i need help with low calorie, CHEAP, pre-packaged meals. i emphisize CHEAP because i've seen some smart ones and lean cusine's at wal-mart that were almost $4 a piece!! i know a combo at any fast food resturant is more like $5 and not healthy but it just seems like so much when i can get a michelina's meal for $1.

i love the michelina's meals from wal-mart. they only cost $1 and they taste great, well certain ones do. everyday i see advertisments on tv for new microwavable meals (i.e., healthy choice stemmed veggies) has anyone tried and actually liked any of the new ones? if so, which ones where they?

it will be getting cold soon so i was wondering what travel soups are also good, like the campbell's soup-at-hands and the ones from all brands that come in the microwable bowls (not cans...i don't have a stove at work).

i love putting things in the microwave, plus it help's me with my 'portion control' and it EASY. i saw someone mention lean pockets and i had never even thought of those.

i'm just wondering what else is out there that i have no idea about.

fyi, i do all my shopping at wal-mart.

oh yea, i could also use some really good breakfast meals to! i tried some breakfast burrtios before and they tasted more like cardboard than anything else, even after i added salsa.

please help me people!!!

The Lean Pockets are awesome.....but not super cheap. Make your own soups and freeze them in gladware containers...or save leftovers from dinner and freeze.

If you are looking for soups, I recommend Healthy Choice, or the reduced sodium ones from Campbells or Pgrogresso-because they all contain less sodium than the traditional varieties.

If you eat a Michelinas, just be sure to round out the lunch with a fruit or vegetable while you are at work.

Aphil-i always have 2 servings of fruit or 1 fruit serving and 1 veggie serving with my michelina meals. i would die if i didn't that is now where near enough food for my big belly!! they are good and help me stay on plan, they are just getting old.

I agree about those Michelina's meals. They're an easy lunch solution but need to be supplemented with a salad or something. My sister and I compared nutrition information on one Michelina meal and one WW meal, and the Michelina had fewer calories and way less sodium than the WW did, for about a third of the price too! The WW meal might have been more hearty, not requiring an extra fruit/vegetable serving, but I don't mind adding something a little bit healthier to my meal either.

lean cuisines when on sale run about $2.00 each. They even have dinner time portions and though the michelinas taste good, all of the lean cuisines I've tried taste great! They are definitely worth the splurge to break up the monotony. Also, Progresso has a new line of soups that have 0 pts if you count weight watchers points and only 60 calories per serving. They are great too.

Good Luck!


C.

Prepackaged meals and soups have too much sodium to eat on a regular basis. They also don't have sufficient protein (unless you get the South Beach). You need to add more veggies and fruit to have a balanced meal. It's so easy to cook extra at dinner and take it for a healthy lunch. I also cook on the weekend and freeze in individual portions to take for lunch.

My bf and I take it in turns to make a big batch of soup each week. We try new recipes and portion the soup into individual glad plastic containers and then throw them in freezer. Then it's just a matter of grabbing a container of the soup of the week, throwing a salad together and heading off to work. It's MUCH cheaper and MUCH healthier than using canned soup. You can add tons of veggies, some meat, some grain (barley is the best!) so it's very nutritious and very filling.

Hi jusj, I've tried the healthy choice steamers and I really like them. The sauces are tasty and the nice thing about Healthy Choice is that they list the sodium content on the package and it's usually around 600mg. I also like to make a big pot of soup and take it for leftovers...I've been in the soup-making mood ever since the weather started changing around here.

Here are a few of my favorite soups.... they all reheat very well.

Corrigan's Minestrone (I usually add some chicken to this)

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Also, as far as travel soups go, I really like the healthy choice soups and the Campbell's select soups. Easily microwavable and I don't have to do any dish clean up when I'm done.

Safeway has some really filling, low fat, high fibre instant soups under the 'eating right' brand. My fav is split green pea soup.

I'd say I do about 50/50 homemade versus canned soup. The canned stuff is high in sodium and not as nutritious as homemade, but I can't make a soup every single weekend. But I do tend to throw together a crock-pot of soup about once every two weeks, freeze in individual-sized containers, and that works out well.

I also "enhance" my bowls of canned soup by adding a handful of fresh chopped kale to them while they're warming up.