Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs

A stable in the generic frozen foods aisle, Lean Cuisine's swedish meatballs are much like other swedish meatballs: round salisbury steaks in noodles. But this dish acquits itself well, with a decent sized helping of meatballs in a tangy sauce.

Tastiness - 3 Microwaves
The meatballs can be somewhat of an acquired taste, as they are not as firm as one would like and have some tanginess. But the sauce and noodles are quite savory.

Fillingness - 3 1/2 Microwaves
One thing about this meal: for a Lean Cuisine meal this is filling. You won't lack for meatballs in this dish and the noodles round it out nicely.

Healthiness - 2 Microwaves
What you lose in this dish, though, is vegetables. As in, there are none. As always, sodium is up there (620 mg), with 8g of total fat and 300 calories. For you Weight Watchers out there, this is a 6 point meal.

Overall - 3 Microwaves
Another dish that I typically pick up when the Lean Cuisines are on sale, this is a staple of any regular Frozen Food eater and makes for a satisfying, if not spectacular, lunch.

Lean Cuisine Pasta Romano with Bacon

The pasta romano with bacon is a new dish from Lean Cuisine. It's primarily bow-tie pasta in a rich tomato sauce. Whenever you see "with .." in a title, you know it means meager sprinkles and this dish matches that pattern. The bacon was a light touch, adding more to the aroma than to the actual taste. What is in this dish, though, is a strong tomato sauce which produces a lot of taste for what is ultimately just pasta in sauce.

Tastiness: 3 1/2
What is there is very good, the tomato sauce has a lot of flavor and the bacon pieces, while small, lend a lot to the over-all feel of this dish.

Fillingness: 2 1/2 Microwaves
What there isn't a lot of is this dish. As are most of the healthier fares (Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, etc.) you should know going in that keeping the calories down is a focus, so portion sizes will be limited. In this case, the lack of a meat probably hurts the overall feeling of done-ness.

Healthiness: 3 1/2 Microwaves
Like nearly all frozen dinners, this dish is relatively high in salt (650 mg of Sodium) and potassium (880 mg). 280 calories place this on the low end, with 7g of total fat. For those on Weight Watchers, this dish is 5 points.

Overall: 3 1/2 Microwaves

I liked this dish. Strong taste and originality are always pluses in these dishes and this one met both. It could do with adding some chicken or sausage to really spice it up but given this is targeted at the dieting crowd it's a pretty strong competitor.

Greetings

I work in your average two story office building with no real convenient food options other than your neighborhood interstate McDonalds. I'm also lazy. The combination has meant a lot of frozen dinners at lunchtime as opposed to the brown bag.

This blog will be reviews of those frozen dinners, to help me remember which ones stand out and which ones should have stayed frozen. Enjoy!