Best place to find wide variety of Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine frozen meals?

[Anonymous]

Is it worth it to drive to a WalMart or something like that? Does Costco have them?

[Anonymous]

Costco's Lean Cuisine selection is limited. It's an 8 pack so the price is right but it's the same stuff all of the time. And if you want veg meals (like me), forget it.

[Anonymous]

Here is a tip for you...don't even bother.

That stuff is tiny portion sizes, full of sodium and carbs, and over processed. Instead buy chicken, frozen vegetables, and seasoning or low-calorie salad dressings and bam you've made your own food that will have less calories, more filling, and waay cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention a hearty dose of BPA in every meal!

[Anonymous]

To answer your question, Safeway has the best selection IMO.

[Anonymous]

Those things are so unhealthy!

[Anonymous]

Honey, try and get Amy's frozen entrees *the light ones with the green strip at the top*-- SuperTarget has a good selection and sometimes Giant has them on special.

Agree with PPs about BPA, additives, etc. Make sure you always heat stuff in a dish instead of the container.

[Anonymous]

I know they are relatively unhealthy and it's not for me (for my teen DS) and not long term. It's more about getting him to jump start things who just hasn't been able to do it otherwise. Health-wise, I think it's more important that he see some results -- there's a lot of discouragement and self-loathing going on.

I plan to cook dinners from scratch as I do now, and send him lunches that I also prepare, but there's the issue of providing some alternatives that he likes, can make himself, and are self-limiting in terms of portion size. He wants to do Nutrisystem but doesn't like a lot of their food choices, so I'm trying to cobble something together that has the control of Nutrisystem, that he can grab and nuke easily, with Weight Watchers tracking so he can write the WW points down easily.

[Anonymous]

I eate a frozen Lean Cuisine virtually every weekday for lunch. It is one element of a healthy diet that works for my lifestyle.

I eat an egg-white and spinach omelet or greek yogurt with bran cereal for breakfast. I have a morning snack of almonds, cheese and crackers, or cottage cheese, a LC for lunch, a piece of fruit int he afternoon and a well-rounded homemade dinner with at least 15g of protein and no more than 500 calories.

I watch my sodium intake carefully. I have lost 30 pounds this way, lowered my blood pressure, maintained a healthy cholesterol and gained the ability to run six miles and lift some hefty weights.

Sure, I could eat something "better" than a LC, but it is portioned controlled, low-calorie, and EASY.

OP, go for the Lean Cuisine. I get mine at Giant and they have a huge variety. My favorites are the mexican-ish bean dishes and pastas. I typically avoid most meat except the occasional chicken.

[Anonymous]

OP, I know you mean well, but teaching DS that Lean Cuisine is a healthy option is only going to reinforce bad eating habits re: processed foods! Totally agree that they can be helpful to have on hand for emergencies when there's no time for anything else, but not as a regular option.

If you care about his long term health, give him the gift of self discipline and help him learn to pack healthy lunches made from wholesome ingredients. Some ideas:

Homemade soups and stews (but not dairy-based!)
Green salads
Carrot sticks with hummus
Fresh fruit - apple slices, grapes, cherries, etc
Celery with peanut buttter
Hard-boiled egg
Roasted chicken breast (with salad greens, on a sandwich, etc)
Hummus and avocado sandwich on whole wheat
Sushi (okay, maybe not a make-it-yourself option)
Quinoa or whole wheat pasta with roasted veggies
Tamari-roasted almonds
Sweet potatoes roasted with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary
Tuna salad (not mayonnaise based)
Black beans with rice, salsa, and avocado
Baked salmon basted with bbq sauce and served over salad greens
Greek yogurt (unsweetened - add honey and/or fruit)

[Anonymous]

Dr Michael Anchors off Shady Grove Road

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know you mean well, but teaching DS that Lean Cuisine is a healthy option is only going to reinforce bad eating habits re: processed foods! Totally agree that they can be helpful to have on hand for emergencies when there's no time for anything else, but not as a regular option.

If you care about his long term health, give him the gift of self discipline and help him learn to pack healthy lunches made from wholesome ingredients. Some ideas:

Homemade soups and stews (but not dairy-based!)
Green salads
Carrot sticks with hummus
Fresh fruit - apple slices, grapes, cherries, etc
Celery with peanut buttter
Hard-boiled egg
Roasted chicken breast (with salad greens, on a sandwich, etc)
Hummus and avocado sandwich on whole wheat
Sushi (okay, maybe not a make-it-yourself option)
Quinoa or whole wheat pasta with roasted veggies
Tamari-roasted almonds
Sweet potatoes roasted with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary
Tuna salad (not mayonnaise based)
Black beans with rice, salsa, and avocado
Baked salmon basted with bbq sauce and served over salad greens
Greek yogurt (unsweetened - add honey and/or fruit)

Thanks for the ideas. I am a very healthful cook and we have all these options available in our house. I know how to make a healthy lowfat meal -- that's not the issue.
There's a psychology to the whole situation that I don't really want to go into, but really ... if you think ready-made sushi or tamari-roasted almonds are a way to address this issue, you don't have a teenage boy or you've never had weight control issues or possibly both. If he has a healthy homemade meal 90% of the time and relies on something portion-controlled that's frozen, he will be fine. It's much worse, healthwise, to be overweight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know you mean well, but teaching DS that Lean Cuisine is a healthy option is only going to reinforce bad eating habits re: processed foods! Totally agree that they can be helpful to have on hand for emergencies when there's no time for anything else, but not as a regular option.

If you care about his long term health, give him the gift of self discipline and help him learn to pack healthy lunches made from wholesome ingredients. Some ideas:

Homemade soups and stews (but not dairy-based!)
Green salads
Carrot sticks with hummus
Fresh fruit - apple slices, grapes, cherries, etc
Celery with peanut buttter
Hard-boiled egg
Roasted chicken breast (with salad greens, on a sandwich, etc)
Hummus and avocado sandwich on whole wheat
Sushi (okay, maybe not a make-it-yourself option)
Quinoa or whole wheat pasta with roasted veggies
Tamari-roasted almonds
Sweet potatoes roasted with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary
Tuna salad (not mayonnaise based)
Black beans with rice, salsa, and avocado
Baked salmon basted with bbq sauce and served over salad greens
Greek yogurt (unsweetened - add honey and/or fruit)

To say that "processed foods" are unhealthy is an incomplete and inaccurate shortcut. Many of the things that can be found in processed foods can be unhealthy, but the mere fact that they are processed does not make them unhealthy. The bbq sauce, tamari-roasted almonds, whole wheat pasta, peanut butter and hummus on your list are all processed. Transfats, msg, high fructose corn syrup and excessive sodium are unhealthy. The fact that something came in a box in the freezer section does not. If you are diligent, there is a wide-array of "convenience foods" that can be part of a healthy diet. One oth them is Lean Cuisine vegetarian entrees, as long as you wath your total daily sodium intake.