Price: $3.49
Serving: 1 box, 9oz
Calories: 330 per serving
   Calories from Fat: 190
Fat: 32%, 21g
   Saturated Fat: 39%, 8g
   Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 14%, 40mg
Sodium: 35%, 850mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 25g
Fiber: 6%, 1g
Sugar: 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 POINTS

Trader Joe says: Paneer Tikka Masala with Spinach Basmati Rice - Authentic Indian Recipe

Abi says: I love Indian food. I like the rich flavors, the enthusiastic use of seasoning, the way you can eat with your hands using rice and/or naan. I like that there are dishes with cheese and dishes with meat and dishes with neither cheese nor meat.

What I don’t like is that paneer tikka masala doesn’t travel well. Sure, I can throw some leftovers in a plastic container, but the constant fear of a purse full of sauce is a huge deterrent. I’m talking serious fear here. I love my purse. I love paneer tikka masala. I don’t want my purse to get any paneer tikka masala lovin’. What can I say? I am a jealous lady.

You know who else is jealous? Everyone who saw this meal, from my commute buddy to coworkers, people either saw the box and said ‘Wow, that looks really good. I need to start bringing frozen food to work.’ or they endured the amazing aromas of my lunch and said ‘I am going to go get some Indian food now. Also, I hate you Abi for making me spend money instead of eating my sandwich in peace.’*

This meal weighs in at just 9 ounces, but provides such a hearty portion of tikka masala’d paneer that I was worried I wouldn’t have enough rice. The tikka masala is fragrant with spices that must come straight from heaven. The individual cheese cubes are not quite in the same abundance as shown on the box. In fact, the picture on the box is only really a “Serving Suggestion” if the suggestion is “Buy two boxes of the meal and put them on the same plate.”

Alas, I can’t tell you much about the spinach rice. In my enthusiasm to consume this meal I completely forgot to taste it solo. I just mixed everything together into one rather unattractive mass of super-delicious food. So, as a sauce-conveying mechanism, the green rice is awesome. As a stand-alone meal component I’m at a loss.

What I can tell you is that Trader Joe’s knows what they’re doing with this meal. There is exactly enough rice for the paneer and sauce, the flavor of the tikka masala is divine without being overly spicy (I adore spicy, this was medium intensity), and there’s no chance that the meal will end up all over the inside of your purse. Could this meal get any better? Yes, it could include a chocolate lava cake, then it would be perfect.

Bravo, Trader Joe’s!

*Not an actual quote. More like the gist of a quote. Yes, that person did go buy Indian food.

Price: $3.49
Serving: 4 pastries, 2.83oz
Calories:260 per serving
 Calories from Fat: 150
Fat: 26%, 17g
 Saturated Fat: 41%, 8g
 Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 9%, 25mg
Sodium: 19%, 460mg
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrates: 7%, 20g
Fiber: 4%, 1g
Sugar: 1g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Points

Pillsbury says: Bite-sized pastries stuffed with cream cheese, mozzarella cheese and spinach. Pillsbury Savorings brings together the quality and comfort of warm, flaky Pillsbury dough and delicious fillings, that are sure to satisfy adult tastes.

Abi says: My puff pastry obsession of late started with an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina Garten made some simple, easy tarts. From there I made little pockets of puff pastry filled with chevre, chocolate, and jam. Not all at once, separate pockets. But I don’t always think about my puff pastry needs desires in advance of actually wanting to eat puff pastry. For this reason, I am glad for these Pillsbury snacks.

First, these have a perfectly reasonable serving size. I ate half a box (6) as the major part of a meal (Pastry bites and carrots = awesome dinner). They would also pair nicely with salad. Or you could eat these with pizza. The possibilities are endless.

Second, the instructions are great (emphasis and capital letters theirs, not mine):

1. Preheat oven and put pastry bites on a tray
2. Bake for slightly less than 20 minutes
3. COOL 5 minutes before serving. CAUTION! Filling will be very hot. Be cautious on first bite.

As the wife of a person who is often injured by the boiling-hot innards of puff pastry pockets, I understand the importance of such specific instructions. I also read the instructions out loud to my husband in a dramatic voice to really get the point across.

Third, these taste exactly the way you’d expect them to taste. Sure you have to be in the mood for store-bought dough and the friendly blandness of cream cheese mozzarella and spinach. But there’s something nice about popping a bunch of hard, green-filled rocks into the oven and being rewarded with a tray full of golden spinach puffs. Mmmm, spinach puffs.

Also, they’re cute and I lack the willpower to resist food I can eat sans utensils.

Price: $3.99
Serving: 1, 10oz (283g)
Calories: 410 per serving
Fat: 10%, 7g
Cholesterol: 9%, 25mg
Sodium: 35%, 830mg
Protein: 20g
Carbohydrates: 22%, 66g
Fiber: 11%, 3g
Sugar: 22g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 Points

Ethnic Gourmet says: Taste of Thai Chicken Pad Thai is an elegant balance of distinct and contrasting flavors such as coconut, lemongrass, chilies, ginger, and peanut blended together to achieve “Rot Chart”, Thai for “proper harmony of flavor”. Seasoned white meat chicken with rice noodles, carrots and scallions in a peanut base sauce. All natural. No artificial ingredients, flavors, colors, or preservatives. Minimally processed.

Paige says: I really like the convenience and proportions of most frozen meals. I try a lot of them, to my great disappointment, but I forge ahead in search of the Holy Grail of frozen foods. This is my favorite frozen meal from 2008 In fact, I enjoy it so much that I no longer order Pad Thai at my local Thai restaurant. Why bother, when I can have frozen Pad Thai whenever I want?

I like spicy foods, so when I peel back the plastic film I always add some chili oil. Without the added chili oil, there is some spice to this Pad Thai, but it’s pretty mild. The chicken is real and there’s a lot of it. Sometimes I feel that there’s too much chicken. I know, I know…white meat chicken is good protein and I should consume a lot of it, but sometimes…you know, it’s enough already. Not that that’s a bad thing to be accused of having too much chicken. Some frozen meals have really scant amounts of chicken. But I digress. The rice noodles are of the flat variety (as opposed to the round spaghetti style), and they are always cooked perfectly. They only come out mushy if you overcook the meal. I’ve only done that a couple of times. Best to check your meal before the time is up, just in case your microwave doesn’t need the entire 6 minutes to cook your Pad Thai. My microwave only needs 5 minutes. It must be really advanced. There are a lot of carrots and scallions and a very generous sprinkling of chopped peanuts on top.

If you feel like making this meal closer to a dish from your local Thai restaurant, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice on top. The combination of flavors and textures really makes this a standout frozen meal. The chicken has good texture, like real chicken; not chicken parts that are cooked, chopped up, then put back together again. The noodles aren’t mushy, the carrots and scallions are the right taste and texture, and the added peanuts add a pleasant crunch. The sauce ingredients are: evaporated cane juice, water, soy sauce, tomato paste, peanut butter, red wine vinegar, carrot juice (color?), red pepper, corn starch. It tastes pretty close to the sauce at a real Thai restaurant, except I could swear it’s supposed to have tamarind in it. No matter, it’s still good.

At $4.00, this isn’t the cheapest frozen meal out there, and I know they don’t exactly skimp on the sodium, but this is really tasty and filling and I don’t feel like I need a candy bar chaser when I’ve eaten this. I tend to stock up on these when they go on sale.

Ethnic Gourmet also makes a tofu pad thai, but I don’t like it nearly as well as this chicken version. Obviously, if you have a peanut sensitivity or allergy do not eat this meal.

Price: $4.99 Canadian
Serving: 1 muffin
Calories: 100
Fat: 2%, 1.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 6%, 140mg
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrates: 7%, 21g
Fiber: 24%, 6g
Sugar: 9g
Weight Watchers Points: 1 Point

Vitalicious says: Now you can indulge in chocolate, that’s not only guilt-free, but good for you. So if you have abandoned your hope of enjoying chocolate, don’t despair! For a delicious and healthy breakfast, dessert or all-day snack, lose yourself in the rich, moist Deep Chocolate VitaMuffins and VitaTops.

Laura says: Hey, I just realized how clever that blurb is for advertising both VitaMuffins and VitaTops. Way to kill two birds with one stone, Vitalicious!

I have an unhealthy addiction to chocolate. I dream about chocolate, I crave it 95% of the day, and I miss it when I’m not eating it. I really do love chocolate. That being said, you should trust that chocolate and I are pretty well acquainted. I know good chocolate.

A vast amount of portion controlled or ‘healthier’ chocolate have popped up on the market in the recent years. I’m sure you’ve seen some of them - like those 100 calorie puny ‘bars’ of chocolate that have barely any substance to them. Every time I have one, I barely have enough time to enjoy it and it’s gone. Those 100 calorie chocolate bars sadden me greatly. The ‘healthier’ sugar-free or whatever chocolate have only the faintest hint of chocolate, compensated with lots of sugar (unless it’s sugar-free of course). Maybe I’m just a chocolate snob, but I find them kind of crappy.

I figured there was nothing chocolatey out there that could be satisfying in a reasonable portion, be somewhat healthy, and taste good. Then I found these VitaMuffins sitting in my frozen food aisle, and the ‘Deep Chocolate’ flavour called out to me. Plus, the brand is called Vitalicious which sounded pretty healthy to me. To back that up, the package told me all about how low-calorie, low sodium, high in fiber, infused with calcium, and basically how wonderfully healthy the muffins are. Healthy and deliciously deep in chocolatey goodness? Those are star-crossed Romeo and Juliet of all food.

I was a skeptic. The muffins come in a package of four, individually wrapped in plastic. While these muffins are not as big as the gigantic muffins purchased in coffee shops, they are pretty much the average size of muffins that one would bake at home (at least the size of the muffins I make, anyway). I popped it in my microwave {slightly cold/whatever coming out}

Then, I bit into it.

During consumption, these were my thoughts:

Oh, chocolate goodness! Oh, melty chocolate chips! Oh, the generous amount of melty chocolate chips! Oh, yum yum yum!

So pretty much, I LOVE THESE MUFFINS. I love how they don’t taste like they’re supposed to be healthy. I love how the chocolate flavour is so genuinely chocolate and not some calorie-reduced diet version. I love how the muffins are soft so that I could be fooled into thinking it’s actually a chocolate cupcake I’m eating. I could eat a whole box of them and not feel guilty – 400 calories is an appropriate amount for a meal, right? I also took a look at the ingredients and was impressed by what I saw.

Impressive ingredients include:

vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, folic acid, iron, biotin, zinc

Wow! Vitalicious doesn’t kid about its name. I feel so good about eating these muffins now, which gives it bonus stars. It was already 5/5, so it’s like 7/5 now.

The texture of a VitaMuffin is the tiniest bit grainier than your average muffin or cupcake, probably because they’re whole wheat. It doesn’t really bother me at all and I just feel better for eating something whole wheat. The heating time is a little off – the middle bit was a little bit frozen when I first took it out (the difficulties of microwaving) so if that happens to you, just pop it back in for like 5 more seconds. No biggie!

The only thing that annoys me about these muffins is that they come in a boxes of four. I know me, I will eat four at once so this means I will have to buy many boxes which will cram up my freezer and not impress my housemates.

Now, run off and buy these muffins.