Healthy Choice New Natural Frozen Meals
April 13, 2009 
The frozen diet dinner market is filled with McProcessed foods that barely pass as edible, and low calorie counts take priority over the quality of ingredients. We haven’t had much luck with Healthy Choice dinners in the past, with experiences ranging from off flavors to chunks of plastic hidden under the pasta. Could their new All Natural line be a turning point?
My experience with frozen dinners usually falls in to one of two categories. “Natural” or “diet”. I have to say that when I first tried my Mediterranean Pasta entree from healthy Choice, that I had to look back at the box to make sure it really did fall in to the ‘diet’ category. It is indeed 360 calories of delicious, real food. A diet dinner where all of the ingredients came from the earth! It’s also refreshing to see that Healthy Choice is stretching their wings even further and using ingredients like red rice, fontina cheese, quinoa and amaranth. The impressive ingredient list results in a delicious ‘real’ flavor. It’s a savory orzo and white bean entree that is scattered with the perfect amount of sweetness from cranberries and diced apples. The different textures and flavor combinations work with each other to satisfy exactly what your mouth wants.
I couldn’t resist trying the Pumpkin Squash Ravioli. The ravioli were filled with a sweet pumpkin and ricotta filling, sweetened with honey and brown sugar. They were served with chunks of butternut squash and asparagus tips. The mixture was coated in a savory, yet slightly sweet sauce with an apple and wine base. The asparagus was a little too done for my taste, but overall it was a delicious meal with real flavor.
Other available varieties include Asian Pot Stickers, Portabella Spinach Parmesan, Portabella Masala, and Tomato Basil Penne. Most are vegetarian, which is always a better way to go. Even though meat wasn’t listed in the description, we noticed the ingredient label for the Portabella Spinach Parmesan included chicken meat at the very end of the list of ingredients.
Everything tasted good, and we didn’t find any faux-foods or non-foods on our plates. We’re looking forward to trying the other new varieties and hope other diet meal brands will continue the trend.
Related posts:
I am working my way through the menu and I have to say I’m really impressed. The sweet Asian pot stickers have crushed red peppers mixed in, so that was a painful surprise, but so far everything has been really really good!
I am 5′1. On March 1st, I weighed 192 pounds and today (April 29th) I currently weigh 163 pounds. My weight lost was not just these meals, but I must admit that the start of my diet–path to healthy eating it took a couple of weeks for me to realize what proper portion size reallly was. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out how many calories I should have in a meal, or an entire day. So, the portions in these meals are what they should be, but if like me you were use to over eating these meals will help you portion your meals until you can get a hold of yourself and measure correctly. You cannot lose weight by not eating, you cannot lose weight by eating large portions. After eating these meals I started to find within a few days I felt less and less hungry after dinner. My stomach was shrinking down to a normal size and it was making me less hungry.
I am still on the weight lost path…walking 3 miles on the treadmill 7 days a week and occasionally replacing a home cooked meal with one of these. These healthy choice meals are a heck of a lot healthier than those weight lost shakes. At least with these meals you are eating, and these meals have the exact same calories as those shakes. So, you can starve yourself with a shake or eat a meal with a dessert…your choice. I don’t swear by any product, but I will say that losing 29 pounds in 9 weeks is a beautiful thing! So, I am trying to lose another 28 in the next 9 weeks and see what happens!
Sincerely,
Kimberly
I tried the pumpkin ravioli yesterday and was impressed. I stocked up on a bunch of these entrees while they were on sale recently.
Oh, I tried the Butternut Squash ravioli. I could barely get two bites down… It was terrible, too sweet…. more like dessert than lunch.
Maybe they are low fat, but they are also teeny portions and the sugar content is over the top.
I love their new line of entrees. In the past Healthy Choice was one of those brands whose frozen foods looked (and tasted) more like dog food. However since they reinvented their brand everything I’ve tried I’ve been impressed with. From what I can tell all their ingredients are fresh, i.e. the baby portabella mushrooms were fresh not canned before they were flash frozen. Very yummy. I would eat these even if I wasn’t dieting. Also some of our local mega stores carry these entrees for $1.68. So for the price and balanced nutrition they are a steal for a healthy, no-prep hot lunch.
I think most frozen diet meals look and taste like fake food. These meals are the exception to the rule, and are absolutely lifesavers. My favorite is the Penne Marinara with Chicken. I eat it at least once a week, and I look forward to it.
The portions are very small. they should consider adding a bit more food on the plate!