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Healthy Frozen Dinners: 20 Picks

How to choose healthy frozen dinners.

By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD
WebMD Expert Column

No time to cook? No worries. Just stroll down the frozen food aisle and choose from mouth-watering entrees such as chicken Florentine, roasted beef merlot, and pumpkin squash ravioli, which can be ready in minutes.

It's no surprise frozen dinners are popular. They're fast, convenient, inexpensive, easy, and pre-portioned to avoid overeating and are a boon for singles, busy families, dieters, older people, and office workers.

The challenge is to find healthy frozen meals that taste good, satisfy your hunger, and won’t sabotage your diet.

Best Frozen Meals: Healthy Options

There are too many healthy frozen dinners on the market to list them all, but here are 20 of the healthiest to consider when choosing your next frozen entree.

All of these are low in calories and fat, include a good source of protein, have least 3 grams of fiber (for satiety), and not more than 600 milligrams of sodium.

	Calories	Total Fat (g)	Sat. Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)	Prot. (g)
Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake	340	9	2	380	8	9
Healthy Choice Cajun Style Chicken and Shrimp	260	4	1	570	3	15
Lean Cuisine Sundried Tomato Pesto Chicken	270	9	2	570	4	18
Healthy Choice Pumpkin Squash Ravioli	300	6	2.5	600	5	9
Kashi Black Bean Mango	340	8	1	380	7	8
Lean Cuisine Beef Chow Fun	320	5	2	520	3	15

Healthy Choice Sweet Asian Pot stickers	340	4.5	1	560	5	8
Smart Ones Lasagna Bake with meat sauce	270	4	1.5	560	4	13
Kashi Chicken Pasta Pomodoro	280	6	1.5	470	6	19
Smart Ones Cranberry Turkey Medallions	250	2	0	460	4	16
Kashi Sweet and Sour Chicken	320	3.5	.5	380	6	18
Healthy Choice Roasted Beef Merlot	230	8	2	600	5	9
Kashi Chicken Florentine	290	9	4.5	550	5	22
Amy’s Light & Lean Spinach Lasagna	250	5	2.5	540	5	11
Lean Cuisine Santa Fe Style Rice & Beans	290	5	2	590	4	11
Healthy Choice Golden Roasted Turkey Breast	290	4.5	1	460	8	17
Smart Ones Chicken Marsala	160	6	1.5	590	3	16
Lean Cuisine Cafe Classics Steak Tips Portabella	150	4	2	430	3	15
Amy’s Light and Lean Black Bean Cheese Enchilada	240	4.5	2	480	4	8

Healthy Choice Portabello Spinach Parmesan	270	7	2.5	580	5	12

Consumer Reports' Picks

The February 2010 edition of Consumer Reports rated the best-tasting diet meals. More than half of the 24 healthy meals tested were from Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, and more were rated very good in terms of taste and overall nutrition quality (saturated fat, sodium, and fiber).

The top picks from Consumer Reports were Kashi Chicken Florentine, Lean Cuisine Santa Fe Style Rice and Beans, Lean Cuisine Café Classics Shrimp Alfredo, and Healthy Choice Beef Merlot. All of those products made my list, except shrimp Alfredo, which was too high in sodium.