Michelina's lean gourmet

Hey everyone this is my first post I have enjoyed the short time I have been on this site and it seems like there is a lot of good information on this site to make dieting much easier.

Any ways I have a quick question I have recently started eating Michelina's lean gourmet's twice a day and am surprised by how good they taste.

Would eating these three-five times a day with fruits and vegetables as sides be good for weight loss and not be harmful to my health? I imagine being frozen meals they do not have much in the form of nutrients so I would still be sure to eat plenty of natural foods.

Yeah, they taste decent, but most freezer meals like that have a whole lot of sodium.  Banquet also has some decent meals that are trying to approach a healthier stand, but again, lots of sodium.  I would recommend saving them for "emergency" meals, not as a staple.

aren't those meals generally just a bit of pasta some sauce and some kind of meat-like product?

you could whip up a batch of whole wheat pasta and some grilled chicken and grilled veggies, put them in some tupperware containers and freeze them every week.

I used to eat the lean cuisine, WW, and Michelina's meals before I started watching what I was eating.  They take no thought in the morning, which is nice.  But now, if I don't have time or energy to make something up, I'd rather go to Subway or a pita place for a chicken breast "meal" (pita, sandwich, or salad).  Lots of veggies with it, no extra salt, and not too much more money.  I find myself to be quite sensitive to the amount of salt I take in.

I don't think there's anything really wrong with the frozen dinners, but I like the other options better.  I wouldn't eat them more than a few times a week though.  Well, I haven't had one in several months now, but even if I was going to have one, it would be like once a week when I couldn't find anything else in the house.   I'm a big fan of leftover rice/salad and whatever protein we had the night before.

Clint

I don't see a problem in doing that. What with all the packaged food diets out there (Nutrisystem, Slim Fast, Medifast, etc.), why not a cheaper version to add to the list? It has a ton of sodium/preservatives and is pretty low on the nutrition scale, but I don't see anything wrong with it, so long as you (like you said) eat fresh fruits and vegetables along with it.

If you're young, I wouldn't worry so much about the sodium, although some of those meals tend to have a LOT more sodium than you really, truly need. I'd suggest what one of the other posters suggested: make your own meals. Cook a big batch of pasta, break them up into decent portion sizes and freeze them yourself. It's healthier, and you control what goes in your meal.

Much love and alohas
ihilani kapuniai

I agree with the other posters - maybe occasionally for "emergencies" but you do get sick of them after awhile and they are loaded with sodium.  I know there is one in the freezer at work right now (its a WW one) and it has 900mg of sodium in it!  So if you have 3 of those a day thats 2700mg alone - already 300mg over the daily recommended amount.  Then add in any other sodium you might have and you'll be looking at alot of water retention.

On the one hand, you could do a lot worse than a good-quality ready-meal - especially if you are aware that you need to eat really high-nutrition foods the rest of the time. I can appreciate that you are making positive changes in your life and making an effort to eat more healthily - that's great! If you were eating fast food before and are now eating lean gourmet meals, that is definitely a positive step forwards.

However, if you're going to go to the effort to prepare vegetable sides for your meals, in the time it takes the vegetables to cook you could practically prepare a much more nutritious home-made meal, where you know all the ingredients.

Homemade meals are so much better for you and your wallet. One of the things I hear again and again on CC is how expensive it is to eat well. Not true if you are willing to cook, or to learn how to use/assemble cheap ingredients so that they taste wonderful. The cost of ready-meals compared to the cost of their ingredients is so high that I would really recommend you invest in a cookbook that specialises in quick, healthy meals - trust me, there are millions out there! It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Quick salads, frittatas, fresh noodles with some protein/veg, stir-frys or a pasta meal takes no more than 10 minutes to make - probably not much longer than a ready-meal would take to nuke. If I'm hungry and tired and can't be bothered cooking properly I will often nuke a sweet potato (5-7 minutes) and top it with bean chilli or tuna, some cheese and maybe some veges on the side. Cheap, healthy and minimal effort. Another of my go-to's is half a can of drained, rinsed chickpeas. Add some spinach, chopped tomato and lots of lemon juice or herbs and my lazy meal is ready - but still totally healthy.

Soups, stews, braises, potato-top bakes, vege-loaded casseroles, curries, pasta sauces etc are all meals you can make cheaply, in bulk, and portion out and freeze. A lot of people here on CC cook up a couple of big batches of food on the weekend that will last them through the week.

My issues with ready-meals would be the following:

• they often contain processed foods with additives and preservatives
• high in sodium
• high in cost
• lack of quality ingredients or freshness of the ingredients
• not enough vegetables per serving
• uses much more plastic and packaging