I eat a diet tv dinner everyday for lunch when I am at work. Quick, preportioned, and easy easy easy. Some are better than others. But I've lost 40 pounds so far, and they have been a tool to help me do that. They're certainly better than the Hungry Man TV dinners I used to eat everyday!

Must be nice to have that kind of time...I have a full-time job, 1.5 hours of commuting, and a 15 month old son. Not much time to cook at all, much less from scratch! :dizzy:

Sodium levels
 

Unless you are on a SEVERE sodium restricted diet, the amount you get in a frozen dinner, especially the light ones, is WAY less than you'd think. Do you eat cottage cheese? salsa? Diet soda? Flavored waters? Have you looked at the sodium content on these things?

Example: a half a cup of cottage cheese or 5 Tablespoons of salsa has close to the amount of sodium my lean cuisine lunch did today. (According to fitday)

I've been watching my sodium as well as calcium and fiber recently and I try to stay under the daily recommended amount of sodium by the FDA and I've had to severely change my eating patterns. The days when I'm high on my sodium are actually the days I DONT have a lean cuisine for lunch.

Like I mentioned with cottage cheese and salsa...Breads, cereals, chicken products, any kinds of sauce - soy, ketchup, etc.. Deli meats - anything cured. Here's an example.. 2oz of low-fat turkey-ham (the one with the lowest sodium i could find) came in at about the same amount of sodium as the Lean Cuisine frozen dinner I ate for lunch. (around 500mg sodium) Now, add that ham to some bread.. ugh. Depending on if you have crackers or something else with it or even some type of dressing... you can easily eat half your recommended sodium intake in one sitting.

Anything fast food.. chicken sandwiches (as Suzanne pointed out).. pizza.. even a subway sandwich. I LOVE Subway, but one of their ham or turkey sandwiches is around 1000mg sodium. Obviously the best you can do is to cook your own meals, but I find especially when cooking for other people who are NOT on a diet and might occasionally want something that I cant have... having those lean cuisine dinners standing by is a savior. It's quick and prevents me from picking up something even worse. It's also a great thing for people with portion problems.

They've come REALLY far in the amount of vegetables you get and the quality of said veggies. I used to hate frozen dinners but more and more I'm liking them now. I use them for lunches at work and "emergency" meals at home so I dont have to order pizza with everyone else :) (I will say that normally if its going to be my dinner, I pair it with a salad or additional vegetable)

TeaLeaf I hear ya, that's why I joined Jenny Craig...it's a diet based on frozen meals.

I disagree. For many people, meal replacements like Lean Cuisine help crowd out higher calorie and less healthy alternatives, which is a major improvement for those folks.

I actually buy Lean Cuisines for my husband, who likes the pizzas.

I figure it's better to give him a 350 calorie pizza than have him go out and buy whatever appeals to him at the moment *shudder* when he wants a snack other than the traditional bowl o'cereal!

And once in awhile, I'll even have a LC pizza myself. :D I like the Margarita Pizza - it may not be Digirono, but it's not bad for frozen, in a pinch.

I tried JC for a week about 3 or 4 years ago. I got cranky that I was paying so much for the food. Basically, I felt like I was paying someone 3 - 4 times what I would pay for the same food because they were counting the calories for me.

Unfortunately, I have to live my life pretty Budget Aware. /sigh

Bleh, LC Pizza. :barf:

I could tell you the LC's I like & the one I would never buy again.

Mac & Cheese
Spicy Thai Chicken
Baked Fish & Shells
Chicken Piccata
Southern Beef Tips
Chicken Carbonara
Turkey & stuffing & Apples

The one I would never buy again:
Glazed Chicken

They are high in sodium for me (HBP, caused by PKD), so it's not often that I have one. But in a pinch they work out quite nicely.

There is a Reviews Section here, where you can find out more info on the individual flavors.

Do not expect to be filled up by one. :lol: Balance it out w/a glass of milk & piece of fruit.

Boxes are easy to shop for
 

another thing I like about Lean Cuisine's versus most other brands...

they have the calories and fat grams on the front of the box. So when I'm browsing in the frozen section i dont have to open the door and flip the box around to see it. I can look at them from the window. Very nice :)

I love the Lean Cuisine meals! My favorite is the spinach & mushroom pizza, could eat it every day (not too good for the carbs though! :-)
I had the Teryaki steak bowl today, not my favorite but still good. It was definately filling though.