Frozen Diet Meals: Better Than You Thought?

Frozen dinners have long been considered a nutritional nightmare. Sure, they're convenient, but because they're packed with preservatives, fat and shockingly high levels of sodium, they may be doing your health (and waistline) more harm than good. If microwave meals conjure up memories of bland vegetables and soggy pasta, a new report may convince you to take another look.

Consumer Reports tried some of the most popular ready-made diet meals and found them to be, well, not nearly as bad as you thought. And we're not just talking about what's on the nutrition labels here -- the taste managed to impress, too.

Consumer Reports staffers tested 24 meals from five of the major brands -- Kashi, Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice and Hormel -- to analyze the quality and flavor of the food.

After a blind taste test in which panelists were not influenced by the brand or appearance of the meal, they found that in terms of flavor, all of the dishes sampled rated somewhere between "good" and "very good," with the exception of two of the Hormel meals. This is certainly an improvement from a similar 2004 taste test, in which few meals rated higher than "good."

Nutritionally, all meals met the requirements to qualify as "good" or "very good," meaning they all had acceptable levels of sodium, fat and calories. A few of the meals were on the high end of the sodium spectrum, coming in at over 600 mg, but all had less than 700 mg. That's not too bad considering the recommended daily limit of sodium for adults in the U.S. is between 1,500 to 2,300 mg, depending in your age. Concerned about calories? You'll be happy to know that the biggest issue Consumer Reports staffers had with many of the meals was that they were too low in calories to be a well-rounded meal on their own. The report advised adding some fresh fruits and veggies on the side to up the calorie count and nutritional benefits.

The meals weren't ranked from best to worst, but it seems that meatless meals fared the best in the testing. They all rated very well in both taste and nutrition. Additionally, Kashi -- yes, the cereal maker -- was rated "very good" for each of the meals that were tested. Given their stellar performance, expect Kashi's all-natural ready meals to do well at the supermarket. "There's a definite trend towards simpler foods with more natural ingredients and flavorings," said Consumer Reports associate editor Jamie Hirsh.

At the end of the day, fresh food is still the best option. But given the evidence, we'll concede that some convenience meals aren't nearly as much of a nutritional nightmare as we thought. Still, make sure to check the labels. This is a small sample of what's offered at your supermarket -- other items in the frozen food section may not stack up as favorably.

Ready to stock the freezer? Learn how to get the best tasting -- and diet-friendly -- microwave meals for your buck.