I remember when I was a kid and we had “frozen dinner” night every Friday. My mother would take all three kids to the grocery store and we would get to pick out our frozen dinner. I remember always choosing fried chicken with some kind of apple cobbler dessert…likely a Swanson’s dinner. (You couldn’t pay me to eat this now!). Years ago, there were not many dinners to choose from. Times have changed. Depending upon the store you go to, there can be hundreds of options ranging from Italian, “spa”cuisine, South Beach, Indian, vegetarian, etc.

Since frozen dinners  are processed and tend to contain high amounts of sodium, I do not recommend eating them everyday. However I see no problem with eating them several times a week - especially if you supplement with extra vegetables. They are certainly a better choice than most take-out dinners you would normally order. For a comparison, check out my posts on Take-Out Chinese and Japanese food.

The pros of frozen dinners:
1. Convenient for someone with a busy schedule who does not have time to cook.
2. Portion controlled and therefore a much lower calorie choice than other take-out foods (ie. Chinese, pizza, etc.)
3. Less expensive than dining out.
4. Easy and quick to prepare. Your dinner can be ready in 5 minutes.
5. There are a wide variety of frozen dinners to choose from.

Suggestions for chosing a frozen dinners
1. You need to find one you like! Some taste great while others are barely edible.

2. Make sure you scrutinize the food label. Some dinners contain 2 or more servings. For example, one eggplant parm dinner contains 360 calories, but there are 2 portions in the box. The portions are rather small, so I bet most people would consume both servings - 720 calories. Choose dinners or entrees with no more than 300-400 calories (assuming you are trying to watch your weight).

3. If you are craving pasta, a frozen dinner would be the way to go. Look for a dinner with no more than 400 calories. This is a much better choice than a restaurant order of pasta for ~ 800 calories or more. Or if you made pasta yourself and ate 1/2 the box…~ 900 calories (not including the sauce). Many of my clients have a difficult time controlling their portion of pasta when they make it.

4. Select meals with no more than 6 grams of saturated fat.

5. Ideally, look for meals with a sodium content no higher than 600 milligrams.

6. Add on a side salad and/or a serving of veggies to add nutrition, fiber and volume. Some of those dinners are on the small side - adding veggies will make it look like you are getting more food! 

7. I usually recommend “balanced” dinners. These are dinners that contain protein, a small serving of carbohydrate and a vegetable. Some dinners are now including whole grains such as brown rice instead of refined grains (ie. white rice, white pasta). Some dinners are also including double portions of vegetables.

8. If you are looking for entrees lower in carbs, check out South Beach.

 *this means I was not able to obtain that info or forgot to write it down when I was in the grocery store!

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