Even families that cook dinner from scratch have those days when there’s nothing to eat. The fridge is close to empty, and the physical and emotional resources required to cook up something from scratch are totally depleted.

We turn to the freezer in hope of a microwavable miracle. But when even the leftovers from previously prepared feasts  are absent, we reach out for a prepared meal purchased skeptically a month or two ago.

Sound familiar?

In the last 50 years, food manufacturers have seen a surge in demand for what was once called TV Dinners. And in recent years, as our nutrition awareness has grown, new brands of frozen meals have been developed to provide  “healthy choices.”

Today we’ll take a look at ConAgra’s opportunistically named Healthy Choices brand, with a product called Cafe Steamers Grilled Chicken Marinara.

What you need to know:

The single serve chicken breast, pasta and broccoli florets in marinara sauce look pretty good in the picture on the package. The 10 oz serving is to be heated in a microwaveable packaging that mimics the effect of steaming. Steaming is a preparation method that requires little to no oils, unlike a saute.  You each can be the judge regarding the flavor.

The numbers on the nutrition facts panel look promising – only 270 calories, 21 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber,  and only 4.5 grams of  fat. The sodium content is 550mg, a quarter of the daily max. That’s high but not as high as most other fat meal solutions.

Below is the  lengthy ingredient list.

We’ve highlighted the ingredients one would use at home when preparing this dish. We’ve underlined additives that we don’t think regular folk have at home.

Cooked Penne Pasta (Water, Durum, Semolina [Enriched with Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Egg Whites), Garlic and Pepper Seasoned Chicken Tenderloin Chunks, Chicken Tenderloin, Water, Garlic and Pepper, Chicken Seasoning [Salt, Sugar, Dehydrated Garlic, Spices Including Paprika, Maltodextrin, Soy Lecithin, Chicken Broth [Contains Flavors], Xanthan Gum, Caramel Color, Natural Flavor], Olive Oil, Isolated Soy Protein Product [Isolated Soy Protein, Modified Food Starch, Starch, Carrageenan, Soy Lecithin]). Broccoli, Water, Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Contains 2% or Less of: Full Moisture Parmesan Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Brown Sugar, Onions, Garlic, Salt, Canola Oil, Modified Food Starch, Spices, Potassium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid.

While none of the underlined additives is inherently bad for you, their purpose is to provide the flavor and texture of a home cooked dish served straight from the pot. They “cheat” our senses to believe we are getting a better food than we actually are.

Don’t know about you, but I want the flavor of my dish to come from the chicken and the veggies, not from an additive called “Natural Flavor”.

By the way, On the Healthy Choice website, they’ll gladly boast their nutrition info, but the ingredient lists cannot be found. Sneaky and deceitful. The company says it’s because product formulations change occasionally. Oh, that’s the reason …

Bottom line: From a nutrition perspective, this product is probably less worrisome compared to other frozen meals. That said, eating it shouldn’t be a daily habit.

What to do at the supermarket:

Minimize your purchase of processed frozen meals and try to prepare your own. For rainy days, choose options that have mostly recognizable ingredient lists, that are low in sodium (less than 500mg), and are low in sugar (less than 6g) too.

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1. pepper corns
2. small furry animal poop
3. canola oil
4. none of the above

Answer below. Read more…

Actually, both are not at the top of the healthy oil list.

Palm oil has 50% saturated fat. Palm Kernel Oil has 80%. These are very high values compared to oilve oil (14%) and canola oil (7%). Saturated fat is attributed to increasing the bad cholesterol (LDL) in our bloodstream thus raising the risk of heart disease.

Although both oils are from palm trees, they are actually 2 different types of oil. Palm oil comes from the fruit itself (reddish orange), whereas palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed (the white in the image above).

Palm oil (NOT palm kernel oil) isn’t all bad though, as it contains large quantities of oleic acid (40%), a healthy fatty acid also found in olive oil and canola oil. Palm oil also contains good levels of vitamin E.

Both palm oils are also at the center of a larger sustainability debate as rain forests are being cleared in order to grow the palm trees. The trend has accelerated in the last decade as palm oil has been used not just for human consumption but as a bio-fuel.

What to do at the supermarket:

Better options are canola and olive oils.

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The word salad conjures, for most people, mounds of iceberg lettuce, a few other veggies, and a hefty ladle of dressing. As with many things, the US did not invent it, but in the last 50 years we have elevated salad dressing to a billion dollar industry with hundreds of varieties awaiting us in a special condiments aisle in the supermarket. You know something is big when it has its own trade organization.

In southern Europe and the Mediterranean, a salad is dressed by mixing some fresh lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and drizzling on top of a freshly cut salad. It seems that here, though, folks cannot complete that basic task and therefore gladly pay $3.00-$4.00 for a bottled solution. The price paid isn’t just monetary, as there are ingredients in some commercial dressings that are better kept away from our bodies.

Read more…

Very healthy! Or at least that’s what new research, sponsored by ConAgra, has shown. Here’s the press release:

ConAgra Foods announced today new research that shows people who ate Healthy Choice(R) really did get healthier. Participants in the 24-week study, on average, lost 18 pounds – all as fat – trimmed their waistlines by about three inches, and lowered their cholesterol by 12 points. Leading cardiologist Dr. James Rippe, founder and director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute, led the research team that conducted the study, which was presented during the 2009 Experimental Biology Conference April 18-22 in New Orleans, La.

get it all here…

Excuse us while we scratch our heads. How can The Rippe Institute conduct a truly objective study when it is being heftily paid by a company with a vested interest in a specific outcome?

Reading into the study, the people eating Helthy Choice got healthier because they were forced to excercise, eat only fruits, vegetables, lean meat and dairy, and whole grains. Oh, and one Healthy Choice meal once a day. How can the weight loss be attributed specifically to the frozen meal?

This press release is part of a huge rebranding of the Healthy Choice empire, including the introduction of new products, reformulation of some existing lines, and new packaging. ConAgra is estimated to be spending close to $100 million on this effort, including National TV Ads starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and web activities.

What you need to know:

While frozen dinners have made some headway over the past few years in terms of nutritional content, they still lag far behind home made food on several fronts:

1. high levels of salt – in the clip above, Julia Louis Dreyfus is stuffing herself silly with Sweet Asian Potstickers containing 600mg of sodium. That’s a quarter of the daily maximum value.

2. high levels of sugar – 19 grams or 4 teaspoonfuls. Hey, is this dessert?

3. too many ingredients* – here’s what’s inside the Sweet Asian Potstickers:

Vegetable Potstickers: (Filling [Cabbage, Vermicelli {Mung Bean, Water}, Baked Tofu (Tofu [Water, Whole Soybeans, Nigari], Tamari [Water, Soybeans, Salt, Alcohol, Wheat], Natural Flavors, Spices), Bulgur Wheat, Precooked Rice, Water Chestnuts, Green Beans, Onions, Carrots, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Sesame Oil, Evaporated Cane Juice, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Spice], Wrapper [Wheat Flour, Water, Corn Starch, Soybean and/or Canola Oil]). Cooked Whole Grain Brown Rice, Water, Sugar, Carrots, Red Peppers, Sake, Rice Vinegar, Scallions, Corn Starch, Wheat, Soybeans, Spices, Sesame Oil, Garlic Puree, Salt, Locust Gum

To be fair, most of the list above is actually understandable, and there are no freaky additives or preservatives in this dish. So when the food scientists want to, they can dish out healthy fare…

* We could not find the ingredient information on the Healthy Choice website. The customer support group did reply promptly to our email, though.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you really really can’t prepare your own food, and must grab something from the Frozen Dinner Aisle, take a look at health brands such as Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine first. The brand does not automatically promise you’ll get a nutritious dish, but it improves the chances.

Proceed to check the ingredient list, scanning for unpronounceable chemicals, and then look at the sodium count. It should be in the neighborhood of  400-500mg or less. The sugar count should be lower than 12 grams. Usually the calorie count will be decent, because manufacturers know that’s the only number most people look at.

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