The Hottest Guilt-Free Microwave Meals

Posted Tue, Feb 26, 2008, 5:00 am PST

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March is Frozen Food Month, people! Check out the latest 'n' greatest, Hungry Girl-approved, diet friendly frozen meals...

1. Kashi Thin Crust Pizza, Mushroom Trio & Spinach
PER SERVING (1/3rd pizza): 270 calories, 9g fat, 700mg sodium, 32g carbs, 5g fiber, 3g sugars, 15g protein

Kashi's newest pizzas have a super-thin crust made of the company's signature Seven Whole Grains & Sesame blend plus flax seeds. Roasted Vegetable and Tomato Garlic Cheese are also available, but this one is our absolute fave. It's crispy, yummy, pizza-rific perfection!

2. Lean Cuisine Flatbread Melts, Chicken Philly
PER SERVING (1 package): 330 calories, 8g fat, 650mg sodium, 41g carbs, 5g fiber, 3g sugars, 21g protein

These new "fold 'n chew" sandwiches are packed with grilled chicken, melted-Cheddar goodness, onions, peppers, and more. There's also Chophouse Steak, Pesto Chicken, and Chicken Ranch Club to choose from. Stash some in the office freezer, and you may never make a fast food run at lunchtime again!

3. Weight Watchers Smart Ones Anytime Selections, Calzone Italiano
PER SERVING (1 calzone): 290 calories, 6g fat, 620mg sodium, 47g carbs, 6g fiber, 6g sugars, 14g protein

We pretty much lost our cool altogether when we first tried this calzone... It ROCKS! Stuffed with low-fat mozzarella cheese, Italian sausage, and tasty tomato sauce, it's hard to believe it only has 6 grams of fat. And the clever "crisping sleeve" ensures your 'zone comes out hot, crunchy, and delicious. Mmmmm!

4. Amy's Multi-Grain Hot Cereal Bowl
PER SERVING (1 bowl): 180 calories, 1.5g fat, 260mg sodium, 34g carbs, 4g fiber, 8g sugars, 4g protein

A frozen breakfast cereal? Cool! If you love hot cereal but hate measuring out water and dealing with those too-tiny packets of oats, you will flip for Amy's new breakfast bowls. Each generous serving is packed with fiber and tastes fantastic. You might also dig the Cream of Rice, Rolled Oats, and Steel-Cut Oats Hot Cereal Bowls from Amy's. We do.

5. Cedarlane Moussaka Eggplant Mediterranean
PER SERVING (1 meal): 230 calories, 10g fat, 590mg sodium, 22g carbs, 6g fiber, 7g sugars, 13g protein

Even if you've never had Moussaka (even if you can't pronounce Moussaka!), you will love, love, love this roasted eggplant entree. There are layers and layers of eggplant and other veggies, tomato sauce, and feta cheese, all smothered in a creamy white sauce. Sooooo goooooood!

6. Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers, Grilled Basil Chicken
PER SERVING (1 meal): 290 calories, 6g fat, 580mg sodium, 37g carbs, 5g fiber, 3g sugars, 20g protein

This one's almost as much fun to prepare as it is to devour (but not quite!). The cute little steaming tray sits on top of the sauce compartment while you nuke it. There are tons of Cafe Steamers, but this one's a standout. Chunks of chicken, hunks of potatoes, and lots of veggies swim in creamy herb sauce for one heck of a delicious meal. You can easily fool people into thinking this was made without the use of a microwave. Try it!

7. Whole Grain Lean Pockets, Supreme Pizza
PER SERVING (1 Pocket): 220 calories, 7g fat, 490mg sodium, 30g carbs, 3g fiber, 10g sugars, 10g protein

Unless you've been living in a cave (no offense to those of you who do), you know that high-fiber whole grains can help with weight management. But that doesn't mean you need to start boiling up barley for dinner. Just reach for one of these Supreme Pizza Pockets--each one's got 16 grams of whole grains! And every bite is packed with sausage, pepperoni, peppers, sauce, and cheese. It's like the ultimate inside-out pizza, and we love it!

8. Jimmy Dean D-Lights, Canadian Bacon, Egg White & Cheese
PER SERVING (1 sandwich): 230 calories, 6g fat, 790mg sodium, 30g carbs, 2g fiber, 3g sugars, 15g protein

This frozen b-fast sandwich may give those drive-thru breakfast menus a run for their money! Get this: a honey wheat English muffin is stacked with egg whites, cheese, and Canadian bacon. All for just 230 calories and 6 grams of fat. How great is that?! A quick, delicious, and guilt-free breakfast has never been easier.

For more guilt-free food finds, plus recipes, tips, tricks, and more, visit hungry-girl.com and sign up for free daily emails!

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252 Comments

1. Posted by Tammy L on Wed, Feb 27, 2008, 3:11 pm PST

Some of these are good, but most are high sodium.
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2. Posted by DB on Wed, Feb 27, 2008, 7:47 pm PST

I haven't tried the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers, Grilled Basil Chicken, yet but I have tried their Beef Merlot. Its a new favorite for me! I don't usually like the beef in most of these dinners but the Beef Merlot is amazing!
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3. Posted by silancedogz on Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 9:19 am PST

Michaelina's Lean Gourmet and also the Weight Watcher's Smart Ones are pretty tasty as well. The Michaelina's are also considerably easier on the wallet, coming in at around $1/per meal. Lean Cuisine and Amy's are also good but supermarkets don't exactly give them away.
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4. Posted by meemo53 on Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 9:55 am PST

The weight watchers,lean cuisine and healthy choices are all good I like them alot, but yes the sodium is high you need to adjust that through out the day if you choose to eat these pre package meals. it would be nice if they all would work on reducing the salt.
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5. Posted by Angela R on Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 12:22 pm PST

Healthy Choice Meals are usually lower in Sodium than most others, but I wonder how low the Sodium content of the frozen breakfast cereal bowl is.. .
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6. Posted by Liz on Fri, Feb 29, 2008, 5:46 am PST

I love love LOVE the Cedarlane Moussaka Eggplant Mediterranean! It didn't look 100% appetizing, but it tasted delicious! I definitely recommend it.
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7. Posted by lucia112590 on Fri, Feb 29, 2008, 5:35 pm PST

hey hungry-girl, do you ever make homemade food? i mean, do you just eat whatever's in your freezer and takes 4 minutes to defrost? because that just seems completely insane. and incredibly environmentally destructful
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8. Posted by orangekiss78 on Fri, Feb 29, 2008, 5:35 pm PST

i only like the hot cereal i luv 2 cook so i dont microwave meals at all. unless it is heating up leftovers!
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9. Posted by mbuccibear64 on Sat, Mar 01, 2008, 7:34 am PST

I love Healthy Choice and the Lean Cuisine. I know the sodium isn't great--but sometimes you have no choice depending on your schedule. These two products are very tasty! Enjoy
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10. Posted by Gatitta on Sun, Mar 02, 2008, 3:58 pm PST

I never ever eat microwave dinners. At most I only eat frozen corn that gets boiled or cereal but that's it. If Rataouilee has ever shown something to people it's that fresh food will always win. Plus the ingreidents used to preserve microwave dinners causes gastric carcinoma which is one of the deadliest and most incruable types of cancer that exist. Total gastrectomy anyone?
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11. Posted by GrammarGirl95 on Mon, Mar 03, 2008, 3:46 pm PST

I love the Lean Cuisine French Bread pizzas. Yuuuummmy and filling! If you're doing Weight Watchers, the pepperoni one is only 6 points. And at my grocery store, they're only $1.69 a piece!
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12. Posted by impetalsntwigs on Wed, Mar 05, 2008, 10:18 pm PST

I love the Sweet Sour Chicken from Lean Cuisine and Vitamuffins! I freeze my muffins and warm in the micro. My husband LOVE them too!!
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13. Posted by peggymcnutt on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 5:13 am PST

On my budget, only way I can try these dinners is with a coupon and those are getting harder to find.I really would like to try some of the new meals, I am diabetic and on weight watcher so I can use all the help I can get with making good choices.
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14. Posted by cowboy60@pacbell.net on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 5:24 am PST

The Jimmy Dean black forest ham, cheese, egg white D-lights combination is much better than the canadian bacon one. The canadian bacon tends to be too chewy.
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15. Posted by unf1kel on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 5:37 am PST

whoever attacked hungry girl for not making homemade food is clearly not a fan. you should take a glance at the website before posting an ignorant complaint. hungry girl is all about giving healthy alternatives for our favorite foods, which is usually in the form of fabulous calorie-saving recipes. but i also really appreciate the healthy packaged & fast food finds for times that i need a quick bite. you definitely need to check out the website & consider re-posting...
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16. Posted by silkycat58 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 5:42 am PST

I tried the Jimmy Dean D-lights breakfast sandwiches with the canadian bacon. Paid $7 for four large sandwiches. They were disgusting! The egg was rubbery and the bacon was tough. Threw the rest of the box away this morning. Can't even stand the smell.
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17. Posted by paulinenav2003 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 6:14 am PST

HG, you had me drooling up until the Jimmy Dean D-Lights. These things are not cheap but there was a coupon on the box so I tried them. My mother and I thought they were just horrible! So bad, in fact, that I e-mailed JD and expressed my disappointment. And we are not fans of the Vita Muffin. No matter how we prepared them, they were bland and had that "medicinal" aftertaste that some diet foods have when the fat is replaced.
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18. Posted by danielles327 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 6:41 am PST

I tried the JD sausage, egg, & cheese - they are really plain, but you can eat them, My dad likes them more so that I, but for what you are getting I don't think you can expect it to taste like McDonald's and only have 6 grams of fat!!
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19. Posted by dorothylewis20072000 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 7:08 am PST

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwiches were TERRIBLE!!! Couldn't figure how to cook them so wouldn't taste like rubber. Jimmy go back to the drawing board. Forget frozen foods.Fix your own fresh recipe and spread it out over a week by using plastic bowls. Do same with fresh veggies.
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20. Posted by dorienne72 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 7:24 am PST

I was looking forward to the Via Muffin's. Haven't tried them yet but are there any other fans of those?
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21. Posted by bernie c on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 7:36 am PST

i totally agree....jd sausage breakfast sandwiches are simply awful. the egg whites are like rubber and could not eat. garbage can, here i come!
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22. Posted by autumn67 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 8:39 am PST

I love HG, and all the ideas, there are so many things that I had never tried that I have because of HG. The website has awesome recipes, and the tips they give are awesome. The shopping list is so helpful too. Good going HG. I love WW smart one's meals too, I agree they are a little high in sodium, but I put a WW meal on top of a bowl of frozen mixed veggies and my big appetite is satisfied. Keep the good ideas coming. As for the person worried about gastric carcinoma, if I don't continue to lose weight I won't be around long enough to get cancer. Being smart is the important thing, sure don't eat frozen meals for 365 days a year all 3 meals, but good in a pinch.
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23. Posted by Tracy M on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 8:44 am PST

I absolutely love the Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich! It almost tasted like fast food. Excellent with ketchup and hot sauce!
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24. Posted by Tracy M on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 8:44 am PST

I absolutely love the Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich! It almost tasted like fast food. Excellent with ketchup and hot sauce!
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25. Posted by lindaluc2007 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 10:00 am PST

I usually bring levftovers to work to eat with a salad for lunch. On days when there isn't anything good to grab on the way out the door, it sure is nice to have a frozen meal available to grab. Even with the sodium, it's MUCH better to have one of those, than to go out for lunch. Frozen meals are just handy for those certain days. Thanks Hungry Girl for your reviews.
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26. Posted by Eerye on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 11:45 am PST

The JD sausage was awful, very rubbery. I love the WW quesadilla. It was wonderful, the chicken one. The healhty choice meals are the only ones that really are low in sodium or at least have more that are low in sodium. I have to try the folded sandwhich of Lean Cuisine. I usually cook for dinner and breakfast, but often need freezer meals for lunch at work. I hope more people will chose to bring their lunch and avoid the fast food lines.
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27. Posted by rozrocks360 on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 2:48 pm PST

The Weight Watchers Vegetable Lasagna and the chicken quesadillas are my favorites! Delish! Also, their fettucine with broccoli is good but I always add more of my own broccoli to make it more satisfying. I find these frozen foods come in handy when you are running short on time and for many of us time is one thing we don't always have. HG look forward to hearing about more of your recommendations. Keep up the good work!
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28. Posted by lori l on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 2:49 pm PST

i love hungry-girl i have just discovered her and she is so awesome. also i have tried the chophouse steak lean cuisine flat bread it was really good. i had it with baby carrots and one of the laughing cow cheese wedges. so yummy. i have been on WW for three weeks and have lost ten pounds and i eat the frozen dinners for lunch at least three days a week with some kind of fresh veggies. go hunrgry girl u are the bomb
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29. Posted by o2bincabo@sbcglobal.net on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 3:44 pm PST

The Jimmy Dean D-Lights are only rubbery if you overcook them! Otherwise I think they are a fantastic alternative to Egg McMuffins!The sausage, egg & cheese is definitely better than the Canadian bacon- it has a little more fat but the better taste is worth it!
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30. Posted by briscoesmom on Thu, Mar 06, 2008, 4:58 pm PST

lucia112590: As has been stated, you need to go read HG's web site. She has loads of receipes; these are just recs for those of us who are looking for alternatives when time is short. Educate yourself. To those who don't like JD D-Lite B'fast sandwiches: to each his own. I personally love them, as does my very picky boyfriend. But I put ketchup and tapatio sauce on them to spice them up. Don't microwave them and they are NOT rubbery. I cook mine in the toaster oven.
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