Price: Free from Lean Cuisine
Serving: 1 melt, 6.5oz.
Calories: 330
Fat: 13%, 8g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 26%, 650mg
Protein: 21g
Carbs: 13%, 41g
Fiber: 18%, 5g
Sugar: 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Lean Cuisine says:Grilled white meat chicken, onions, peppers, pepperocini, cheese and a cheddar cheese sauce in a soft flatbread.

Josh says: I just ate the Chicken Philly Flatbread Melt from Lean Cuisine. The picture makes it look like a pizza, but trust me, you can fold it over like a pita sandwich. I was actually impressed. The cheese tasted like cheese (unlike the Lean Cuisine Mac ‘n Cheese which is utter crap). The bread tastes like and has the texture of bread. And the chicken tastes like…well, like nothing, but two out of three ain’t bad. There’s a nice mild-medium spicy kick that I didn’t expect. All-in-all it was a pretty nice meal and I’d do it again. They only superior food I’ve had this week? Cheez-Its.

Price: $2.50 (on sale)
Serving: 1 entree, 10oz.
Calories: 270
Fat: 4%, 3g
Cholesterol: 11%, 40mg
Sodium: 27%, 660mg
Protein: 19g
Carbs: 13%, 42g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 11g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Grilled chicken breast with pineapple, water chestnuts, and sesame flavored rice.

Kelly says: Upon first glance at this meal I thought “Wow, a whole chicken breast! Crazy!” And now I know that I should listen to my inner voice because it is right all of the flippin’ time. A whole chicken breast is crazy. When I hear the word ‘teriyaki’ I envision dark meat chicken (thighs, to be specific), a scoop of sticky white rice, and a drizzling of sweetly spicy and salty sauce.

Maybe some vegetables too.

I don’t picture a tired, worn-out, whole breast of chicken that’s been cooked in the microwave. I don’t imagine powder-covered nibs of rice claiming to be sesame-flavored when they are in fact just tongue-coating. I don’t think of the bland crunch of water chestnuts, which must be served alongside another vegetable in order to have any meaning in a meal.

In short, when I see teriyaki, I don’t see this Lean Cuisine meal. Whose idea was it to have an enormous chunk of chicken in there? Who thought it would microwave completely without drying out the edges, leaving them tough and gnarly? Doesn’t Lean Cuisine have a stable of food scientists perfecting dishes like their wonderful Thai Style Chicken and Rice? Where were those people when someone decided to make this dish?

This meal can be turned around. All Lean Cuisine has to do is pre-chop the chicken into chunks, add 10 times the veggies, not putting the veggies in the sauce (where they turn to total mush), and forego the pineapple chunks (they are slimy and gooshy after the microwaving). Oh, and select a completely different method of rice preparation and seasoning, because this is the worst rice I’ve ever had in a frozen meal. I know, that seems like a lot of work, but I have confidence in the people of Lean Cuisine. Until that change occurs, I will stay far, far away from anything resembling this meal.

Price: $2.08 + tax
Serving: 9 1/8 oz
Calories: 280
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 17%, 50mg
Sodium: 26%, 630mg
Protein: 23g
Carbohydrates: 10%, 30g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Swedish meatballs with pasta in a savory gravy.

Becky says: When I think of Swedish meatballs, I think of football parties, Crock Pots, and poking at people with the toothpicks that you’ve used to dig out those little morsels of drippy, meaty, goodness…definitely not Lean Cuisine material. So when a good friend, J, told me that this meal was one of her favorites, I decided to give it a try – I’m game for trying (almost) anything once!

Luckily, I know how to work our office microwave – because the package asks you to cook this at 50% power. At home, I’d be outta luck, since the microwave we have is an el-cheapo that I bought when I started college…nearly 12 years ago. It doesn’t have the ability to cook at any level other than high, but I can’t bear to part with it because it just won’t die! Anyway, long story short – know how to work your microwave.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised in this dish – especially after adding some black pepper. The meatballs were big & juicy (I was expecting tough) – I could easily cut them into 4 smaller pieces and mix them in with the noodles and gravy. They’re a beef/pork combination – but something I’ve been curious about for a while now is why we never see ground turkey in any of these frozen meals. Granted, you’ll never see me eat a turkey cheeseburger, but in dishes where meat is not the main character, turkey is a fantastic replacement.

The gravy was almost savory – it reminded me of beef stroganoff – which in turn made me crave mushrooms. Besides that, the main thing the gravy was lacking was more onion – that would have definitely helped to move this gravy decidedly into the ‘savory’ category. The noodles turned out surprisingly well – a perfect al dente – which I’m found is hard to achieve in a frozen meal.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised in this meal. You definitely need a veggie side dish (ex. salad or frozen mixed veggies) to round out the meal, but I’ll have to thank J for recommending this meal to me – I’ll definitely buy it again.

Price: Provided by PR Company
Serving: 1 panini, 6oz.
Calories: 340
Fat: 12%, 8g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 25%, 590mg
Protein: 21g
Carbs: 15%, 45g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 points

Lean Cuisine says: Tender white meat chicken, peppers, olives, tomatoes and margherita-style sauce on Italian herb bread

Jess says: During the holiday season, I hear a lot of people talking about losing and/or keeping off weight. They say this a lot, as if the power of the declaration will make all the temptation of green and red sprinkled donuts, ginger bread lattes and holiday food stuffs from business consultants disappear.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this time of year was a boom season for Lean Cuisine and may explain why my Giant is being so grinchy about their sales on my LC favorites. If you are willing to pay full price for a Lean Cuisine, I’d again encourage you to stay away from their Paninis. All of these sandwiches that I’ve tried (this would be the second, the first was the Chicken, Spinach and Mushroom variety) are best called stale-toast-inis and offer very little in either substance or taste. The bread uses the technology of microwave toasting sheets to come out hard, crusty and unappetizing. The fillings, which are entirely average tasting, are meager. The resulting itty-bitty square of food disappears quickly and leads to a cheated, empty, still-hungry feeling after lunch that puts a damper on the rest of the day.

Remember that the key to losing weight is smart eating and sweating in the sauna that is over-crowded malls. Starvation, on the other hand, often leads to binging on the free foodstuffs in the office kitchen at 3:19 pm and a strange sense of shame upon being caught having eaten it all by your repulsed coworker. Mmm, assorted chocolates.