Advertisement

The Perfect Bite: The worst frozen dinner

The Perfect Bite: The worst frozen dinner

Frozen meals can be a convenient and low-calorie alternative to a full dinner, but there are many reasons why you might want to reconsider these sodium-filled meals. On this episode of The Perfect Bite, host Andrea is joined by registered dietitian Anisha Gupta. They take a look at five popular frozen meals and reveal which is the least healthy of the bunch.

“They’re often very high in sodium, they’re usually low in calories, which don’t make for complete meals, there’s sometimes preservatives in them which we should be concerned about, and they’re often high in fats that we don’t want,” explains Anisha.

But, there are things to look for to ensure you make a healthier choice.

It might seem strange, but meals with more calories are usually better for you.

“Anything less than 400 calories might not be a good choice on its own,” she says. “If you were to have that three times a day it would be too low for your total daily intake of calories.”

“The saturated fat should be less than four grams, preferred, and you want to look for zero trans fats. The other thing that we talked about was sodium – 800 milligrams is about a third of our daily allowance for sodium, so having that in one meal is what’s allowed,” she continues. “So anything less than that is on the better side.”

Also see: The Perfect Bite: The worst fast food sub

PC Blue Menu Fettuccine Alfredo (290 calories, 8 g fat (5 g saturated), 610 mg sodium, 2 g fibre)

“Really creamy, and there’s lots of broccoli,” says Andrea after taking a bite. “But I didn’t find any chicken.”

“Nor did I,” says Anisha – although she thought it was good overall when it came to taste.

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Red Pepper Alfredo (Healthiest option and Anisha’s favourite: 260 calories, 6 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 510 mg sodium, 5 g fibre)

“I like the taste of it, and the vegetables I found a little more crunchy than the first one,” comments Anisha.

“There’s lots of chicken and lots of vegetables, and there’s a lot of flavour to it,” adds Andrea. “So it’s not a bad option.”

This tasty option came away as Anisha’s favourite of the bunch.

“I’m not a big creamy fan, so that one was the least creamy to me,” she says.

The least creamy option also came away as the healthiest of the bunch, with Lean Cuisine coming in close second.

“I would say that the Healthy Choice and the Lean Cuisine are fairly similar in nutrient content,” Anisha reveals. “And both of these are lower in sodium and lower in total fat and saturated fat.”

Also see: The Perfect Bite: The least healthy blueberry muffin

Lean Cuisine Chicken Fettuccine (Tied for healthiest option: 300 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated), 540 mg sodium, 3 g fibre)

“You can taste the salt,” says Anisha.

“There’s lots of chicken, again really creamy,” Andrea says. “I do like the creaminess to it, but the pasta is a bit bland.”

Michalena's Penne Pollo (360 calories, 8 g fat (4 g saturated), 420 mg sodium, 2 g fibre)

“I don’t see any vegetables,” says Andrea. “There’s not a lot of sauce, and it’s the chicken that provides the most flavour – but it’s more salt than real flavour.”

“I found the noodles to be a little more al dente than I liked,” says Anisha.

Stouffer’s Chicken Alfredo (Least healthy option Andrea’s favourite: 340 calories, 13 g fat (4 g saturated), 700 mg sodium, 2 g fibre)

“Not a lot of broccoli but the broccoli and the chicken are good,” Andrea comments. “If you’re looking for a really rich plate, that would probably be the one.”

Turns out, this creamy option was her favourite of the five options.

“It was creamy and really tasty,” she says.

Unfortunately, the creamiest frozen dinner was also the least healthy.

With 700 milligrams of sodium and 340 grams of fat, it’s higher in sodium and fat than all the other options.

Also see: The Perfect Bite: The least healthy fast food chicken sandwich

Making healthier choices

If you are going to go for a frozen dinner, go for one that has a good amount of veggies.

“Visually when we look at the meals, we want meals that have more veggies,” Anisha suggests. “That would mean that the meal has more vitamins and minerals and is higher in fibre.”

Many times with frozen dinners, one entre just isn’t enough. But how do you avoid grabbing an extra quick and easy meal?

“Have something on the side, like a salad,” suggests Anisha. “You can have carrot sticks or celery sticks as well, or you could have fruit and even some low-fat yogurt.”

Anisha also says there’s lots of ways to make quick and healthy meals that don’t come in a package.

“You can do a lot of things with salads,” she says. “Sandwiches are also pretty easy – or you can do them in a pita wrap or tortilla wrap.”