Price: $2.00 on sale at Ralphs
Serving: 10oz.
Calories: 290 per serving
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 6%, 20mg
Sodium: 26%, 630mg
Protein: 15g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 41g
Fiber: 8%, 1g
Sugar: 7g
Weight Watchers: 6 POINTS

Lean Cuisine says: Tender macaroni in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.

Jackie says: This macaroni and cheese was doomed from the start. While it was rotating in the microwave, one of my co-workers and I started talking about good mac and cheese…restaurant or homemade mac and cheese…the kind I daydream about. It doesn’t help that I had these amazing pork belly skewers earlier this week and nothing has tasted good since. Plus I am in one of those moods where nothing really sounds good, so I just eat whatever’s easiest to make. Which, today, was Lean Cuisine Macaroni & Cheese.

First, the cheese – if you can call it that. The cheese is watery and velveeta-like. The closest similar item in the natural world is hot paste loaded with orange food coloring. It needed salt! But I didn’t want to add any because it already has quite a bit of sodium – a quarter of my daily sodium needs in just 10 ounces of food. Plus, the ingredients list is scary (three versions of sodium phosphates!). The noodles were decently firm, but did not redeem this mac ‘n’ cheese. I am so bored by this dish I think I may take a nap now.

Zzzzzz….Huh? Wha? Oh. Anyway – if you want “healthy” mac n cheese, try the Smart Ones Macaroni and Cheese – it’s not awesome, but it’s better than this one. And if you want amazing mac ‘n’ cheese, go to a restaurant or make it yourself.

Note from the editor: Or if buy Trader Joe’s Macaroni and Cheese, the most marvelous frozen macaroni and cheese in existence.

Price: $2.50 (on sale)?
Serving: 1 tray, 9 oz
Calories per serving: 140?
Fat: 6%, 4g?
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg?
Sodium: 26%, 620mg?
Protein: 14g??
Carbohydrates: 4%, 12gg?
Fiber: 12%, 3gg?
Sugar: 4gg?
Weight Watchers: 2 POINTS

Lean Cuisine says: Chicken breast in a marsala wine sauce with green beans and carrots.

Kelly says: I won’t lie to you. This meal immediately raised flags because of the ridiculously low calorie count. 140 calories?! I eat spoonfuls of peanut butter that pack more of a caloric punch than that. And these spoonfuls of peanut butter do not satisfy my appetite!

When I opened the meal, I was surprised the tray looked full. Sometimes frozen dinners, particularly those of the Lean Cuisine variety, look sparse. This one appeared to utilize the space in the tray, probably because there were a lot of vegetables. By vegetables I mean, of course, green beans and carrots. With a couple mushrooms that eventually were lost in translation. This was disappointing because I feel like mushrooms are a crucial vegetable in a successful Chicken Marsala.

The cook time was one of those ridiculous ‘50% power’ situations that I don’t really understand. My microwave skills include setting minutes and hitting ‘Start’. I had to tweak the directions a little, but the standard ‘4 minute cook, stir, 1 minute cook’ method worked out fine.

The only thing I can say for this meal is ‘water’. The sauce? Watery. The vegetables? Watery. The chicken was not watery, but it was sitting in the aforementioned sauce, so it was guilty by association. I don’t want to say that the taste of the watery sauce was entirely revolting. It wasn’t. I just didn’t like the consistency. To its credit, it didn’t juste taste like somebody spiked my water with marsala wine. The sauce was lightly flavored, just enough to contribute to the fact that indeed – this was chicken marsala. It made a meager contribution, but it didn’t make the meal. The sauce should want to wrap the chicken in savory deliciousness. It should not attempt to drown it. Any time I have to use a spoon to adequately eat my chicken, the sauce is too liquidy. Maybe a more apt description for this meal would be ‘marsala soup’ because the meal probably fits that description a little better.
Surprisingly, the chicken was pretty moist and not tough. It didn’t taste bland or have that cardboard-ish aura of diet wrapping around it. And I was actually sated afterward, probably because I had to drink a portion of my meal. I doubt my cook-time adjustment had anything to do with the liquid content here, but I don’t think I could ask for anything more from a meal that was only 140 calories.

If you’re on a diet and you don’t mind eating and drinking a meal, this might be right for you.

Price: $2.32
Serving: 1 package, 15 3/8oz.
Calories: 390 per serving
Fat: 13%, 8g
Cholesterol: 11%, 35mg
Sodium: 34%, 830mg
Protein: 23g
Carbohydrates: 19%, 56g
Fiber: 28%, 7g
Sugar: 11g
Weight Watchers: 8 POINTS

Lean Cuisine says: Jumbo Rigatoni with Meatballs in a fire-roasted tomato sauce with vegetables.

Becky says: Remember the email that was making the rounds a few years back that highlighted how many millions of dollars a particular airline saved in a single year by removing a single olive from their first-class salads? I’m thinking that in the case of this Lean Cuisine, that extra meatball should’ve survived the cutbacks (if it ever existed in the first place)…it is sorely missed.

Although the choices are minimal, I prefer the Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selects for lunch. There is just no way that a 200-calorie lunch will get me thru the afternoon – I’ll end up gorging on Cheetos later on and feeling horrible about it. At least these meals have a little more substance to them, while maintaining the lower calorie/fat mantra – it beats McDonalds any day.

All in all, this meal wasn’t bad. Yes, I would’ve loved to have seen just one more meatball, but what’s included already isn’t half bad. The sauce is think and hearty, though a tad bit sweet, and coats the noodles well. The labeling says that there are ‘vegetables’ in the sauces…yes, there are ‘vegetables’ – they consist of lots of tomato, a few slices of carrot, and dehydrated onion…the label claims that red bell peppers make an appearance as well…but I sure didn’t see anything! I dug through my condiment drawer in hopes of finding a packet of parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top…unfortunately all I have right now is honey and hot sauce.

Paired with some veggies and a Diet Coke – this is indeed an acceptable lunch – my belly is happy, and I’m ready to dive back into work.

Diet Exchanges: 2 Lean Meat, 3 Starch, 1 vegetable, 1/2 Fat

Ingredients: tomatoes, blanched macaroni product (water, semolina, wheat gluten), beef, tomato puree (water, tomato paste), carrots, yellow carrots, water, onions, red peppers, modified cornstarch, soybean oil, sugar, garlic puree, soy protein concentrate (with caramel color), salt, parmesan cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), dehydrated onions, basil, potassium chloride, spices, yeast extract, cultured whey, egg whites, xanthan gum, flavor (soy sauce (water, soybean, wheat, salt), yeast extract, dextrose, soybean oil).

Price: $3.79
Serving: 1 package, 10oz.
Calories: 280 per serving
 Calories from Fat: 60
Fat: 11%, 7g
 Saturated Fat: 10%, 2g
 Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 27%, 650mg
Protein: 12g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 43g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 POINTS

Lean Cuisine says: Delicate bow tie pasta in a flavorful fire roasted tomato sauce with smoky bacon and topped with Romano cheese.

Abi says: I’m pretty sure I say ‘pancetta’ 14 times during this review. Also, could I be more awkward on camera? Possibly!

I really expected to like this meal. I find most Lean Cuisine pasta dishes inoffensive, but something about this one rubbed me the wrong way. As always, constructive criticism and comments are appreciated. And yes, I know that there are only two distinct pictures of me making funny faces. I have no idea what happened there, but since it takes 40 minutes to process the video, you’ll watch the Lunchable Taco Review again instead.

Ingredients: Blanched Enriched Macaroni Product (Water, Semolina, Egg Whites, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Tomatoes, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Salt, Citric Acid, Calcium Chloride), Skim Milk, Water, Onions, 2% Or Less Of Romano Cheese ((Made From Cow’s Milk), Cultured Milk, Enzymes, Salt), Bacon (Cured With: Water, Salt, Sugar, Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite), Soybean Oil, Basil, Modified Cornstarch, Sugar, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Dry Cream Blend (Cream, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey), Garlic Puree, Enzyme Modified Cheese (Cultured Milk, Water, Salt, Enzymes), Whey, Spices.