs. My favorites were the lean cuisine - pizzas and smart ones - chicken creamy rigatoni

    If I see them on sale, I will still buy them but i try to stay away from them since I knew it wasn't the best for me.
  • Just_Bethy
    Just_Bethy Posts: 272
    They were great for me when I first started...My problem was portion control and they really did help there...As I got better and used to that I then started looking at what was in what I was eating and slowly started replacing them with fresh food...I haven't had a frozen dinner for 5 months now I bet..I wouldn't hesitate to go back to them if I got out of control again though. Yeah woo sodium is high...like its worse than what us heavier snack laden people were doing before...?! Do what works for YOU!!!! When you have lost a bit of weight..and got the hang on the small portions..then look closer and take another step towards your goal of healthier eating! x!
  • chefbrina
    chefbrina Posts: 18
    I eat them at work sometimes ( which I admit, I feel terrible about as a chef!). But one of my biggest issues is portion control. Mostly when the buffets from lunch come back ( all of the sauces loaded with cream and butter). Nothing we prepare is very healthy. Delicious, but not healthy. But if I eat a lean cuisine with a fruit or a salad, it keeps me from pigging out. My nutritionalist told me that as long as I keep to the ones that have a good balance of protein to carbs and drink plenty of water, that she had no problem with me using them as a meal supplement.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    I keep a couple of them in the freezer. While I prefer cooking meals and will even eat leftovers, sometimes things happen and I need to fall back on them. I maybe have one twice a month, but I would prefer them then to fall back on what I used to. Personally, I could never eat them all the time and I DO have to balk them up with some vegetables.

    It's about moderation and doing what helps YOU succeed. If keeping them on hand for a fast meal helps, then that is what you need to do. It's better then falling back on going to McDonalds and getting a cheeseburger, quarter pounder with cheese, fries, and a sweet tea (yes, that is what I used to get at McDonalds and often multiple times a week).
  • klmnumbers
    klmnumbers Posts: 213 Member
    I try to eat fresh, but I am a pretty terrible cook. And it's hard to beat convenience when you get home late and you are just too exhausted to cook. In the long run, fresh is indeed better for you - but you can still lose eating prepared foods. Monitor your calories and try to limit your other sodium intake, etc.

    I don't tend to eat lean cuisines anymore (if I eat frozen, it's generally some delightful trader joe's indian food or something else). But when I did, Santa Fe Style Rice & Beans was the best!
  • loved1
    loved1 Posts: 206 Member
    I keep some Lean Cuisines in the freezer and have started eating them a couple times a week for lunch for convenience and variety. I drink a ton of water/tea during the day so I don't worry about sodium. I was eating a lot of salads for lunch and I got bored. Realistically, most of what I might buy for lunch (sandwich at Subway or Au Bon Pain) if I went to the cafeteria or a restaurant would be high calorie and higher sodium than the Lean Cuisine meals.

    I also had used them as an extra meal when I was pregnant and on bedrest.

    I will only eat certain foods as leftovers - foods like lasagna, or stews that tend to get better with time in the fridge as the flavors mingle. Things liked baked chicken/fish I end up throwing out because I prefer it freshly cooked.
  • hadapurpura
    hadapurpura Posts: 67
    No. Homemade food FTW. If I want a lifetime change, I need to get lifetime habits. Plus, this whole counting calories/getting healthy/lean is making me learn to cook, so yay personal growth for me.
  • sonjawi
    sonjawi Posts: 46
    I use them, they help me monitor my weight and are convenient. Good enough for me. Now start the bashing,please :).
  • karinaes
    karinaes Posts: 570 Member
    Absolutely NOT!
    Filled with sodium.
    The portions are never the same, nor what they advertise.
    Preservatives and chemicals added..

    If I wanted a salt-lick, Ill eat my mother's cooking. If I wanted preprocessed garbage food, Ill eat my mother-in-law's cooking. LOL!

    Fresh foods are the only things consumed in my home..... I work as a chef (who has a medical background also) who firmly believes fresher the better...
    :happy:
  • rhce40
    rhce40 Posts: 201 Member
    i eat them when i don't have time to cook anything else or go to the cafeteria
  • Fashionista012
    Fashionista012 Posts: 51 Member
    jenny craig, nutrisystem, optifast, medifast, all this pre-made food and shakes and stuff is all the same...just more expensive. if you don;t have the time or money or need to not think about food and meals, they are actually pretty awsome. and if you do it right ( i havent been so much) but if you do, the sodium gets less than your daily allowance most of the time. the portions are a bit small for me, so I bulk them up with extra veggies, salads or those shirataki noodles. I add them to the pastas. i like lean cuisine and weight watchers. not sure about the weightloss yet, but if people lose on jenny and nutrisystem, I can't imagine why they wont lose just buying the food themselves. they are all tasty, i love the pizzas and pastas the best. lean cuisine paninis are great. good luck!
  • Minnie_Moo
    Minnie_Moo Posts: 239 Member
    When they are on sale, I buy some and keep them in the freezer. I do eat them every so often as long as I make a side salad and extra veggies to have with them..........But they have a lot of salt :frown:
  • daniellelynne1
    daniellelynne1 Posts: 1
    I agree. Everyone has a different lifestyle and if frozen meals fit in the best then who is anyone to judge. I personally use to eat them everyday because I am a teacher and only had about 10 minutes to eat and most of the time my eating involved doing other activities; these meals made it easy. I do not however buy them anymore. They are expensive and the sodium is too high. I personally do not add salt to anything and I not like to see my meals filled with it. To each his own and eat what is right for you and fits in best with your everyday life.
  • sonjawi
    sonjawi Posts: 46
    When they are on sale, I buy some and keep them in the freezer. I do eat them every so often as long as I make a side salad and extra veggies to have with them..........But they have a lot of salt :frown:

    I don't know...healthy steamers, Lunch Steamers - Sundried Tomato Chicken Sodium 290 mg. That is a lot of salt?
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