Frozen Food: The Good, The Bad, and the Eh..

S

Smurfette

500+ Posts
LHF68 and I are always looking for easy stuff to make for dinner.

I figured maybe hornfans could give me some advice: What frozen foods are good, and which ones are terrible???

Here's some we like:

Green Giant Frozen Veggie Steamers: they've got names like "Healthy Vision" and "Immunity Boost"-- they're great! Keep in mind they're still microwave veggies though, so a little rubbery. Perfect amount for 2 people

Pillsbury Butterflake Frozen Rolls. Just awesome. Cause they're fozen you can make as many as you want, or as few. Don't need to thaw them-- just put them in the oven frozen.

Something we HATED:

Marie Callendar's Frozen Crock Pot Meal: Chicken and Dumplings. TERRIBLE. And it takes 8 hours to cook too.

What works for yal?
 
I always like to keep a box of Stouffer's Meat Lasagna in my freezer. Homemade is certainly better, but this stuff does the job nicely, if you don't have the time.
 
I've had a couple of the Bertolli's meals that were really good, and one that was not so good.

A second on the Stouffer's lasagna too.
 
We always have frozen salmon burgers and breaded tilapia in the freezer. Quick and easy main course, both of them.
 
To add to the allsome pizza list, the Central Market brand Mozzarella ones are fantastic. Add your own toppings or leave as is. They are also available at our local HEB (Temple).
 
Lean Cuisine dinners with "no preservatives". By far the best veggies and meat I've had in that type of frozen dinners.
 
LF68,
,

I buy frozen seafood all the time. you jut have to thaw, and let sit out for a little bit to get some of that freeze odor out of it. this is only necessary sometime. i am a huge seafood eater, and I am picky about food. frozen mahi, snapper, tuna, kicks *** for me.

Also note that the sashimi grade tuna you pick up at central market is frozen solid when you get it from them. Also, also note that a lot of the fresh stuff you pick up at HEB is previously frozen anyway.
 
LF68, both products come from Costco. The salmon burgers are outstanding on the grill - all meat, no filler. The tilapia is the panko breaded and we bake it in the oven. Neither has to be thawed prior to cooking, which is a big plus when you're busy all day and forget to take something out to thaw in the morning.
 
A LOT of the seafood you get is flash frozen on the same boat it was caught on an hour earlier. COSTCO of course is the king of all things frozen that a person with decent taste would consider eating. Veggies like the broccoli previously mentioned is always a good complement. The way we cook a LOT of our vegetables (works especially well on fresh asparagus) is to put a little water in the bottom of a pie pan and wrap the top with plastic wrap and nuke it.

I like the frozen raw shrimp at COSTCO as well. it's AWESOME for stir fry chinese, or for a quick small portion meat for Fettucine. The cost is certainly right and having them peeled except for tail is a big plus to me.
 
The frozen vegetable steamer packages are awesome for everyday meals. If you undercook them a bit, they come out almost as good as steamed veggies. Excellent way to make an attempt to eat health (until you dab the butter on!)

I also love Lean Cuisine's butternut squash ravioli. I could eat multiple servings of them, but that would defeat the purpose of eating a damn lean cuisine, which I think is more about controlled portion than anything else.
 
HEB and Kroger both have their own brands of shrimp that are frozen with a sauce that thaws as the shrimp cook-- find some good vegies to go with it-- broc, mushrooms,etc.. or olives and fresh tomotoes--stir fry about 7 minutes and serve over some pasta-- pretty good. pretty fast
 
I use frozen fruit all the time for smoothies, to mix in yogurt/cottage cheese - blackberries, blueberries, cherries, etc. (all unsweetened). Frozen veggie packets make good quick sides when steamed in the microwave. Contessa makes some good stir fries that are nutritiously pretty solid, too.
 
my only problem with most of the frozen shrimp and fish I see is it is all farm raised in China.

I just can't do that and don't think its very good for you long term (or environmentally).

anyway, am I wrong in this thinking?
 
BrisketTexan, I will play, I vote Totino's, bigger and better taste, great for $1. I actually do not really eat any frozen food except for the following: Garlic Pasta, we buy it at Costco, and on a night where we do not cook it is greatness. Totino's, ate them when I was a kid and still do. Frozen fruit, great in smoothie's. Jalapeno poppers, eat them every game day. I ate frozen food a lot when I was growing up and in school, but really do not now, we normally cook and eat leftovers, well, I eat leftovers, my wife does not.
 
I used to eat frozen vegetables, now I just buy fresh and either cook, roast or steam in the steamer bags you can buy. Fresh broccoli, cauliflower, spinach etc tastes way better than frozen.
 
Only frozen food I eat regularly is Asian dumplings. Boil them up, and serve with some soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil. I just finished a bag of cilantro pork flavored dumplings. Mmmmm.
 
Totino's are total crap when it comes to quality. That being said, I love 'em. I try to always have a few on hand in the freezer for a quick weekend meal or a late night snack (not right now as I am trying to lose some LBS.) I like the one with all the meats on there. 3 meat combo or something they call it. I was bummed when they had the recall on with 'em.
Also, for a complete frozen meal you might want to try the Healthy Choice meals. I actually ate one tonight. They are reasonably tasty and the portion size really helps me control what I eat. The best think about them is that almost all of them have a fruit type dessert that I like best of all. Granted they do still taste like frozen food. You aren't going to confuse them with freshly made stuff. They also are easy on the wallet for what that is worth.
 
My wife and I occasionally cook Michelangelo's lasagna and prefer it to Stoeffers and other frozen lasagnas.

Not dinner but I've also been picking up some Jimmy Dean mini sausage biscuits for the office. If I ever sleep in a little, it's nice to have a couple of sausage biscuits waiting for me at work. One minute in the microwave and the turn out pretty dang tasty.
 
my favorite frozen snack food are the taquitos by Texi-Deli, especially the chicken ones. yummy and only take 8 minutes in the oven.
 
Central Market brand (available at HEB) frozen sweet corn. I was never big on canned corn or any other variety of corn that wasn't on the cob, especially roasted, but the Central Market frozen corn is very good. Best off the cob corn I've tasted.
 
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