We only bought the Foodsaver last week, and are still learning how to use it. Among the first things that we sealed with it were several meatloafs that I made. First I had stuck them in the freezer still in the pans to freeze them. Once they were solid, I popped them out of the pans, and placed them into the FoodSaver bags. Then I vacuum sealed them, and stuck them back into the freezer.
Tonight we decided to have meatloaf. My wife had already pulled it from teh freezer, and stuck it into the fridge. So it wasn’t frozen anymore. But I was unsure of the best way to reheat it. Whether to cut it out of the bag, and microwave it. To cut it out of the bag, and heat it in the oven. Or to immerse the still sealed bag into boiling water. We decided to try the last idea. I filled a large pot with hot water, and stuck it on the stove on high. I immersed the still sealed meatloaf into the water. Soon the water was boiling, and I let it boil for a while. After a while I removed the bag from the water. I cut it open, and slid the meatloaf out onto a plate. If it was still cold, the plan was to microwave. But no, the meatloaf had heated throughout.
The meatloaf was excellent! It tasted just like it had fresh! I am going to like the FoodSaver!
Every week I have been looking through grocery store ads for various healthy microwave meals to be on sale such as Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, and Weight Watchers. I didn’t manage to pickup last Sunday’s paper, so I didn’t get the circulars. When my wife went to the store I asked her to check for any of the meals on sale, but she said they weren’t.
But today I was online, looking at some of the local grocery store circulars. I found Healthy Choice dinners on sale for $1.69 each. They are normally $2.69-$2.79 each. And they also had boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.79/pound.
So I stopped at the store on my way home. I grabbed a cart, and went shopping. I picked up 4 club packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts for about 21.25 pounds!
Then I headed for the freezer section. I started loading up the cart. I was grabbing a handfull of each flavor. I bought 58 of them total!
Here is an inventory:
3 Lemon Pepper Fish, 4 Creamy Dill Salmon, 12 Beef Merlot, 6 Mesquite Chicken BBQ, 1 Salisbury Steak, 2 Beef Tips Portabello, 2 Country Herb Chicken, 4 Honey Balsamic Chicken, 8 Chicken Broccoli Alfredo, 4 Sweet Bourbon Steak, 6 Grilled Chicken Marinara, 6 Traditional Turkey Breast, 6 Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
I think this is accurate! I was just grabbing stuff that looked good. I skipped a couple the Healthy Choice meals that had 8 or 9 grams of fat. They looked good, but I didn’t need the fat!
I have been eating a ton of Healthy Choice entrees, and have only started trying the Lean Cuisine meals. I just ate the Lean Cuisine Southern Beef Tips, and it was really good. The barbecue sauce was maybe a touch sweet for my taste, but it was still good. And the oven-roasted potatoes and vegetables were great too. The Healthy Choice vegetables tend to be kind bland. But these were very good.
The Lean Cuisine Southern Beef Tips (barbecue sauce & beef rib tips with oven roasted potatoes, red peppers, green peppers, onions, corn) has 250 calories, with 18% of the calories coming from the 5 grams of fat. There is 630mg of sodium, and Weight Watchers counts this as 5 points. Cooking took 4 1/2 minutes of microwave time.
I wish the fat content were a little lower. It seems the Lean Cuisine’s have a slightly higher percentage of calories coming from fat than the Healthy Choice meals from the couple I have tried. But I will have to look at more before I make can say that as a fact. But couple Lean Cuisines I have eaten, have tasted very good!
I am not sure why I haven’t tried the Healthy Choice Spaghetti before. It is really good. We bought a bunch of these Healthy Choice entrees on sale, and filled our freezer with them. I went to grab something to take to work this morning. I grabbed a couple Lean Cuisine meals, and found a bunch of the spaghetti’s tucked away in the back. Was my wife hiding them? I don’t know, but I grabbed on. Man it was good!
The Healthy Choice Spaghetti (with meat sauce) comes with peas and carrots for the vegetables. The entree has 220 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 510mg of sodium. Of the 220 calories, on 35 come from fat, or about 16%. It counts as 4 Weight Watchers points. I took 4 minutes of microwave time. For only 220 calories, the meal was actually pretty satisfying. And it tasted pretty good. The peas and carrots are just cooked, so I usually sprinkle a little Molly McButter over them for a little more taste.
I will definatly be buying more of the Healthy Choice spaghetti entrees! Yum!
Since we bought all of those Healthy Choice entrees, I have been eating those pretyy much exclusively. Our selection of those is getting low, so this morning I grabbed a couple Lean Cuisine microwave meals that my wife had bought.
So for breakfast I tried the Lean Cuisine Traditional Deluxe Pizza. As I grabbed it out of the freezer on my way to the microwave, I flinched a little when I saw it had 9 grams of fat! Ouch! It has 370 calories total, with 80 calories coming from fat or almost 22%. It also has 590mg of sodium, and counts as a whopping 8 Weight Watchers points. OUCH! It took 3 1/2 minutes of microwave time.
Okay, on the positive side, the pizza was very good. It actually tasted like real pizza. I think if it came in 14 inch size, and you served it at a party, people would be hard pressed to tell it was Lean Cuisine. The crust was very goo, much better thant he Healthy Choice.
The Healthy Choice pizzas have about half as much fat.
I guess if you want to eat low fat, you are better off with the Healthy Choice. If you are looking for some sort of middle ground between low fat, and better taste, the Lean Cuisine Traditional Deluxe Pizza might be an option.