by Jennifer Wagner

Created on: January 14, 2009   Last Updated: April 05, 2011

Remember those long gone days when t.v. dinners were bland and boring? Things have really evolved since the original frozen meal was invented in 1954 by Gerry Thomas. Back in those days there were only FOUR different dinners to select from. We've come a long way since then! Now, frozen entrees come in many flavorful varieties. Companies like Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and Weight Watchers have really branched out and provide an enormous selection of great tasting meals.

Healthy Choice Complete Selections provide a delicious meal that includes an entree, one side and a delicious dessert. Select from chicken, beef, seafood or even pasta. The chicken meals taste best, followed closely by the pasta. Meals that include beef are only so-so, while the seafood meals are just not that great. My personal favorites include Chicken Teriyaki and Classic Grilled Chicken Barbeque. They are outstanding and very filling. Although the portions are large, none of the dinners contain over 400 calories.

Lean Cuisine's Dinnertime Selections are also very tasty, and are less expensive than the Healthy Choice Complete Selections. Most Dinnertime Selections, offer either one large portion of an entree or a smaller one with one or two sides. All meals are under 400 calories. The best tasting of these is the Grilled Chicken & Penne Pasta or the Roasted Turkey Breast. They're delicious and the portions are large enough to satisfy. There are many other chicken dinners to select from, as well as a few beef and seafood. Again, the chicken dishes are the best tasting. Weight Watchers points are listed on each box for your convenience.

Weight Watchers frozen meals, called Smart Ones, offer the smallest portions, but the largest variety. That's because they don't have a separate category for meals with larger portions. All the entrees are lumped into one category. The Smart Ones are very good tasting, and offer some of the spiciest frozen meals I've found. Their Chicken Enchiladas Suiza and Monterey are outstanding, but small. All the meals are under 400 calories, and one is as low as 140 (Chicken Santa Fe). And if you're currently under the Weight Watcher diet program, you'll enjoy the convenience of the points tallied on each box.

Each company also offers pizza. Sometimes you just need a crusty slice of pizza, and it's nice to know you can have it without breaking your diet. Lean Cuisine offers the largest selection of pizzas, and also the most unusual ingredients. Try their Roasted Vegetable Pizza. It's to die for! The crust comes out crispy, while the toppings taste flavorful and fresh. The Spinach Mushroom pizza has a creamy alfredo sauce instead of tomato. If you are more of a traditional pizza lover, they have all your favorite varieties of that too. Some of the fat content and calories can get high with these pizzas, so be sure to check the label.

Healthy Choice's pizza selection includes three different french bread recipes. Cheese, pepperoni and supreme. The pizza is nice and thick, and comes out crispy and delicious. All varieties are good and none are better than the other. The calories and fat intake was lowest from Healthy Choice, with the average fat being 5 grams and calories staying under 350.

Weight Watchers Smart Ones also have three varieties of pizza. They include pepperoni, four cheese and a pepperoni pizza smartwich. The smartwich is more like a calzone, but it's placed in their pizza category. Again, the fat and calories ran pretty high on these. Almost 400 calories for the pizza, and about 300 for the smartwich.

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