Posted on Friday, May 18th, 2012
Instead of stressing about what to eat, always have a plan. A plan decreases your frustrations for being on a healthy kick because you simply set yourself up to be successful on a day to day basis. Life is so much easier with some type of plan. Fresh is the way to go, but if you’re on the go, then sometimes having a frozen option is the way to go! Think about stocking your freezer with 2-3 items to have in case of a time crunch and you couldn’t go shopping for fresh food. When I was shopping at Whole Foods last night, I encountered a new company called Organic Bistro, which I was quite impressed with. Choose from the following three:
Wild Alaskan Salmon
Chicken Citron
Grass Fed Beef with Mushroom Sauce
The others didn’t have as good of a macronutrient distribution, from what I saw. For example, the Wild Alaskan salmon had 20 grams of protein, 13 grams of fat (only 2g from saturated fat) and 11 grams of sugar in total. Not bad. These meals are less than 400 calories each. Very impressive. They also have a serving (it may be less than one) of a vegetable, too. They sell this brand at Whole Foods. Here are some other frozen options that are the better of the ones out there.
| BRAND | ||||
| MEALS TO LIVE | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Sliced turkey | 230 | 28 | 4 | 17 |
| White chicken fajita | 240 | 34 | 5 | 17 |
| Shrimp Jambalaya | 220 | 31 | 4 | 13 |
| White chicken chili relleno | 210 | 29 | 4 | 15 |
| Spinach Omlet | 190 | 18 | 2 | 17 |
| KASHI | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Chicken Pasta Pomodoro | 280 | 38 | 6 | 19 |
| Pesto Primivera Pasta | 290 | 37 | 7 | 11 |
| Lemongrass Coconut Chicken | 300 | 38 | 7 | 18 |
| Weight Watchers Smart Ones | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Chicken Santa Fe | 140 | 11 | 4 | 20 |
| Beef Pot Roast | 180 | 18 | 4 | 17 |
| Slow Roast Turkey | 200 | 18 | 2 | 17 |
| Salisbury Steak | 200 | 12 | 4 | 20 |
| LEAN CUISINE SPA CUISINE | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Salmon with basil | 210 | 25 | 5 | 15 |
| Lemon Chicken | 290 | 40 | 5 | 13 |
| Rosemary Chicken | 230 | 30 | 5 | 17 |
| CONTESSA | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Chicken Stir Fry | 190 | 25 | 4 | 15 |
| VEGAN SELECTION | ||||
| GARDEIN | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Beefless Tips | 150 | 8 | 3 | 18 |
| Chick n scallopini | 90 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| Chipolte Lime Crispy Fingers | 160 | 12 | 2 | 16 |
| BBQ Wings | 90 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| Stuffed Turk’y | 270 | 25 | 3 | 22 |
| MORNING STAR | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Sausage links | 80 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Griller 1/4 lb burger | 250 | 10 | 3 | 26 |
| Garden patty | 110 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| meal starters (crumbles) | 80 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| BOCA | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Protein |
| Flame Grilled | 120 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| GORTON’S | Calories | Carbs | Protein | |
| Grilled Salmon | 100 | 2 | 0 | 15 |
| Lemon Butter Pollock | 100 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
Remember, fresh over frozen always wins. But, small frequent meals beats a couple of large meals. So, make a choice to be as healthy as possible with the options that are available to you on a day to day basis. It takes a strong commitment to yourself to make this happen! You can do it! xo JZ
Hey Giiiiiirl,
quick question, you mention a bunch of FANTASTIC food options on this post, but I feel like the way someone prepares these meals could negate some of the specs (ie grams of fat, calories, etc) Any suggestions on ingredients to use over others / ingredients to stay away from in preparation / good source to find recipes etc.
Any suggestions would be totally awesome, like yourself!
XO
C
Christina,
We live in a very fast paced society where the bigger problems come from an individual’s lack of meal planning which leaves them no time to prepare their meals or shop in the grocery store for all the ingredients used in healthy cooking. As a result, people either skip a meal, while others eat fast food or some other unhealthy alternative. With that said, these frozen meals listed specifically in this post are JZ approved for the occasional desperate occasion when there is no time to cook or think. Should you eat frozen meals all the time? NO! They are generally loaded with sodium, carbs and fats. To answer your question as to which are better; sodium should be as low as 400 mg per meal, but many frozen meals will go as high as 1500 mg. The recommended daily intake for added sodium is 2300 for healthy adults. Hypertensive adults should NOT exceed 1500 mg per day. I always say to keep added sugars to below 10 grams and fats should not have more than 12% of its fat in saturated fat. Obviously, a meal that contains 20-30 grams of total fat is unacceptable. Fresh over frozen is always the way to go! Check out my other posts for non-frozen quick meal plans. I always take special requests too and can turn any meal into a low glycemic optimal option!
xo JZ