Frozen Diet Meals & You

Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites Chicken Fettucine

“Roasted white meat chicken & pasta in an alfredo sauce.”

Calories: 250

Fat: 5 g

Sodium: 630 mg

WW Points Plus: 7

First Impressions: This one looks quite a lot like the package photo.  And it smells great right out of the microwave.

Gustatory Impressions:  Not bad at all.  the sauce is creamy and tastes pretty good, with a bit of a peppery finish to it.  The chicken is a little uneven… a few pieces were good, a few were a little tough.  The noodles were only the tiniest bit overdone.

Summary: This is a satisfying, tasty meal.  It’s not going to beat homemade pasta or alfredo sauce, but it’s more than edible.  If the chicken were a little better, or maybe if there was more of it, the rating would be a little higher.

Rating: 4 out of 5 forks

Lean Cuisine Culinary Collection Four Cheese Pizza

“A traditional crust with a blend of reduced fat mozzerella, parmesan,asiago & romano cheeses.”

Calories: 350

Fat: 6 g

Sodium: 580 mg

WW Points Plus: 9

First Impressions: Hey look, it’s a pizza.  Flip the box lid over, stick it on the crisping platform, and two and a half minutes later I have lunch.  A co-worker said, “That smells nice” but I think he meant “That smells nice for something I would never, ever eat in a million years,” so whatever.

Gustatory Impressions:  Tastes like a pizza.  The crust is good, and the sauce is good.  I couldn’t tell there were four cheeses on it, though.  Tasted mostly like low-fat mozzarella.

Summary: It’s a pizza.  If you are absolutely dying for some pizza, this, or any of the other Lean Cuisine pizzas will give you about an 80% level of satisfaction.  I don’t care for the weird over-hyping of the cheese, but otherwise I have no complaints.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 forks (Lost a half a fork for being boring and trying to sound like it wasn’t boring.)

Lean Cuisine Market Collection Salisbury Steak

“Salisbury steak with a portabello mushroom gravy,sour cream and chive whipped potatoes and honey glazed carrots.”

Calories: 270

Fat: 8 g

Sodium: 690 mg

WW Points Plus: 7

First Impressions: A mildly annoying muli-step cooking process that takes almost ten minutes yields a very yummy smelling, dinner-sized meal.  Doesn’t look much like the package but you could probably plate it up to a reasonable approximation if you had the inclination.

Gustatory Impressions:  The Salisbury Steak is quite good.  The gravy is savory and the mushrooms in it are quite nice.  The onions are a little rubbery, but not inedible.  The potatoes are also pretty good.  The “honey glazed carrots” are more “wet” than “glazed”, but they do taste good.  They’re cooked to a nice, crisp-tender consistency and you can taste the honey. 

Summary: This is another “30% MORE FOOD” Lean Cuisine, and it’s quite filling.  Mostly because there’s a a ton of carrots, but the Salisbury steak is a nice size, as well.  I would generally eat this one for dinner instead of lunch, but I’m running out of the smaller sized Lean Cuisines to review!  This meal isn’t super-exciting, but it’s quite filling and if you want a little more food than the usual LC, I don’t think you can go wrong here.  

Rating: 4 out of 5 forks

Author’s note:  My boss did interrupt me in the middle of lunch again, but this meal was good enough that I heated it back up for a minute and continued eating it.  Then I stole one of his candy bars. End author’s note.

Lean Cuisine Spa Collection Mediterranean Chicken

“Grilled white meat chicken,zucchini,tomatoes & whole wheat pasta in a tomato sauce.”

Calories: 240

Fat: 4 g

Sodium: 620 mg

WW Points Plus: 6

First Impressions: You have to cook this one for SEVEN AND A HALF MINUTES.  UG.  Smells good.  Looks nice when you FINALLY get to peel back the plastic and stir it up. Chicken pieces are smaller than pictured, though.

Gustatory Impressions:  The whole wheat pasta is actually edible!  Not very tasty, but not a gluey, lumpy mass either.  Chicken is good.  The zucchini is a little overdone.  The sauce is nice, too, a mild, almost sweet tomato sauce.  The cooked bits of tomato are gross.  And eat this one while it’s hot, because it doesn’t gain anything once it’s cooled off.

Summary: I didn’t finish this one.  But that had way more to do with my boss asking me to do something in the middle of eating it and having it turn totally cold so that I had about a half a container of cold wheat noodles left at the end of my lunch hour.  Eat this one.  It’s decent.  I’m just grumpy.  Now pardon me while go eat one of my boss’s Hershey Bars that he keeps “hidden” in the freezer here at work. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 forks (Would probably be 4 if I weren’t so pissy right now.)

Lean Cuisine Market Collection Grilled Chicken and Penne Pasta

“White meat chicken,penne pasta & vegetables in a garlic herb sauce with a caramel apple dessert.”

Calories: 340

Fat: 5 g

Sodium: 500 mg

WW Points Plus: 9

First Impressions: I do like when a frozen meal sees fit to treat me to dessert, but the scent of the main meal and the apples when you have to stir midway through cooking is not exactly appetizing.  Other than that, I can’t see anything wrong with this one at first glance.  The main portion of the meal looks quite a bit like the package art, except that the chicken bits are smaller in real life, and there appear to be fewer, and smaller, carrots.

Gustatory Impressions:  The chicken pieces, though small, are tasty.  The broccoli is excellent, crisp stalks and tender tops.  The carrots are small and fibrous and don’t really seem cooked all the way through. The pasta is a bit overcooked, but hey, it’s a Lean Cuisine, this is an expected thing.The “garlic herb sauce” is yummy, especially with the broccoli.  My favorite part of the whole meal was the caramel apple dessert, but I am overly fond of cooked apples so keep in mind that while I found it delicious, you might not.

Summary: This is a Market Collection meal, so no surprise it’s a pretty good one.  It’s also one of their larger, “30% More Food” meals, so it’s pretty filling.  And the low (for a frozen meal) sodium count is really nice.  It’s also only 5 grams of fat. If it weren’t for the weird carrots and slightly-overdone pasta, this would totally have gotten a 5-fork review.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 forks

Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites Chicken Enchilada Suiza

“Chicken Enchilada Suiza with a sour cream sauce and mexican-style rice.”

Calories: 290

Fat: 5 g

Sodium: 560 mg

WW Points Plus: 7

First Impressions: Nine minutes on half power, really???  OK, fine.  After cooking it smelled vaguely spicy.  The rice looked ok but the enchilada segment looked… not very appetizing. 

Gustatory Impressions:  The rice is fine.  A tiny bit spicy, and the corn and red peppers are a nice touch.  I found it a bit dry, though.  Luckily there was lots of sour cream sauce on the enchilada side to add a little moisture to it.  The enchilada itself tasted better than it looked.  The corn tortilla was quite good, and the chicken mush inside it, while looking a bit like cat food, was edible.

Summary: This is another one I’m not sure how I feel about.  Having never had an authentic enchilada suiza, I can’t say how close this was to the mark.  It was a decent enough meal, though not very spicy if you’re looking for that.  And it was strangely unsatisfying… after finishing it, I still wanted more food.  So, this one probably won’t come home, or to work, with me again.

Rating: 3 out of 5 forks

Lean Cuisine Culinary Collection Sesame Chicken

“Sesame breaded chicken tenderloins with pasta, green beans and red peppers.”

Calories: 330

Fat: 9 g

Sodium: 650 mg

WW Points Plus: 9

First Impressions: I didn’t have high hopes for this one, but it does smell good while it’s cooking.  Peeled back the film cover to find many smaller bits of chicken instead of the large pieces pictured on the box, but okay, it still looks pretty appetizing.

Gustatory Impressions:  The breading on the chicken is a little mushy, but it doesn’t taste bad, and the chicken itself is pretty good.  I tried eating the noodles without stirring the meal up first, and they were super-bland, just plain as heck.  But once stirred into the sauce from the chicken, they were okay.  At least they weren’t overdone this time, for a change!  The green beans and peppers weren’t great, but I appreciate the color element they added.  Lots and lots of sesame seeds in the sauce, so if you’re a fan, this one might be made for you.

Summary: Hmmm.  I’m a bit iffy on this one.  The mushy breading was the biggest negative, and the only real positive was the properly cooked noodles.  This won’t be added to my regular grocery list, but I might get it again sometime.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 forks

Lean Cuisine Culinary Collection Roasted Turkey & Vegetables

“Roasted turkey tenderloins and gravy, green beans with cranberries and slivered almonds. ”

Calories: 200

Fat: 8 g

Sodium: 580mg

WW Points Plus: 5

First Impressions: Wow, that’s an awful lot of green beans!  Not a whole lot of meat but that’s pretty par for the course with these meals.  After cooking, it smells great.  You could probably plate this one up to match the package art really nicely, if you were so inclined.

Gustatory Impressions:  YUM.  The turkey is fabulous, and the gravy is salty, but not overly so.  The little bits of mushroom in the mix don’t add much, but they don’t detract, either.  The green beans are crisp and the almonds add just the right note.  I don’t really see the need for the cranberries here, but they work just fine, giving a little bit of tartness to the vegetable section. 

Summary: Let’s be honest.  This meal should really be called “Roasted Turkey and Green Beans”.  I’ve never gotten this meal before because I’m not usually a fan of green beans in frozen meals.  Usually they are pretty gross, but in this one, they’re excellent.  And there are a ton of them!  It’s a lot of food for only 200 calories.  I will definitely be picking this one up frequently now.  This is why it’s good to try things even if you think you won’t like them… sometimes you’ll be surprised!

Rating: 5 out of 5 forks

Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites Fettuccini Alfredo

“Fettuccini pasta with a delicious Alfredo sauce made with Romano and Parmesan cheeses, cream and butter. Accented with black pepper and parsley.”

Calories: 240

Fat: 4 g

Sodium: 530 mg

WW Points Plus: 6

First Impressions:  Looks like noodles.  And sauce.

Gustatory Impressions:  Creamy sauce, noodles that are only the tiniest bit overdone, and bits of pepper and parsley to get stuck in your teeth.  It’s pretty bland.

Summary: Perhaps I didn’t get enough rest last night, or perhaps this lunch is putting me to sleep.  Whichever, this meal didn’t thrill me.  But it was edible and pretty filling for 240 calories.  Now pardon me while I curl up under my desk for a nap.

Rating: 3 out of 5 forks  (YAWN!)