I like the Smart Ones better than the Lean Cuisine, which I find to be wayyyyy too high in sodium. Healthy Choice is the best, in my opinion -- not only taste-wise, but health-wise. Be sure to add a nice healthy salad w/lowfat dressing whenever you can, too! It will add fiber, fill you up, and give you more needed nutrients. Think dark leafy greens like spinach and romaine lettuce, and vegetables like tomatoes, shredded carrots, green peppers, red onion, cucumber (fewer nutrients but good fiber/filler,) and maybe even a tiny sprinkling of reduced-fat feta!
As an alternative to the pre-packaged meals, you could try preparing a batch of healthy homemade food and then putting it into those cheaper single-serving plastic containers sold at the grocery store. It only took me 40 minutes to prepare 6 meals -- 40 minutes because that's how long it took for the rice to cook! Hands-on time was less.) I used to bring my lunch to work every day, and now at that I'm home on disability I still sometimes do it for portion control. A real staple for me is a small boneless, skinless chicken breast, a half or 3/4 cup of brown rice, and a big pile of frozen spinach or asparagus. I make both the chicken and the rice all at once, and then just apportion them out. Then I add the frozen veggies (I really load them up) and stick 'em in the fridge till I use them. I'll do like 5-6 at a time! That way I get to control the fat, sodium, and sugar, and there are no preservatives or other yuck. I also find them a LOT more filling than the frozen meals, which are pretty tiny and waste calories on things like stewed apples (I'll just eat an actual APPLE!) instead of something like brown rice, which fills you up more and gives you energy for hours.
Anyway, this is what has worked for me!
Good luck!
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