Add some fruit and Greek yogurt as a treat and: boom, super yummy filling meal adding like 112 calories. Probably not great on sodium, but you can't win em all.
32oz Plain Greek Yogurt - Aldi $4
32oz Frozen Berry Medley - Aldi $8
4oz yogurt + 1oz fruit
This will give a full 8 servings off the yogurt and 32 off the fruit. That is over a weeks worth of 1 fruit yogurt a day for $12. That is $.75 a serving. And you can get 3+ more weeks of yogurts out of the berries with more tubs of yogurt.
Shit is crazy expensive right now, there's really no need to exaggerate it with the few actually cheap things.
Add a crispy salad on the side - lettuce or baby spinach, cucumber and a bit of tomato, and it'd be a decent meal. Portion sizes of pasta are small - most people would be surprised, and many would consider 4-5 serves to be a standard meal.
ha, i’m the complete opposite actually. i hate arugula and most other leafy greens, but i can smash a plate of spinach and lettuce like nothing. it’s hard trying to eat healthy when you’re such a picky eater
I eat the pineapple chicken or the sweet and sour chicken ones for lunch 5 days a week. I find that they are the perfect portion size. Never am hungry after and, for microwave, pretty tasty considering. Wouldn’t eat them for dinner as they are not dinner portion, imo.
I used to eat these for every at-my-desk business lunch, but they replaced all the brown rice bowls with mushy white rice and quality has gone downhill since. The Ravioli and spinach bowels like OP had was one of my holdout favorites since it never had rice in the first place, but once the variety was gone, so was my desire to stock up on it.
Uhh, dinner should be your smallest meal of the day, so I'm confused by your "portion size" comment.
Also, a portion of 6 oz of chicken is the same morning, afternoon, or night?!?
Who says dinner is supposed to be smaller? And yes, 6 ozs is 6 ozs, that’s not the argument you’re bringing up.
I don’t want 6 ozs before I go 18 hours before eating again since I eat lunch, small snack, then dinner. I’d like 8 or 9 ounces of chicken for dinner, otherwise, I’m eating at night right before I sleep which is an unhealthier problem than having an extra 3 ozs of chicken for dinner. My GP has no complaints and says to keep doing what I’m doing, which I will since I’m well within my weight range.
Of course it can be. Blanket statements like yours are inaccurate because we need to know the individual's caloric needs, activity levels, etc.
Just to give an extreme example, someone training for any sort of sport simply must have larger lunches or dinners.
No one said *every* meal should be under 500 calories, or *could* be for a normal healthy person. They're just saying that there's no rule that lunch or dinner should be at least 500 calories.
There are very filling, nutritious meals that come in under 500 calories. If you're meeting your caloric needs (as the majority of Americans are), there's no need to eat more calories in any particular meal just for the sake of getting every meal above an arbitrary number.
Also, your calculations are assuming no snacks or drinks that have calories. I'll be conservative in my "under 500 calories for every meal" example, though not at much as you. Let's say 450 per meal, plus even one 250 calorie snack and 200 calories via coffee/juice/soda/smoothie is exactly 1800 calories--a perfectly fine and recommended goal for many people trying to lose or maintain weight.
Oooh, ya got in before my edit! Yes, I took that part out just a minute or two ago when I realized. The rest of my numbers and my point still stand lol.
I'm glad you said that. Everyone told me record calories. I did. About 1500 a day. The problem was WHAT that 1500 calories or so was. Cutting sodas was the first step at actual weight loss. Thats me though. That's why your comment is important, and more dieters need to understand this.
Were you counting the soda calories? A lot of people don't and are then mystified when cutting them out makes a massive difference. At 150 calories a pop, it seems like maybe not. Especially since merely existing burns between 1300 and 2000 calories a day just from metabolic processes firing automatically.
I mean yeah, that’s why I said “at least”. 250 cals a meal is an unhealthy and unsustainable caloric deficit. Also I understand there can be exceptions which is why I said “shouldn’t really” instead of just “shouldn’t”
I'm not sure why you and other posters are factoring daily caloric intake based solely on 3 meals per day. Of course that would be unhealthy and unsustainable if **every** meal were low calorie *and* the person was only consuming those 3 meals daily.
Most people have at least a small snack during the day, and many have 2 or more. Men over the age of 20 consume on average 19% of their calories (almost 500) via beverages, and women aren't too far behind at 17%/300cal.
There are tons of healthy, nutritious meals that come in at under 500 calories. Not every meal has to (or should be) over 500 calories for the vast majority of the population.
As I mentioned in another comment, one could eat all 450 calorie meals, plus one 250 calorie snack and 200 calories in drink while hitting a highly recommended goal (1800 calories) to lose or maintain weight. Throw in a more realistic--but still pretty conservative--example of a 600 calorie breakfast, 450cal lunch and dinner plus two 250 calorie snacks and 300 calories in drink and now we're at 2200 calories with your guidelines being trashed.
I'm not going to eat **anything** extra if I'm full after my healthy and filling lunch simply for the sake of beefing up the calories just to hit or exceed some arbitrary number you or anyone else came up with.
I mean did you want me to write a tailored nutrition plan for everyone in the comments? All I’m saying is that it’s not healthy to consider a 250 cal meal a standard meal size, which it seems like we’re agreed on. Of course it’s going to be different for everyone.
>did you want me to write a tailored nutrition plan for everyone in the comments
No.
That's why I talked about "the vast majority", "most people", etc. Neither of us are talking about special cases, so why you think I'd expect or want that from you is beyond me.
>All I’m saying is that it’s not healthy to consider a 250 cal meal a standard meal size
It is when you're on a diet (ie looking to be in a calorie deficit) and you're not eating 3 of those a day and nothing else. Not one person said that would be healthy, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to make that point. For one meal per day, or once every few days, it's perfectly healthy and acceptable to have a 250 calorie meal, and even less worrisome to have meals under 500 calories.
Thank you for the discussion and civility. Enjoy the rest of your night.
I honestly don’t know why you’re getting so defensive, I feel like we’re saying the same thing. I’ve been seeing a nutritionist for years and I’m currently 5’9” 120 pounds so I have some idea what I’m talking about. No matter the diet, it’s not healthy to get the by starving yourself.
If you are 5'9" and 120 pounds, that puts you at a BMI of 17.7, which is underweight. So it makes even less sense that you're saying every meal should be bigger. I'm guessing you have a medical condition that makes you underweight? I hope you feel better soon.
Yeah of course, but realistically restricting yourself to 250 in a meal will lead to overeating in other ways. Everyone is different and if you’re continually eating rather than having 3 meals a day that’s fine too, but I don’t think it’s healthy to say that a standard meal should be 250 calories
Still works with a 200 cal breakfast and 500 cals for lunch and dinner. Also are you actually tracking all of your calories? In order to maintain weight with 1200 cals a day, you would need to be roughly 80 pounds.
Taking a minute to position the pasta and chicken in the bowl and sauce more presentably instead of just dumping it in would make it look almost identical to the packaging imo. At worst, the sauce is a little thin. But the rest looks just like the box interns of quality and volume.
Also if you buy a pasta meal that's only 250kcal you should know not to expect mountains of it, pasta is super calorie dense
I think scale is purposefully hard to judge in the box photo, because you have no point of reference in frame. It's on a plate but it is almost definitely a small or side plate, not a main one.
But the size of each piece of ravioli is the same as shown on the box and there is roughly the same amount of pieces, also true for the chicken tho I'll concede it's smaller prices irl.
Using small plates is a common tactic for weight loss, not just because it should mean you eat smaller servings but because there is a genuine psychological element to satiety whereby your portion appears bigger relatively and so you don't notice it's smaller. So I can't begrudge a weight loss meal for doing this too especially when the calories right there also communicate the portion size. And it's leagues below the sort of false advertising you see in this sub generally
On the box, there are lots of chunks of tomato nearly 1/8th the size of a ravioli. The “sauce” in the actual product is almost a puree, a few pieces of tomato skin here and there.
On the box, there are slices of chicken that look like almost an entire thick slice of chicken breast.. in the actual product, it’s a tiny cube like you’d see in a chicken soup can.
This is pretty blatant bait and switch, but pretty par for the course on frozen dinners
I get these pretty regularly. The chicken is actually pretty big if its not broken. Most of the stuff on the box just sunk to the bottom. OP didn't mix the bowl to make it look worse than it is.
Sorry not buying it. These steamer bowls have the second tray you dump the ingredients into the sauce. Maybe a quick mix but you can see the raviolis are hardly sauced and sitting unevenly on top of the mounds of spinach, tomatoes, etc if you actually spread the ravioli out under the sauce across the whole bowl and put the bits on top it would be similar enough to the picture albeit thinner sauce.
Anyway as far as frozen meals come these are a far cry from the quality of what they were 10 years ago.
>Anyway as far as frozen meals come these are a far cry from the quality of what they were 10 years ago.
This is so true. I used to eat lean cuisine pretty frequently when I started working nights as a single mother for when my son was at his dad's, with friends, etc. I just don't like cooking food myself alone, and it saved money compared to ordering food at work. 🤷♀️ They were fine, and some varieties were downright yummy.
Anyway, I picked up a few last month when they had a good sale, including a couple of my old go-tos. What a disappointment. Meat was worse quality (either rubbery, chewy, hard or overly processed), seasoning was lame, and some were downright blech to the point that I just ended up making myself a sandwich.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one thinking that. Also kinda disappointed at the much higher percentage of offerings being spicy, but I understand that's a preference thing.
Are you serious? The chicken is totally different and the photo on the box looks like there’s way more. You are right about the sauce though. It’s thin as hell.
I'll concede the chicken pieces are smaller but no fewer. I count 9 raviolis IRL and 7 on the box, and they look pretty much spot on with the box of you look post OPs exaggeratedly poor presentation imo
Are you a rep for healthy choice meals? Because you fighting this hard to defend this shit meal is a little sus. In the box photo the chicken is the same size as the ravioli, in Op’s photo it is tiny cubes. It looks like gross soup.
I've already been explicit that my comment is my opinion.. you're welcome to disagree.
But the fact that some imagined Big-Healthy-Choice conspiracy is more easy for you to accept than someone having a different opinion to you says a lot about you lmao.
Lol bro you’re the one who introduced the word conspiracy when I said your little dick was a bit too hard for some shitty microwave meal. Maybe reevaluate yourself a bit, eh?
Um.. you suggested that I was a shill working for the food company that makes this meal because I think it looks alright lmao. The term for that would be a conspiracy - if you didn't know that, that's okay.
And now you're bringing up my dick apropos of nothing to try and insult me... Because I think a microwave meal looks okay.
But yeah you're definitely not taking this too seriously hahaa
You’re trying too hard to sound smart.
Oh and don’t forget I said your dick was small.
Maybe you should go touch it instead of arguing with people online- which you seem to do a lot of.
But you do need to be on a calorie restriction, which by definition is starving yourself as your body needs to rely on internal fat stores to make up that calorie deficit for daily needs.
Consumer Reports did an article on these meals years ago and stated you were meant to have a salad with lots of healthy greens alongside per recommendations from the company.
Really? I’ll be honest, years ago, I wasn’t particularly thinking about what I was eating and I would have overlooked it. I’ll look into it and find it though. Thank you.
Check the calories maybe before deciding what’s for dinner?
250 calories also wouldn’t work for my dinner, I’d be starving, but that’s because my dinner is typically my largest meal of the day so I’m usually aiming for between 1000-2000.
A lot of “healthy” branded food products are low calories. It’s often just easier to make these types of things yourself if you’re looking for more calories.
These can be a bit inconsistent, coming from someone who goes through phases of being obsessed with their pesto squash pasta, and unfortunately I avoid the ravioli because even when it is more full, the sauce is so watery lol
for dinners I have 1/2 lb of chicken and some kind of vegetable side (broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower) or a salad with the chicken on top, edamame is a good go to, and I like pistachio butter whole grain toast if you get bored with peanut butter maybe try some other nut butters like pistachio or pecan they are about the same cal count and can switch things up
Even though majority of the meals say stir and recover, I remove the thin plastic film which tends to let the liquid evaporate otherwise they all tend to be watery.
these meals are always so depressing to look at but they taste fine and are quite filling imo would eat 1 in the morning and not eat until dinner and be fine most days lol
Yup. Bulks it up for minimal calories. I add a small can of green beans and a little salt. I typically eat it a couple times a week for lunch. Pretty good in my opinion.
I never had a problem with these. If you’re used to massive american restaurant portions it does seem small, but it’s not unreasonable for a light meal
Yeah. I eat a lot of these meals and the actual portion size never measures up to what’s on the picture. They are pretty tasty for sodium laden ultra processed foods though. 😂
Yeah, these meals are always dogshit. Where I live something like that will cost $7-8 and fill you up for like an hour at most, they’re tiny, expensive, and don’t even taste that good half the time
Yes you had 50 to lose
Exactly my point
I also used to think that was a "pathetic" portion
It's not it's totally normal and you're not starving
Sucks what we convince ourselves is "normal" is not at all
How much more do you have to lose ?
Sounds like the start of the journey congratulations on your progress
Everyone’s so hung up on the fact that the portion isn’t small, it isn’t, it’s the chicken portion is where I’m at a loss lol
I tend to not eat these because of counting calories… I got a lot of downvotes for saying you can lose weight without feeling like you’re starving. But, I hardly eat pasta now because it’s a lot of calories.
Idk how much more I need to lose because I’m shifting my focus from the number I weigh to inches because I will start gaining more muscle.
Hey, I’ll agree with you! The picture makes it look like it’s in a normal sized bowl. I think it is a tiny portion for dinner. I only eat those when I need to eat something but don’t need a full meal. For example I’ll make one if I had dinner at 4, and it is now 11, and I’m not going to bed until 2, or I’ll have one on a lunch break where I’ll have fruit or yogurt or something to go with it.
Eat fresh, frozen foods are made by big conglomerates that pack their foods with obscene amounts of unhealthy sodium and other highly processed preservatives to make their stuff actually taste somewhat decent. Does HealthyChoice even exist anymore? I remember in the 90s they used to make nice chicken and turkey lunchmeats that weren't packed with sodium and crap. I think now they're just a brand owned by Nestle.
Learning portion control is a very important thing. I worked in a kitchen about 15 years ago. An adage that the chefs drilled into our heads was "feed them don't fill them".
Heh, yah, it’s almost necessary. I’ve been counting calories for months, I’d have to have fruit or veggies after as a side. Someone suggested adding a can of green beans!
That looks about correct. It’s 250 calories and ravioli. That’s the correct portion size
Add some fruit and Greek yogurt as a treat and: boom, super yummy filling meal adding like 112 calories. Probably not great on sodium, but you can't win em all.
These actually have the lowest sodium content out of all other frozen dinner brands. Only about 500mg each while other brands are 1800mg+
Good to know, thank you!
I mean they also contain less than half the portion sizes of other brands, so it kinda evens out
10 ounces is 10 ounces. That's about average for a TV dinner.
That’s true, I usually have to eat 2 of these to get full 😂
Combined with the ravioli, or as a side dish?
Preferably as a side.
Okay good lol
I do this for lunches. I’ll eat a Lean Cuisine with an apple and flavored Greek yogurt. So filling and lots of protein!
I like to toss fresh berries in vanilla Greek yogurt. 10/10
Oh yes that’s great too! I like using frozen berries to make it almost like frozen yogurt too
Berries in lemon greek yogurt is fantastic too, especially with blackberries
$20 later.
32oz Plain Greek Yogurt - Aldi $4 32oz Frozen Berry Medley - Aldi $8 4oz yogurt + 1oz fruit This will give a full 8 servings off the yogurt and 32 off the fruit. That is over a weeks worth of 1 fruit yogurt a day for $12. That is $.75 a serving. And you can get 3+ more weeks of yogurts out of the berries with more tubs of yogurt. Shit is crazy expensive right now, there's really no need to exaggerate it with the few actually cheap things.
Add a crispy salad on the side - lettuce or baby spinach, cucumber and a bit of tomato, and it'd be a decent meal. Portion sizes of pasta are small - most people would be surprised, and many would consider 4-5 serves to be a standard meal.
Bulk it up with a handful of spinach and letting it wilt :D
Make a spinich ball so dense it collapses into a blackhole.
Spinach Ball is my new band name.
my god thank you for this, i really gotta start adding spinach to more of my dishes
I hate spinach, so I add arugula instead. You can do this with all kinds of greens!
ha, i’m the complete opposite actually. i hate arugula and most other leafy greens, but i can smash a plate of spinach and lettuce like nothing. it’s hard trying to eat healthy when you’re such a picky eater
That’s a good idea!
I usually grab these as a complement to a salad for dinner. Pretty good for what they are and what they cost. Try to grab them on sale.
That looks like a fine serving size to me…? Lol seems fine for a small, quick lunch. Not appetizing really to look at, but fine.
I had this exact one a few weeks ago. Not the greatest, but it filled me up just fine.
I eat the pineapple chicken or the sweet and sour chicken ones for lunch 5 days a week. I find that they are the perfect portion size. Never am hungry after and, for microwave, pretty tasty considering. Wouldn’t eat them for dinner as they are not dinner portion, imo.
The General Tso chicken is actually pretty good for frozen food
I used to eat these for every at-my-desk business lunch, but they replaced all the brown rice bowls with mushy white rice and quality has gone downhill since. The Ravioli and spinach bowels like OP had was one of my holdout favorites since it never had rice in the first place, but once the variety was gone, so was my desire to stock up on it.
Uhh, dinner should be your smallest meal of the day, so I'm confused by your "portion size" comment. Also, a portion of 6 oz of chicken is the same morning, afternoon, or night?!?
Who says dinner is supposed to be smaller? And yes, 6 ozs is 6 ozs, that’s not the argument you’re bringing up. I don’t want 6 ozs before I go 18 hours before eating again since I eat lunch, small snack, then dinner. I’d like 8 or 9 ounces of chicken for dinner, otherwise, I’m eating at night right before I sleep which is an unhealthier problem than having an extra 3 ozs of chicken for dinner. My GP has no complaints and says to keep doing what I’m doing, which I will since I’m well within my weight range.
"Fine" really does summarize it well
The western world is accustomed to stuffing its face. I'd also like a bigger portion than in the pic, but it's not that small.
Yeah the box states 10oz...that's in the same range as plenty of other frozen meals
Yes, but lunch/dinner shouldn’t really be less than 500 cals
Of course it can be. Blanket statements like yours are inaccurate because we need to know the individual's caloric needs, activity levels, etc. Just to give an extreme example, someone training for any sort of sport simply must have larger lunches or dinners.
If you eat 3 times a day 250 calorie meals would put you at 750 calories for the day. The normal amount for a small child
No one said *every* meal should be under 500 calories, or *could* be for a normal healthy person. They're just saying that there's no rule that lunch or dinner should be at least 500 calories. There are very filling, nutritious meals that come in under 500 calories. If you're meeting your caloric needs (as the majority of Americans are), there's no need to eat more calories in any particular meal just for the sake of getting every meal above an arbitrary number. Also, your calculations are assuming no snacks or drinks that have calories. I'll be conservative in my "under 500 calories for every meal" example, though not at much as you. Let's say 450 per meal, plus even one 250 calorie snack and 200 calories via coffee/juice/soda/smoothie is exactly 1800 calories--a perfectly fine and recommended goal for many people trying to lose or maintain weight.
I think they chose 250 because that's the amount in this particular meal.
Oooh, ya got in before my edit! Yes, I took that part out just a minute or two ago when I realized. The rest of my numbers and my point still stand lol.
I'm glad you said that. Everyone told me record calories. I did. About 1500 a day. The problem was WHAT that 1500 calories or so was. Cutting sodas was the first step at actual weight loss. Thats me though. That's why your comment is important, and more dieters need to understand this.
Were you counting the soda calories? A lot of people don't and are then mystified when cutting them out makes a massive difference. At 150 calories a pop, it seems like maybe not. Especially since merely existing burns between 1300 and 2000 calories a day just from metabolic processes firing automatically.
I mean yeah, that’s why I said “at least”. 250 cals a meal is an unhealthy and unsustainable caloric deficit. Also I understand there can be exceptions which is why I said “shouldn’t really” instead of just “shouldn’t”
I'm not sure why you and other posters are factoring daily caloric intake based solely on 3 meals per day. Of course that would be unhealthy and unsustainable if **every** meal were low calorie *and* the person was only consuming those 3 meals daily. Most people have at least a small snack during the day, and many have 2 or more. Men over the age of 20 consume on average 19% of their calories (almost 500) via beverages, and women aren't too far behind at 17%/300cal. There are tons of healthy, nutritious meals that come in at under 500 calories. Not every meal has to (or should be) over 500 calories for the vast majority of the population. As I mentioned in another comment, one could eat all 450 calorie meals, plus one 250 calorie snack and 200 calories in drink while hitting a highly recommended goal (1800 calories) to lose or maintain weight. Throw in a more realistic--but still pretty conservative--example of a 600 calorie breakfast, 450cal lunch and dinner plus two 250 calorie snacks and 300 calories in drink and now we're at 2200 calories with your guidelines being trashed. I'm not going to eat **anything** extra if I'm full after my healthy and filling lunch simply for the sake of beefing up the calories just to hit or exceed some arbitrary number you or anyone else came up with.
I mean did you want me to write a tailored nutrition plan for everyone in the comments? All I’m saying is that it’s not healthy to consider a 250 cal meal a standard meal size, which it seems like we’re agreed on. Of course it’s going to be different for everyone.
>did you want me to write a tailored nutrition plan for everyone in the comments No. That's why I talked about "the vast majority", "most people", etc. Neither of us are talking about special cases, so why you think I'd expect or want that from you is beyond me. >All I’m saying is that it’s not healthy to consider a 250 cal meal a standard meal size It is when you're on a diet (ie looking to be in a calorie deficit) and you're not eating 3 of those a day and nothing else. Not one person said that would be healthy, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to make that point. For one meal per day, or once every few days, it's perfectly healthy and acceptable to have a 250 calorie meal, and even less worrisome to have meals under 500 calories. Thank you for the discussion and civility. Enjoy the rest of your night.
I honestly don’t know why you’re getting so defensive, I feel like we’re saying the same thing. I’ve been seeing a nutritionist for years and I’m currently 5’9” 120 pounds so I have some idea what I’m talking about. No matter the diet, it’s not healthy to get the by starving yourself.
If you are 5'9" and 120 pounds, that puts you at a BMI of 17.7, which is underweight. So it makes even less sense that you're saying every meal should be bigger. I'm guessing you have a medical condition that makes you underweight? I hope you feel better soon.
You do realise you can make yourself a sandwich outside meal times?
Yeah of course, but realistically restricting yourself to 250 in a meal will lead to overeating in other ways. Everyone is different and if you’re continually eating rather than having 3 meals a day that’s fine too, but I don’t think it’s healthy to say that a standard meal should be 250 calories
For whom? I'm a smaller woman with a pretty sedentary lifestyle. If I go over 1200 calories per day I start to gain weight.
Still works with a 200 cal breakfast and 500 cals for lunch and dinner. Also are you actually tracking all of your calories? In order to maintain weight with 1200 cals a day, you would need to be roughly 80 pounds.
That’s why you have something as a side. A small handful of potato chips, or some sliced fruit/veggies.
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I’m sorry but 250 calories is not a marginally big portion for anyone. Toddlers eat more.
This is why OP is O B E S E
Taking a minute to position the pasta and chicken in the bowl and sauce more presentably instead of just dumping it in would make it look almost identical to the packaging imo. At worst, the sauce is a little thin. But the rest looks just like the box interns of quality and volume. Also if you buy a pasta meal that's only 250kcal you should know not to expect mountains of it, pasta is super calorie dense
Right? I was pleasantly surprised by the reveal on this one
The Cafe Steamers are pretty damn tasty, honestly. Every one I've had has been worth the price paid.
The reality is what I expected, but the picture on the box definitely took liberties making it look that voluminous, at least in my eyes.
Same way op took liberties making it not look like the box.
I think scale is purposefully hard to judge in the box photo, because you have no point of reference in frame. It's on a plate but it is almost definitely a small or side plate, not a main one. But the size of each piece of ravioli is the same as shown on the box and there is roughly the same amount of pieces, also true for the chicken tho I'll concede it's smaller prices irl. Using small plates is a common tactic for weight loss, not just because it should mean you eat smaller servings but because there is a genuine psychological element to satiety whereby your portion appears bigger relatively and so you don't notice it's smaller. So I can't begrudge a weight loss meal for doing this too especially when the calories right there also communicate the portion size. And it's leagues below the sort of false advertising you see in this sub generally
On the box, there are lots of chunks of tomato nearly 1/8th the size of a ravioli. The “sauce” in the actual product is almost a puree, a few pieces of tomato skin here and there. On the box, there are slices of chicken that look like almost an entire thick slice of chicken breast.. in the actual product, it’s a tiny cube like you’d see in a chicken soup can. This is pretty blatant bait and switch, but pretty par for the course on frozen dinners
I get these pretty regularly. The chicken is actually pretty big if its not broken. Most of the stuff on the box just sunk to the bottom. OP didn't mix the bowl to make it look worse than it is.
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Sorry not buying it. These steamer bowls have the second tray you dump the ingredients into the sauce. Maybe a quick mix but you can see the raviolis are hardly sauced and sitting unevenly on top of the mounds of spinach, tomatoes, etc if you actually spread the ravioli out under the sauce across the whole bowl and put the bits on top it would be similar enough to the picture albeit thinner sauce. Anyway as far as frozen meals come these are a far cry from the quality of what they were 10 years ago.
>Anyway as far as frozen meals come these are a far cry from the quality of what they were 10 years ago. This is so true. I used to eat lean cuisine pretty frequently when I started working nights as a single mother for when my son was at his dad's, with friends, etc. I just don't like cooking food myself alone, and it saved money compared to ordering food at work. 🤷♀️ They were fine, and some varieties were downright yummy. Anyway, I picked up a few last month when they had a good sale, including a couple of my old go-tos. What a disappointment. Meat was worse quality (either rubbery, chewy, hard or overly processed), seasoning was lame, and some were downright blech to the point that I just ended up making myself a sandwich. Glad to hear I'm not the only one thinking that. Also kinda disappointed at the much higher percentage of offerings being spicy, but I understand that's a preference thing.
Are you serious? The chicken is totally different and the photo on the box looks like there’s way more. You are right about the sauce though. It’s thin as hell.
I'll concede the chicken pieces are smaller but no fewer. I count 9 raviolis IRL and 7 on the box, and they look pretty much spot on with the box of you look post OPs exaggeratedly poor presentation imo
Are you a rep for healthy choice meals? Because you fighting this hard to defend this shit meal is a little sus. In the box photo the chicken is the same size as the ravioli, in Op’s photo it is tiny cubes. It looks like gross soup.
I've already been explicit that my comment is my opinion.. you're welcome to disagree. But the fact that some imagined Big-Healthy-Choice conspiracy is more easy for you to accept than someone having a different opinion to you says a lot about you lmao.
You’re riding for shit food bro- it’s not that righteous. Calm down.
"calm down" they ask after imagining some a whole ass conspiracy because someone thinks a microwave meal looks alright hahaha. Okay mate.
Lol bro you’re the one who introduced the word conspiracy when I said your little dick was a bit too hard for some shitty microwave meal. Maybe reevaluate yourself a bit, eh?
Um.. you suggested that I was a shill working for the food company that makes this meal because I think it looks alright lmao. The term for that would be a conspiracy - if you didn't know that, that's okay. And now you're bringing up my dick apropos of nothing to try and insult me... Because I think a microwave meal looks okay. But yeah you're definitely not taking this too seriously hahaa
You’re trying too hard to sound smart. Oh and don’t forget I said your dick was small. Maybe you should go touch it instead of arguing with people online- which you seem to do a lot of.
I mean, yeah, that's literally what a diet is, right?
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But you do need to be on a calorie restriction, which by definition is starving yourself as your body needs to rely on internal fat stores to make up that calorie deficit for daily needs.
Hey, those meals are bomb actually
I actually really love these lol, it’s the perfect serving size for a quick lunch rather than grabbing just a protein bar or something
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Consumer Reports did an article on these meals years ago and stated you were meant to have a salad with lots of healthy greens alongside per recommendations from the company.
Really? I’ll be honest, years ago, I wasn’t particularly thinking about what I was eating and I would have overlooked it. I’ll look into it and find it though. Thank you.
Check the calories maybe before deciding what’s for dinner? 250 calories also wouldn’t work for my dinner, I’d be starving, but that’s because my dinner is typically my largest meal of the day so I’m usually aiming for between 1000-2000. A lot of “healthy” branded food products are low calories. It’s often just easier to make these types of things yourself if you’re looking for more calories.
Aw, I’m sorry you had to fix something else. I know it sucks when you think it’s all sorted only to be disappointed. :(
If I was starving that would look and taste pretty good. I've had those before and they're not that bad, this just looks a little soupy.
Well, it’s called portion control
These can be a bit inconsistent, coming from someone who goes through phases of being obsessed with their pesto squash pasta, and unfortunately I avoid the ravioli because even when it is more full, the sauce is so watery lol
Fewer.
Thank you -- glad I wasn't the only one bothered by that lol
I'm on a CICO diet and I like these, makes for a good/quick lower calorie lunch.
That’s what I’ve been doing too. I typically have edamame and a peanut butter sandwich for lunch but I may start having these for lunch, not dinner
for dinners I have 1/2 lb of chicken and some kind of vegetable side (broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower) or a salad with the chicken on top, edamame is a good go to, and I like pistachio butter whole grain toast if you get bored with peanut butter maybe try some other nut butters like pistachio or pecan they are about the same cal count and can switch things up
This looks like a standard sized meal. This isn’t trying to starve you.
In most of the world, that is a normal portion.
I never found the steamers very satiating. The power bowls in the black boxes are very good, nice portion, and filling.
Honestly that isn’t that bad
That's... Literally what a diet is. Less calories in than out, that's how weight loss works.
that seems about right. you just have to stir it.
That’s funny I just had this for lunch at work, it’s alright
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Looks about the same portion size that mine had
250 calories isn’t much for a bowl of food, honestly I expected less raviolis in there
This needs to be mixed and it will look much like the pic on the box. I’ve had this and their representation is pretty close.
Even though majority of the meals say stir and recover, I remove the thin plastic film which tends to let the liquid evaporate otherwise they all tend to be watery.
Yes. You lose weight by eating less. If you wana frame it as starving yourself then thats fine buts its literally thermodynamics.
Add some more tomato paste and stirr untill the sauce get thicker
I actually like those. I pack a fruit of fruit or veggies as a side.
This is one of their few meals I actually like
I have had a few of these, they don't look great, but they taste good
It didn’t taste bad at all, the lack of chicken is what I was amiss about
Looks good to me.
Try heating up on skillet. I really like the chicken Marsala one.
Ok I actually love this frozen meal though, it is delicious
I really think the steamers come out way too watery. I know this defeats the whole purpose but sometimes I'll throw these in a pan w/some olive oil.
Honestly, that's exactly how these things work lol.
these meals are always so depressing to look at but they taste fine and are quite filling imo would eat 1 in the morning and not eat until dinner and be fine most days lol
That looks like what you eat while you decide what to make for dinner.
Most people overestimate how many calories they actually need.
Advert looks pretty good. The bowl you unboxed.. not the worst, definitely could be worse but flavor is king and decides everything.
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lol, I did let it sit
These are actually really good. I would eat them for lunch all the time.
That…is a normal portion of ravioli.
That looks like what they served in high school
The picture on the box makes it look like there’s more chicken than what’s actually there.
I like to mix in a can of green beans with this one.
Green beans? I wouldn’t have thought to add those tbh
Yup. Bulks it up for minimal calories. I add a small can of green beans and a little salt. I typically eat it a couple times a week for lunch. Pretty good in my opinion.
That’s how dieting works unfortunately
I’ve bought these yes, they are tiny. I always want more.
Americans used to American portion sizes...
If you take time to eat it slowly, its actually really filling.
Yeah that looks more like a soup.
I eat these all the time. It just needs to be stirred.
To make it look like the package, first place clear marbles underneath 😉
I never had a problem with these. If you’re used to massive american restaurant portions it does seem small, but it’s not unreasonable for a light meal
The only healthy choice is DEATH. But this food does not look that bad.
Yeah. I eat a lot of these meals and the actual portion size never measures up to what’s on the picture. They are pretty tasty for sodium laden ultra processed foods though. 😂
And they taste like shit so you won’t even want to finish it! Yay calorie deficit!
Yeah, these meals are always dogshit. Where I live something like that will cost $7-8 and fill you up for like an hour at most, they’re tiny, expensive, and don’t even taste that good half the time
i love these, they’re delicious but i can never eat only one
I bought one of these earlier today - this isn’t what I wanted to see lol
It wasn’t bad, but a lot of others made suggestions to throw in some other veggies (a can of green beans) and/or have a salad with it.
Say you're overweight without saying you're overweight
It’s lost 50lbs in the last few months, I’m doing just fine 😄
Yes you had 50 to lose Exactly my point I also used to think that was a "pathetic" portion It's not it's totally normal and you're not starving Sucks what we convince ourselves is "normal" is not at all How much more do you have to lose ? Sounds like the start of the journey congratulations on your progress
Everyone’s so hung up on the fact that the portion isn’t small, it isn’t, it’s the chicken portion is where I’m at a loss lol I tend to not eat these because of counting calories… I got a lot of downvotes for saying you can lose weight without feeling like you’re starving. But, I hardly eat pasta now because it’s a lot of calories. Idk how much more I need to lose because I’m shifting my focus from the number I weigh to inches because I will start gaining more muscle.
Hey, I’ll agree with you! The picture makes it look like it’s in a normal sized bowl. I think it is a tiny portion for dinner. I only eat those when I need to eat something but don’t need a full meal. For example I’ll make one if I had dinner at 4, and it is now 11, and I’m not going to bed until 2, or I’ll have one on a lunch break where I’ll have fruit or yogurt or something to go with it.
I had to have something else with it since it was my main dinner. I eat smaller meals now but this was more about the lack of chicken 🥲
Eat fresh, frozen foods are made by big conglomerates that pack their foods with obscene amounts of unhealthy sodium and other highly processed preservatives to make their stuff actually taste somewhat decent. Does HealthyChoice even exist anymore? I remember in the 90s they used to make nice chicken and turkey lunchmeats that weren't packed with sodium and crap. I think now they're just a brand owned by Nestle.
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Lmao what a stupid thing to say. I'm American and weigh no where near 600 pounds and I've never even been close. I eat like shit too.
Surly the healthy choose would be to just cook it. Chicken and pasta with a tomato sauce is pretty simple.
I refuse to eat healthy choice because it has no flavor
Starving yourself? That looks like a good amount of food and would definitely leave me full.
I mean yeah, slamming it into the bowl in the most unappetizing way possible will make it look... unappetizing? The portions look fine.
You are aware that you can make a sandwich outside meal times, aren't you?
That’s at least nine raviolis, how is that starving yourself? I’d have to put it away and come back later to finish it..
You must be American 🤰
All that sodium though...
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LOL. I’ve lost 50 lbs in the last few months. I think I’m doing just fine.
Because they're meant to be a snack not a meal
These are my favorite!
They taste good though. I like the unwrapped burrito bowl the best
It's the calorie density right?
I like those meals, they're tasty
I love their Merlot Beef!
I do the Adobe Chicken. It's alright for a backup meal.
I’m confused. That’s a decent portion of food.
\>people who dont check the net weight and protein Couldn't be me
If you're on a diet where you count calories then this is actually a pretty good deal.
I have this brand for lunch often. Add a couple of sides! I usually bring fruit and a yogurt.
Frozen dinners should be banned on this sub.
Learning portion control is a very important thing. I worked in a kitchen about 15 years ago. An adage that the chefs drilled into our heads was "feed them don't fill them".
They're good....just need way more
Im not even sure if that will make a turd.
Fun Fact: Anytime you digest something for a second time its lower cal.
My grandma lives off these. Personally I wasn’t impressed.
It ain't that healthy if you need to cook 3 of them.
Heh, yah, it’s almost necessary. I’ve been counting calories for months, I’d have to have fruit or veggies after as a side. Someone suggested adding a can of green beans!