frozen meals

Hey, do you think is is alright to eat those frozen meals like Smart Ones, or Healthy Choice? They have so much sodium?

Try this, this, and this.  I eat 'em occassionally (not those brands specifically, but TV dinners) and make my own whenever I've got bulk foods that I want used up.

I just deal with the sodium and drink extra water.  Not everyone will agree with me, though.

I don't think it's much different than going on NutriSystem. Instead of paying that much more for the frozen meals I'm doing a 2 month thing where I have lean cuisines for lunch and dinner.  Sometimes I have a salad or something instead but I have no portion control so I figured it would be a good way to re-train my body and hopefully when I've lost the weight I needed to I can go back to eating what I want for dinner at least but probably eat way less of that food. I think drinking a ton of water helps with the sodium part...I don't ever feel bloated or anything.

wow, yeah!  I am eating a frozen dinner now.... only 200 calories but 880mg (37%) sodium!!!!!  holy crap!

I really do like a lot of different frozen dinners, they fill me up, taste good and I always pick ones under or around 300 calories.  I've always had too much sodium/salt in my diet though, so I guess I need to work on that.

Are there reduced sodium frozen dinners???

Just this morning I made "Clean Out the Freezer" stew: a 1-lb roast, 3 1-lb bags of different frozen veggies, a can of tomato paste, a packet of onion soup mix and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Cube & brown the roast, throw it all in the crockpot and let it simmer for about 8 hours!  I even bought disposable plastic containers and when the stew cooled, I filled them up and put three in the fridge and two in the freezer.  Now I have lunch for the whole work week!  I did it because I love the ease of the frozen dinners (esp. Kashi and Lean Cuisine) but they all have so much sodium and I could really tell I was retaining water - this "stew" was an experiment and I think I'm going to make it again next weekend.  I even had enough for dinner tonight and it was surprisingly good with a few All-Bran crackers.  Good luck!

i hardly ever eat frozen meal foods. today i made an exception and ate some veggie lasagna my mom heated up. 1010mg sodium for a 1 cup serving :(

I kinda live off of them, with an active lifestyle it's hard to find time to cook alot. I'm no twatching my sodium intake too much, but if I ever start I'know I'll have to cut out a lot of frozen meals. I eat all types, lean cuisine, healthy choice, smart ones, south beach diet meals.

I eat frozen meals all the time! THough they're all home made. I just make extra of everything. If I'm cooking brown rice - I ake a bunch extra. If I'm cooking chicken breasts - I do a few extra. Freeze in containers - Thaw at work. I also buy bags of green giant Peas and mixed veggies and thaw those with the meal as well.

 

pasta, sauces, rice, soups, stews, chilis, meats, most things freeze pretty well.    

 

 

i usually keep a few in the freezer and rarely eat them.. fresh food is always a better choice i only eat'em when i'm all out of food or in a rush.. personally i think those 'smart ones' and other dietetic meals are a waste- the food is so high cal that they make up for it with tiny portions.. if you're gonna buy frozen meals i'd recommend amy's brand (vegetarian meals), usually lower in sodium than those brands and bigger portions =)

I don't particularly care for Smart Ones, although I think there's one that I do like.  Kashi makes them better (great fiber content too), Lean Cuisines are good, and I love the South Beach Living selections (the caprese chicken is great).

If you want to go organic, Amy's has really good selections.  Oh, and from a hungry-girl.com email today, I learned that the Amy's website actually has a suggested eating plan - using their entree's of course.  But not completely - a lot of it is regular food you prepare yourself supplemented by a few frozen meal selections:  http://www.amys.com/special_diets/diet_plan.p hp

I eat a frozen meal almost every day for lunch.  They're quick, easy, and I don't feel as "deprived" if I've eaten something warm .  If I eat a warm lunch, I can easily last until my 3:30 snacktime, whereas a cold lunch (like a sandwich & veggies) will have me jonesing for something gooey and fatty within an hour.

My favorites are Amy's--the pasta shells are incredibly good and feel really decadent, so they're my favorite by far.  Their enchilada meals are wonderful, too (and this is coming from a native Texan).  All the Amy's box meals--and the burritos--are excellent, but I stay away from their pizzas, which are just about flavorless and have a weird texture.

Because pizza is one of my weaknesses, I also eat Lean Cuisine pizzas fairly frequently.  My favorite is the chicken with roasted garlic.  MMMMMMmmmmmm....

Anyway, like cellulitedelight, I just eat the box lunch, drink a lot of water, and don't worry too much about the sodium--especially since the rest of what I eat isn't very high in sodium, generally.  It all balances out. 

Like everyone else here, I also have an incredibly busy schedule (note: not necessarily active) - so I find it easy and nice to be able to have a frozen meal ready to eat. If I attempt to cook, during the time I am cooking, I munch, and then munch some more and before I know it, I've munched all the calories I planned on eating. And I don't feel anywhere near satisfied after my munching, so then I eat the meal I made. Not a good way to keep calories in check.

In terms of the sodium, just drink plenty of water! Another thing I noticed with the high sodium, it dehydrates you, so what you do in reaction to that is drink a lot of water/fluids. If you are consistent about drinking fluids, you will feel full longer. So you can look at it as a bitter-sweet situation.

Some frozen meal portions are on the smaller side, but if you look hard enough, you will notice Lean Cuisine and SmartOnes have different options: i.e., dinner selects, cafe favorites, ect. If the portion you are picking out seems too small, look for the other options - and if those aren't available, eat an apple/salad with your meal. And yes, Kashi meals are great because of their high fiber - they will also keep you feeling fuller longer, and help keep your energy levels up.

Also, a new found favorite of mine is: Tabatchnik frozen soups. They even have low sodium options!! (http://www.tabatchnick.com/)  Now, you may have had these before, and usually one pouch (aka serving) is not enough for me, but if I find a low cal one (e.g., cream of spinach soup - one pouch = 90 calories) I will have that along with a meal. I even keep them at work in the freezer and keep a microwavable container nearby and just heat it up when I need something warm (when I've already had 4 mugs of tea) and filling. Try them out! 

Progresso soups are another option, but not all of them are good. Look for the Weight Watcher ones - 60 calories per serving. If you pour half the can into a small container before heating it up and still feel like thats not enough, have the whole can. it is only 120 calories! Or, if you don't want the entire can, and can deal with "bland" flavor,  add water to the half you pour into your container. You just made your serving that much larger, without adding the calories. =)

Also, for frozen meals, I noticed a colleague of mine freezing her yogurts. She said it helped her slow down while she ate it and she considered it a dessert. Not a bad idea. Especially if you already have a low cal yogurt that you like. 

 

The problems with sodium is that it can leach calcium from the bones! To counter high sodium, have lots of potassium (found in potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and milk) AND lots of calcium (to prevent bone loss).