Frozen dinners?

[CG]

Is there such thing as a decent frozen dinner? I bought a few a month or so ago with fabulous pictures on the box. My wife just laughed at me. Go ahead open the box and see what you just bought. Ughhh!

We don't eat them too often but once in a while its nice to be able to pop one in the micro for a quick meal.

Any recommendations?

[DPowers]

Not very often, but Marie Callender is about the best I have found.

[Steeveedee]

I haven't eaten a frozen dinner in over 40 years. Maybe they're better now, but I ain't holding my breath.

[richard2717]

Marie Callender and the healthy choice meals are both good.

[Gotenntitans]

I do prefer Marie Callender's meatloaf, salisbury steak, and turkey & stuffing frozen dinners to all the others. With that being said, Boston Market has a good selection and Stouffers are good too.

My son loves the Zatarain's blackened chicken alfredo and another Cajun shrimp etouffee from a company called Big Easy Foods.

[special-K]

I make my meals with fresh ingredients, or at least with as little "prepared" ingredients as I can. In the past I have bought frozen one dish meals that I don't recall the brand. Maybe Bertolli or something like that (Bertoni?). You know, that Italian guy they call Bert . The ones in a bag like penne with chicken carbona (?). That stuff actually tastes great, I think. More about the added ingredients of the unnatural persuasion that I'm opposed to. But a meal in a box like TV dinner? No way. Hospital food is better (because you are bored and have no choice). My favorite, and I'd like to have it again after maybe ten years since I have, is Safeway's Mexican Lasagna. Those Mexicans sure know how to make lasagna!

What's in the oven as we speak... er type and read? Chicken enchiladas in green sauce. I make the sauce and the chicken is out of my freezer. I take boneless skinless chicken breast and put it in the crock pot with chicken broth, slow cook all day, shred when I get home, let cool, and freeze in a freezer bag. I do that with beef, too. You can use a cheap cut of beef that would otherwise be tough or dry. I make all kinds of stuff with the shredded meat.

When I grille marinaded chicken I'll do extra and freeze a meal's worth, or two. Label and date the freezer bag and freeze for a tasty 10 minute microwave meal later on without the hassle of grilling. Could be a cold rainy night and it's just as good. That's my kind of frozen dinner

Gotta go. Enchiladas are ready!

[leddzepp]

I rarely eat frozen pre cooked meals, but if I do I put them in the oven, not the microwave. It makes all the difference in the world.

[CG]

Originally Posted by special-K

I make my meals with fresh ingredients, or at least with as little "prepared" ingredients as I can. In the past I have bought frozen one dish meals that I don't recall the brand. Maybe Bertolli or something like that (Bertoni?). You know, that Italian guy they call Bert . The ones in a bag like penne with chicken carbona (?). That stuff actually tastes great, I think. More about the added ingredients of the unnatural persuasion that I'm opposed to. But a meal in a box like TV dinner? No way. Hospital food is better (because you are bored and have no choice). My favorite, and I'd like to have it again after maybe ten years since I have, is Safeway's Mexican Lasagna. Those Mexicans sure know how to make lasagna!

What's in the oven as we speak... er type and read? Chicken enchiladas in green sauce. I make the sauce and the chicken is out of my freezer. I take boneless skinless chicken breast and put it in the crock pot with chicken broth, slow cook all day, shred when I get home, let cool, and freeze in a freezer bag. I do that with beef, too. You can use a cheap cut of beef that would otherwise be tough or dry. I make all kinds of stuff with the shredded meat.

When I grille marinaded chicken I'll do extra and freeze a meal's worth, or two. Label and date the freezer bag and freeze for a tasty 10 minute microwave meal later on without the hassle of grilling. Could be a cold rainy night and it's just as good. That's my kind of frozen dinner

Gotta go. Enchiladas are ready!

Ooooo, look at Mr Fancypants, what are you, one of the Rockefellers? Haha!

[DPowers]

Originally Posted by special-K

I make my meals with fresh ingredients, or at least with as little "prepared" ingredients as I can. In the past I have bought frozen one dish meals that I don't recall the brand. Maybe Bertolli or something like that (Bertoni?). You know, that Italian guy they call Bert . The ones in a bag like penne with chicken carbona (?). That stuff actually tastes great, I think. More about the added ingredients of the unnatural persuasion that I'm opposed to. But a meal in a box like TV dinner? No way. Hospital food is better (because you are bored and have no choice). My favorite, and I'd like to have it again after maybe ten years since I have, is Safeway's Mexican Lasagna. Those Mexicans sure know how to make lasagna!

What's in the oven as we speak... er type and read? Chicken enchiladas in green sauce. I make the sauce and the chicken is out of my freezer. I take boneless skinless chicken breast and put it in the crock pot with chicken broth, slow cook all day, shred when I get home, let cool, and freeze in a freezer bag. I do that with beef, too. You can use a cheap cut of beef that would otherwise be tough or dry. I make all kinds of stuff with the shredded meat.

When I grille marinaded chicken I'll do extra and freeze a meal's worth, or two. Label and date the freezer bag and freeze for a tasty 10 minute microwave meal later on without the hassle of grilling. Could be a cold rainy night and it's just as good. That's my kind of frozen dinner

Gotta go. Enchiladas are ready!

Those kind of frozen dinners- I got you.
I make a lasagna using frozen ravioli, sauce, pepperoni or salami, cheese etc and since its only the wife and I will freeze half for a heat up dinner later on. Also the same with breakfast. Biscuit/Gravy, sausage, eggs and hash browns are good frozen as individual meals and heat up well later.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by CG

Ooooo, look at Mr Fancypants, what are you, one of the Rockefellers? Haha!

I had to go back and look at the author. I thought I was reading Martha Stewart.

[special-K]

The key here is if I don't cook it I don't eat it. I like good food. My creedo is if I can't eat well I'm not living well. I can suffer through about anything but lousy food. I won't know how to act if I ever hook up with Ms Right. Catch22 about it is the longer it takes the better cook she'll need to be. If it goes much longer I'll never find one that can top my cooking. If I end up the cook in the deal she'll have to have other special talents I can't perform myself. Hmmm.… what could that be?

[mongocanfly]

The only frozen dinners I have is deer meat and fish...and some other wild game....takes more than a microwave to fix it though....

[davischevy]

It's about time for some fresh deer jerky.

[special-K]

Microwaves are for heating not cooking in my world. My microwaved food tastes as good as stovetop, oven, grille, crock pot because those are how it got cooked.

[GOPAPA]

Here In Idaho we buy (Stauffers Rrozen Dinners)and they are pretty darn good.. two of us and to cook a full course dinner around our home is a once in while event..

[Dukk]

We still have kids (if you can call them that at 18 and 22) so we tend to make full dinners. When it has to be fast, it is the old standbys like chicken strips or ground beef.

For the prepackaged meals that I have had in the last year or so, I don't mind the little chicken pot pies from Costco, and the frozen lasagna they sell is ok. I would stay away from a frozen meal that had a piece of meat in it. Something like a pasta or shepherds pie or something sounds like a safer bet.

[67C10Step]

Around here Marie Callendars is a safe bet but there is one Hungry Man frozen dinner I will eat. Fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and a brownie. Gotta cook it in the oven though. Microwaved is just nasty to me.

Other than that, I can't think of many I like although I had a bunch when I was a kid.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by davischevy

I had to go back and look at the author. I thought I was reading Martha Stewart.

Did you mean to say Marty Stuart??

Leroy Troy - Ghost Chickens In The Sky (June...

[Loco83]

I prefer Marie Callendars chicken and turkey pot pies.

[PanelDeland]

I'm a lot like special. The only frozen dinners I eat, I froze. I do enchiladas, Lasagna, meatloaf and chili with the intent that there is plenty. I usually do 3-4 pans of enchilada or lasagna and the same with meatloaf. I do chili in a 20 quart pot so that there is enough for 3-5 meals and maybe a Frito pie or Chili cheese dogs. I will sometimes (maybe once a year, do a Marie Callenders pot pie but I usually make them homemade and freeze them also. If it's summer, I buy all my veggies at the farmers market since my lot is small and shaded so a garden doesn't do well. I haven't eaten a frozen boxed dinner in probably at least 30 years.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by special-K

The key here is if I don't cook it I don't eat it. I like good food. My creedo is if I can't eat well I'm not living well. I can suffer through about anything but lousy food. I won't know how to act if I ever hook up with Ms Right. Catch22 about it is the longer it takes the better cook she'll need to be. If it goes much longer I'll never find one that can top my cooking. If I end up the cook in the deal she'll have to have other special talents I can't perform myself. Hmmm.… what could that be?

90% of what we have I cook at home. I do like you and freeze the extra..


anyway back to CG if you can find steamers.. cant remember which one puts them out.. they have decent veggies and such in them

[special-K]

Yep, in my opinion the best frozen meals come in a bag not a box... except that Safeway Mexican Lasagna! Ole! Come to think of it, it's been at least ten years since I had that. Must not be that fantastic. The thing is, that ready prepped food costs more than good food. You pay for the convenience while getting poorer quality, along with preservatives and whatever unhealthy crap they want

I put a pork butt in the crock pot this morning with Scott's Sauce (Thanks Liz) and a chopped up carrot. Got home and chopped up collard green while water got to boiling. Dropped in on the steamer thingy, shook some Sylvia's Great Greens on there (put some in the water, too), lid one, and cut the heat down to simmer while I "tried to" put up the rest of the Christmas lights. That meal took, all total, 10 minutes of my time. Under 5 in the morning and 5 when I got home. I'll have left over shredded pork to freeze. Left over collards probably again tomorrow with something else

We have a great BBQ joint up the road 20 or so miles I like to eat at from time to time. They make great sides, and that is what makes a great BBQ place for me... if they have good BBQ in the first place. They have a motto, "Good food ain't cheap and cheap food ain't good. The owner asked me how my food was and I said, "It ain't cheap". He seemed to get offended by that. So I said "It's your motto. That means it's good, right?". Well, the fact is I don't like that motto one bit. Maybe true most times eating out, but not always. And what about fixing your own which is cheapest? Since he had that reaction I told him I beg to differ on that. Told him he should come to my place to eat sometime. I eat good food every night for cheaper than meals that aren't as good