Starting Over, Take 1,847

I bought a few frozen dinners last week.   I don’t eat frozen meals very often, because they’re so often disappointing in taste and texture the portions are ridiculously tiny, there’s hardly a vegetable to be found - and they’re outrageously expensive for what you get.  Even the 99 cent ones have less than 10 cents worth of ingredients if you were to make it at home, but….

They’re convenient, especially for sick days or other situations in which anything more challenging than rinsing an apple is too much work.

So when our grocery store had a special on Healthy Choice dinners, I bought several.

I didn’t expect to be impressed, but I was. 

Don’t get me wrong, these are not great food, either in taste or healthfulness.  Anything you make yourself is going to be healthier and probably tastier, but for frozen dinners they were surprisingly good (so far I’ve tried the Honey Balsamic Chicken, the Sesame Glazed Chicken, and

The Honey Balsamic Chicken per the label, contains “chicken tenderloins with red potatoes, asparagus, cherry tomatoes in honey-herb balsamic glaze.”
 
Also according to the label

Calories       220
Fat                  3.5 g
Carbs             34g
Fiber               5g
Sugar              3g
Proten          13g
Sodium          540 mg
WW points       4
Exchanges:      2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 lean meat {protein}

I follow an exchange plan (and usually track calories too).  I can translate any nutrition label into exchanges, using the math I learned in the book “Exchanges for All Occasions.”  It’s not complicated math, and only takes a few minutes, but Healthy Choice gets “points” from me for having this information on the box, and it’s easy to find - underneath the standard Nutrition label is a green box for Weight Watchers Points, and under that, the diet exchanges.
The chicken pieces are typical frozen dinner chicken pieces.  Brined with salt and other preservatives so they have a deli-meat/ham texture (I don’t know how else to describe it - you probably know what I’m talking about, the chicken “breasts” you can buy that have the fake “grill markes” molded into the tops).  

The asparagus wasn’t mushy (big plus), and there was a fair amount of it.   I didn’t have to pick around the cherry tomatoes - I’m not a big fan of large pieces of cooked tomato.  It’s a texture thing.  If you love them, you’ll probably be disappointed, there were only three halves in the entire dish. 

The sauce is tasty, but a little too sweet (though not as cloying as many frozen dinners).  And unlike many, the entree isn’t swimming in the sauce.

My main criticism is the low protein level and the high carb count (proportionally).  Only 1 protein exchange is a bit skimpy, especially as it’s outnumbered by starch exchanges.

Also, the calorie count is too low to consider a real full meal for most (especially dinner).  Though the portion is decent considering how low the calories.  To make a frozen dinner more filling, I serve them on top of or along side raw or cooked vegetables.  A bed of lettuce, cooked or raw spinach, french style green beans, roasted eggplant…