Price: $1.49 at 7-11
Serving: 2.25 oz (plus water)
Calories: 310
Fat: 10%
Sodium: 8%, 200mg

They say: Roasted peanuts and mild spices blended into a smooth sauce are one of the most delicious flavor combinations Thai food has to offer. We’ve combined this wonderful peanut taste with our signature, 100% pure rice noodles and other authentic, hand-selected ingredients for a truly memorable, easy-to make noodle dish. Enjoy it as a delicious side dish or be creative and add some fresh vegetables or meat for a quick and satisfying noodle entrée.

Abi says: Thai Kitchen expects you to open the noodles, place water over them, cover the noodles, heat the noodles, then drain the water and add peanut powder and oil. I definitely burned myself trying to drain hot water out of the noodles. Then again, I don’t generally read the directions before I put things in the microwave. It is a habit I must break if I’m going to be any good at reviewing food at work. Also, because I work in an environment that contains cubicles, I have access to a hot water tap. If you’ve never used a hot-water tap, let me tell you that those things are deadly. Also, let me tell you that someone in the office managed to disable the child-protection mechanism that would keep toddlers from unleashing a torrent of boiling water across the kitchen floor. It is a dangerous water cooler.*
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Price: $2.50 at Safeway
Size: 11 oz.
Calories: 490
Fat: 26%
Sodium: 52%, 1290mg

Stouffer’s says: Grilled chicken tenderloins served with broccoli florets and carrots medley.Accompanied by fettuccini noodles in a creamy rich alfredo sauce enhanced with real parmesan cheese.

Abi says: Neither of my parents has ever, ever, ever, cooked fettucini alfredo. At least, they didn’t while I was growing up. They probably don’t to this day. You know why? My mom doesn’t really cook…she heats items that come from Costco. My dad on the other hand…he likes to barbecue. He also makes stir-fry. He also makes things in the crock pot. And we always, always had salad with dinner.

When I had fettucini alfredo for the first time (college, I believe), I could not believe that wondrous blend of heavy cream, butter, and cheese that the Italians had produced. Italy, you are awesome! People in Italy also walk a lot, otherwise they would have all dropped dead from heart attacks from eating too much fettucini alfredo. It is that good. And that bad for you.

So, I can’t really expect Stouffer’s to make something that is good for me. Get real..this is fettucini alfredo. As I noted above: heavy cream, butter, and cheese. Mmmm, cheese.

But Stouffer’s, if you’re going to make something that has that much fat and salt and other unmentionable parts of the food polygon, couldn’t you at least make it taste good?

Yes, all of the above banter comes down to the fact that Healthy Choice’s fettucini alfredo gives Stouffer’s a hands-down whooping. While I do have trouble visualizing a ‘hands-down whooping’, I have no problem telling you to choose the Healthy Choice Fettucine Alfredo (with chicken!).

Price: $2.00 at Safeway
Size: 8.5 oz.
Calories: 280
Fat: 7 grams
Sodium: 25%

Healthy Choice says: For this dish, we coated tender fettuccine pasta with basil to accompany the moist chicken breast chunks. Our rich and creamy Parmesan and Romano cheese sauce uses skim milk instead of cream to deliver traditional Alfredo taste with less fat. Cracked black pepper adds the finishing touch.

Abi says: I have to admit now that the image above is not my first dalliance with Healthy Choice’s chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. Instead, it is just one indicator in a long, drawn out relationship filled with lies, deceit, and modified cornstarch.

Look at the picture. Look at the spices on the chicken, the sauteed look, the sprig of parsley. Every time I pick up the box, I imagine that it will look that way on the inside. Yet, I know it won’t. Over and over again I fool myself into believing that things will be different this time, that he’ll change. Ok, enough melodrama.

There may not be visible spices on the chicken, but this is the best frozen meal fettuccine alfredo I’ve tried (so far that includes Stouffer’s, Michelina’s, Smart Ones, and Marie Callendar’s). Yes, better than Marie’s. And healthier!

Ok, so it has several ingredients that may or may not contain MSG, but when it comes down to a fast and easy (and cheap!) Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, Healthy Choice is the way to go.

Note: I am in no way reimbursed for any of the meals I review here. Healthy Choice provides me with neither food nor money. If you read my review of Grilled Chicken with Smokehouse BBQ Sauce you will understand why.

Price: 2 for $3.00 at Whole Foods
Size: 5.4 oz (plus water that you add)
Calories: 230
Fat: 4%, 2.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 37%, 890mg
Protein: 6g
Carbs: 15%, 45g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
WW Points: 4 Points

Annie Chun says: All Natural Asian Cuisine. Miso Soup with Tofu and Scallions.

Abi says: Miso is soybean paste and the de riguer beginning to most meals I eat at Japanese places. I love it for the floating bits of kelp, hidden tofu gems, and biting chunks of green onion. I also like drinking things straight from bowls. Things being soup.

Annie Chun instructs me, on the front of the box, to “Microwave 1 Minute”. While this isn’t a lie, it doesn’t exactly give you the whole truth either. Along with your Freshpak bowl of soft noodles, you’ll get a packet of soybean paste and a freeze-dried lump of tofu, green onion, and spinach. This all involves a lot of mixing and waiting for items to a) disolve or b) become engorged with water. This is a lot of waiting for some glorified fermented bean paste and ramen.

In the end, Annie Chun’s Miso is filling, but awkward. Heavy, pasty (should that have an ‘e’ somewhere?) noodles distract from the purity of the dish, reducing from-the-bowl slurpability, and the spices come through as musky and aged rather than pungent and piquant.