Price: $2.00
Serving: 1 Bowl, 4.3 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 2%, 1.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 38%, 920mg
Protein: 6g
Carbs: 15%, 45g
Fiber: 5%, 1g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 Points

Annie Chun says: [My] new FreshPak™ Noodles are full of flavor and offer a wonderfully satisfying texture, much more pleasing than everyday dry noodles. They’re the perfect match for the classic, light Japanese broth of tofu, vegetables and shiitake mushrooms. A traditional Japanese Udon soup, all vegetarian, all delicious!

Adina says: This was truly delicious. I eat a lot of authentic udon noodles from our local Asian market. Plus, I worked at a Japanese restaurant for 3 years. Plus, I’m Asian. All these things can lead you to only one conclusion: this girl knows her udon noodles. And this meal, in all its non-refrigerated fresh packed glory, is good udon noodle soup.

The noodles are firm and chewy, just like in the restaurants. The soup base was a little strong but I think it is because I didn’t put enough water in the bowl. And even as a strong soup base, it packed a lot of mushroom and soy sauce flavor without being predictable. The bok choy and green onions were surprisingly fresh tasting, a miracle in and of itself, considering it came in the form of a giant manufactured seasoned square. An added bonus is that the bowl is biodegradable and the meal is vegetarian. The whole bowl is considered two servings now considered one serving, so when you look at the breakdown, the only downside is the sodium (38%), which is still way less than a regular package of ramen noodles (over 60%). The carbs are at 15%, which I’m willing to accept since I was eating a giant bowl of noodles.

I have only one complaint. This meal is semi-difficult to assemble. It requires you to put hot water in the bowl to loosen the noodles, drain the water, add the soup base and toppings, and then add 1 to 1.5 cups of water and microwave. These steps require you to have access to hot water and possibly even a measuring cup. I don’t want you to think I’m a wimping out on the “Heat” part of this blog, I’m just saying. “Draining” and “measuring” equals cooking in my book.

Otherwise, Annie Chun’s Udon Soup is a delicious, inexpensive, and healthy meal.

Price: $2.50
Serving: 1 meal, 9 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 10%, 30mg
Sodium: 28%, 660mg
Carbohydrates: 8%, 25g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Protein: 16g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Tender pieces of roasted beef in a rich portabello mushroom sauce, accompanied by whipped potatoes made with red skin potatoes, carmelized onions, roasted garlic and chives.

Rebecca says: There is something to be said for the appearance of a dish. The fact that a dish looks relatively unappetizing when it is removed from the microwave could be a sign of disaster. But sometimes, I can be talked out of my initial reaction. So I showed my food to Abi and to Jenn and they both supported my initial hypothesis that my beef portabello looked disgusting. When food looks disgusting (there is a bit of a crust on the potatoes and a thin film on top of the meat portion), that's usually internalized as an omen of bad taste.

The appearance of the food could have been overcome. Sometimes things look bad and taste delicious (and vice versa) but this dish also had a problem with texture. The whipped potatoes, the "cooked beef product,"? the mushrooms didn't really mesh well together and even mixing the potatoes into the sauce didn't work out.

Yes the mushrooms were tasty but my threshold for mushrooms is extremely low. Also, they were so drenched in sauce that I could only distinguish by texture and taste rather than by appearance.

I like the idea of mushrooms, roast beef and mashed potatoes but should have known that mushrooms, roasted beef and whipped potatoes was not the same thing. Don't be seduced by a sale or the desire to try something new. This doesn't taste like how mama used to make it or even how the cafeteria lady used to make it. If you see it in the store, make the wise choice and walk on by.

Price: $2.20 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 10 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 4%, 15mg
Sodium: 20%, 480mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 34g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 points

Smart Ones says: We roast red russet potatoes to perfection, then add a generous helping of crisp broccoli, and smother it all with a creamy cheddar cheese sauce. So delicious, so satisfying … and another little way you can be good today.

Andrew says: When I was heating this meal up, it filled the air with a smell akin to that of McDonald’s french fries. Now, regardless of how you feel about the healthfulness (or lack thereof) of McDonald’s food, I think just about any person on the face of the planet can agree that the fry smell is excellent.

The fry smell is something the Lean Cuisine version of this meal didn’t really supply, so already the Smart Ones version was leading on the judge’s scorecards. This is rare in my experience, as Lean Cuisine meals seem to be much more consistent and flavorful than Smart Ones … ones.

But this Smart One kept bringing the goods, round after round. OK, I’ll stop with the boxing metaphors. I’ll just say this is an extremely tasty, yet simple dish that I think almost anyone could enjoy, given a taste for cheddar sauce.

Speaking of the sauce, it’s great! It’s robust and zesty and coats the potatoes and broccoli well. And there’s plenty of it! And it’s even more orange than the Lean Cuisine cheese sauce, which has got to be a good thing.

The potatoes have good, firm texture, but they’re certainly not too firm. The broccoli is pretty standard for frozen meals, which means it’s green, has that broccoli flavor, and is reasonably rigid. I had my dish in our work microwave for the suggested 6 minutes and everything turned out perfectly — steamy and hot. Love it when a plan comes together.

So why not five stars instead of 4.5? I’d love it if they threw some bacon in there. Lean Cuisine, for some reason, has this exact meal, and then another version with bacon bits in it. The bacon-inclusive meal, as you can guess, is slightly more satisfying for us carnivores. If you’re vegetarian, though, you should be more than happy with this version. But vegetarianism is certainly not a prerequisite for thorough enjoyment of potatoes, cheese and broccoli.

Price: $2.00
Serving: 1 wrap, 6 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 5%, 3g
Sodium: 24%, 580mg
Protein: 14g
Carbs: 12%, 36g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
WW Points: 4 Points

Cedarlane says: Start with a wheat flour tortilla. Fill it with a generous helping of couscous, non fat mozzarella, zucchini, olives, onion, tomatoes, bell peppers, green chilis, and just the right seasonings. Wrap it up and you have the delicious Cedarlane Low Fat Couscous & Vegetable Veggie Wraps. Wholesome, low fat and great tasting, plus they have no cholesterol.

Abi says: I’d let you know if this was filling, but I consumed it with a Diet Coke, string cheese, and apple slices. While I’m craving some chocolate right now (pretty sure I have chocolate almonds in my tote bag), I’m not on the look-out for other lunch items. This is a good sign, but not telling.

Cedarlane’s cooking instructions told me to microwave the veggie wrap (which I will mistakenly call a burrito from now on) in a paper towel on high for 2 minutes. That or I could put it in the toaster oven for 30-35 minutes. I had a feeling that my coworkers would not be pleased with my toaster oven monopoly unless I was using it to make cookies for them. I might do that later today. After all, three o’clock is the infinite hour and some cookies might help.

While I would never have thought to make a couscous burrito, I must admit that it was a great lunch item, for something that is really just carbs wrapped in more carbs. No, it is not an entire lunch, but definitely part of a well-balanced meal. A meal that included cheese and chocolate.

But let’s get back to the burrito. It is filled with pasta. Does that not strike you as a little unbalanced? It definitely weirded me out. Fortunately, I was able to put that feeling aside. Well, put it aside until I cut open the burrito and found a tell-tale cold spot in the middle.

Ok folks who keep chastising me for using an office microwave and complaining about overcooked food, I am taking this opportunity to point out that our office microwave is not the super-industrial monster all of you must think it is. I had to open up the burrito and heat it for another 30 seconds after the initial 2 minute cook time. This was not my idea of fun. Why? It involved getting back in the microwave line. Actually, it meant cutting in line. Cutting in the microwave line! I did not feel good about this turn of events.

Fortunately, it just took another 30 seconds of heating to have a piping hot couscous wrap/burrito on my hands. At this point, you may be wondering if I’m even going to say anything about the veggies. No, I’m not. Well, I guess I am, but they aren’t even going to get their own paragraph. The vegetables in this wrap were a non-factor. Veggie-phobes can rejoice in the fact that the wrap contains approximately 3 cubic centimeters of zucchini and 2.5 slices of olives. I didn’t recognize any other vegetable items. This was quite disappointing for a frozen item that had the word vegetable and a derivative of the word vegetable on the label. I’m not too impressed.

Will I buy these again? Only if they’re on sale. Otherwise I’d be paying over $2.00 for what amounted to pennies worth of ingredients. I make pretty terrific couscous myself and don’t need to eat it inside of a tortilla.

(According to the package, this meal contains mozzarella and honey, thus it is not vegan. This is pretty lame because they could easily leave out those two ingredients and have a perfectly OK wrap.)