"healthy choice" news and stories

Frozen Food Reviews

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Sep 1st 2009 @ 4:38PM

Slashfood stalwarts road-tested a month's worth of lunches so you won't waste another cent on sub-par frozen fare.

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Frozen Food Reviews

by Kat Kinsman
A recent AOL Food survey revealed that 85% of respondents are toting their lunch to work these days. We've certainly noticed an uptick in waiting time at our break room's microwaves -- as well as co-workers scrounging for snacks after their lunch failed to fill them up. Our editors road-tested a month's' worth of lunches so you won't waste another cent on sub-par frozen fare.

Rachel Been

Getty Images North America

Frozen Food Reviews

Rachel Been

Monday
Amy's Organic Ravioli Bowl

Buy it again: Without a doubt
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Perfectly cooked pasta
Taste: If we got it in a restaurant, we'd be happy. The sauce was gorgeously seasoned, the generously, fluffily filled ravioli neither limp nor leaden and heck -- it's even organic.
Calories: 380
Total Fat: 12 g
Sodium: 680 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Tuesday
Banquet Selects Classic Fried Chicken

Buy it again: No way
Fills you up: No
Texture: Like deep-fried particle board
Taste: The batter's seasoning wasn't so bad, but gnawing through it nearly undid years of orthodontia -- and for very little reward. The few shreds of meat within were stringy, gamey and overcooked, and the pool of grease in which the whole mess swam hardly added to the meal's appeal. The potatoes and corn are best left unmentioned -- and uneaten.
Calories: 440
Total Fat: 26 g
Sodium: 1140 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Wednesday
Lean Pocket Applewood Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Pocket

Buy it again: No
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Gummy
Taste: We bit into what we thought was a potato cube, then checked the ingredient list. No potatoes. It would seem that the chewy, white blob was in fact the much-touted applewood bacon. It just got worse from there, with a creepy, over-processed filling.
Calories: 290
Total Fat: 8 g
Sodium: 480 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Thursday
Southwest Style Grilled Chicken

Buy it again: Just the potatoes
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Misleadingly good
Taste: If they'd just stuck with the taters, we'd be telling a different tale. Those spuds are fluffy, creamy and memorably savory. The chicken, however, was slathered in an inexplicably sweet and fruity goo that somehow lost direction on the way to the Southwest.
Calories: 430
Total Fat: 15 g
Sodium: 1510 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Friday
Lean Pockets Whole Grain Turkey, Broccoli & Cheese Pocket

Buy it again: Only on sale
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: A bit doughy
Taste: It would hardly be our first choice, but in a serious pinch, we wouldn't turn up our noses at it. Let's get one thing clear, though -- while the whole-grain wrapper is a cute little stab at nutrition, you're still chomping down processed cheese and nuked broccoli. Health food, this is not.
Calories: 260
Total Fat: 7 g
Sodium: 390 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Monday
Claim Jumper Chicken & Penne a la Vodka

Buy it again: Maybe
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: A bit soggy
Taste: We weren't immediately convinced and kept grabbing just one more forkful to figure out why. Wouldn't you know, we polished off the whole darned thing. It's not the most assertive sauce straight out of the box, but woke up with a dash of black pepper. Note -- while the prep notes call for a tablespoon of water on the broccoli, half that might have been a better idea to to avoid veggie sog.
Calories: 500
Total Fat: 20 g
Sodium: 1350 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Tuesday
Kashi Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Buy it again: Happily
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Fresh
Taste: If someone tried to pass this off as take-out from the health food place down the street, we'd take their word for it. Flavors popped, veggies crunched, chicken stayed moist, and our tastebuds rejoiced.
Calories: 330
Total Fat: 9 g
Sodium: 640 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Wednesday
Stouffer's Pepperoni & Provolone Stromboli

Buy it again: Sure
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Better that we'd expected
Taste: Holy stromboli! This is slightly dumbed-down pizza shop fare, but it's still a really solid surprise. While we'll nitpick that the bread could be a little better, the fillings proved hearty, meaty and overall pleasing. Keep a couple of 'em stashed in the freezer for lazy weeknight meals.
Calories: 430
Total Fat: 17 g
Sodium: 1110 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Thursday
Lean Cuisine Cheddar Potatoes with Broccoli

Buy it again: No
Fills you up: We can't imagine trying to eat the whole thing
Texture: Mushy
Taste: It doesn't bode well for a dish when the tasters are having a hard time distinguishing potatoes from broccoli florets. The whole bowl was gummed together by a soggy, flavor-free mess that was advertised as cheddar sauce, but could just as easily have been wheat paste. Sure, this cuisine is lean, but it's 'cause no one can bear to eat more than a few bites.
Calories: 230
Total Fat: 5 g
Sodium: 640 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Filed under: Taste Test

Taste test: Whole Foods brand Ice Cream Bars

COMMENTS 0

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted May 20th 2006 @ 11:28AM

whole foods brand ice cream bar I've tried the "diet" and "light" ice cream bars and sandwiches, all in an effort to get this body in shape for summer. But sometimes, you just want to let yourself have the real stuff and spend 20 extra minutes on the treadmill.

I would have let myself indulge in Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche, but for fear of "accidentally" eating the whole pint, I stuck with the automatic portion control of an ice cream bar. Whole Foods Market's own brand of chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bars with almonds was the choice.

It was certainly tasty, since it's ice cream, but I have to say that I got no more satisfaction from eating sugar- and fat-filled ice cream covered with real chocolate and nuts that I did from eating the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches. In fact, the chocolate coating had a somewhat grainy, yest waxy texture that was bitter.

Skinny Cow at 130 calories versus Whole Foods at almost 200 calories for the same mouth satisfaction? Even if I weren't on a mission to squeeze into last summer's sun dress, I'd go with the Skinny Cow.

Filed under: Vegetarian, Ingredients

Taste Test: Healthy Choice ice cream bars

COMMENTS 4

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Apr 28th 2006 @ 10:11PM

healthy choice ice cream bars

After trying the Klondike Slim-a-Bear ice cream sandwiches and Skinny Cow, I think I may have finally found the "light" ice cream bar that will save my diet from ice cream diet crashes. The 80-calorie chocolate-covered ice cream bars from Healthy Choice are surprisingly better than both. The ice cream has the least "not like ice cream" texture of the three. It is softer and creamier. And while it isn't a direct comparison since the first two were sandwiches and this is a bar, the chocolate covering of this bar was notable in that it tasted even better to me than regular, non-diet bars because it was soft and actually melted like chocolate. Regular ice cream bars' chocolate covering is usually way too waxy.

Of course, it helps that two Healthy Choice ice cream bars at 80 calories each is only a few calories more than one sandwich. I feel like I get to eat more!

I think readers have also mentioned Blue Bunny, which I haven't been able to find yet in regular grocery stores. Any suggestions of where I could find Blue Bunny in Southern California? Heck, I'd even travel from LA to SD for ice cream!

Filed under: Vegetarian, Raves & Reviews, Light Food, Ingredients, New Products