Frozen dinner question

[bevewhite 25]

I am just graduating to a regular diet after 6 plus weeks on soft foods ( mainly Soup with shredded chicken added). What are your thoughts about the weight watcher and lean cuisine dinners? I am finding that it is challenging to prepare a micro meal for one. I am throwing out a lot of food. Also, I have another question. My physician say I should eat meals about the size of my palm. Does anyone know how many ounces that would be? I am thinking about 4 ounces. Thanks,

[KristenLe 5,979]

The frozen meals have alot of sodium and additives that aren't good for you and can often interfere with weight loss. Just be careful not to overdo it with the sodium. Try making a week's worth of fresh meals and freeze them. My Nutritionist said 3-4oz meals.

[Kindle 8,667]

Read labels. Frozen meals are usually LOADED with carbs....especially lean cuisine. Maybe some of the Atkins are doable but you won't be able to eat a whole one of those, either.

The best thing I did was get a food Saver vacuum sealer. I am single and go though a minimal amount of food. With the Food Saver, I can make regular meals and portion out individual servings, freeze them, vacuum them and eat them even months later with no freezer burn. Works great for takeout food, too. Without it restaurants would be a huge waste of money.

[Kindle 8,667]

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[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I agree that most of those meals are carb heavy and full of sodium and preservatives.

For me it is fairly easy to pick a Protein and then add a vegetable it fruit. (For instance, turkey breast and green Beans or roasted Brussels sprouts or similar; cottage cheese with fresh tomato; Greek yogurt with fresh berries; chicken patty and a green vegetable; etc.)

It tastes so much better than frozen meals anyway and is really easy..

[kmorri 1,689]

Yes, I like most of the other posters suggest staying away from the frozen dinners......I think freezing your own is the way to go. The food Savers are great! You could fix all your meals for the week on the weekend............or fix and freeze single serving side dishes so all you have to cook is your meat or Protein......that way you don't have to have every meal planned out you can just have several different side dishes on had to choose from...........Good luck!

[drmeow 323]

I keep a couple of the Atkins frozen meals in our freezer at work to use for lunches if I forget to make one at home, but rarely eat them.

Each weekend I bake about 5-6 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (my store has them on sale all the time for 1.99/lb when you buy the large package) - these are the super large breasts. I put them in a pyrex dish with salt, lemon pepper, garlic and onion powder, cover with foil and bake until done (45 min usually), then portion those out for the following week. One gets made into chicken salad - mayo, celery and dill pickle relish. At least 2 get sliced or cubed to use on a salad or with another vegetable for lunch. The others get shredded and used in tacos for my kids, or I'll eat them with the salsa but no tortilla.

Every other week I make a huge crockpot of homemade spaghetti meat sauce (low carb) and freeze in small portions. I eat it either plain or on spaghetti squash "noodles" or zucchini spirals; the kids use regular noodles. The other week I do the same with a large pot of home made chili. I use a Foodsaver to make portion sizes that i can take for my lunches, or pull out to eat when the kids' meal is too carby for me.

I usually steam some vegetables on the weekend too and have in the refrigerator to reheat quickly.

[Dub 9,922]

I've been told time and time again by my surgeon that I should be targeting 3 meals, sometimes 4 if very high levels of exercise on that day......3 meals per day. 1/2 cup size in volume. Primarily Protein. Then supplement with our bariatric Vitamins.

It's the size not the weight of our meals that he stresses to me.

Among the frozen meals I see available, the Atkins meals are the ones that most closely fit my nutritional goals and yet even they aren't really a perfect match. The other brands may offer a low overall calorie total, but have a macronutrient breakdown that is way off of what I'm trying to do......sugar carbs and lower Protein amounts.

Another thing that my surgeon has been very firm on is that I should never finish any meal that I get in a restaurant or other place. Stick with the 1/2 cup size guideline and apply it there. He said to become comfortable with this.....get to-go boxes and have it for another meal.

It certainly has been best for me when I follow his simple instructions. Almost any prolonged stall and setback has been easily identifiable as me not following instructions.

[mistybell 8]

Although it is not an everyday meal, I was able to successfully incorporate a Lean Cuisine meal into my plan. I looked for meals that had about 300 calories and at least 20 grams of Protein. I then split the Lean Cuisine into two meals, each with 10 grams of Protein. The volume came out to about 1/2 cup of food for each meal, which is the right size for me.

[Christinamo7 4,042]

I'd honestly just get some divided dishes, cook a normal amount of food and make your own frozen dinners. I do that kind of thing all the time. Then seal them up with plastic wrap - then I put the whole thing into a zippered freezer bag that I reuse and you have a much healthier alternative frozen meal. life saver on a crazy week! they can be grabbed for a quick lunch or dinner.

[BigTink2LilTink 723]

Yeah I too would suggest if you are going to go the frozen food route to go with either the Atkins meals or the Healthy Choices meals. They tend to have lower sodium levels that other frozen meals. I wasn't ready to do those though until I was about 10/12 months post surgery. Anytime before that and it was like play Russian Roulette with the microwave and reheating food. What I could warm up via microwave and eat one day could totally make me puke the next day. You may find yourself doing a lot of trial and error here as you go further along in your journey. I would also probably suggest that you run any of your food ideals by your nutritionist to see what he/she may think. Best of luck to you.

[m.sexton 33]

I tried the frozen meals and experienced a weight stall. When I stopped eating them my weight loss started back. I went to Protein smoothies and cooking up meat for a week. Good luck