Lean Cuisine

People often choose Lean Cuisine as a healthy, low calorie meal option.

Lean Cuisine can usually be found in your grocer's freezer. While you may just be discovering this product, the company has been in the business of making entrées for more than 25 years. Today, the company markets 90 varieties of portion-controlled dinners made without any preservatives or artificial colors. Each dinner has no more than 400 calories, making them the perfect choice for the calorie-conscious dieter. They are simple to fix. Just pop them in the microwave, wait the required amount of time, and eat, making this product a popular work day meal as well.

Lean Cuisine also offers a Spa Cuisine with 14 entrée choices at the time of this writing. Each of these are made with 100 percent whole grain ingredients. Several of the new dinners contain twice the amount of vegetables of a regular entrée. The company focuses on the dietary needs of its customers, while at the same time continuing to add a variety of tastes.

The company's product lines are varied and include the following:

• One Dish Favorites-This product line features meat and vegetarian options, with choices like Alfredo Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli, Angel Hair Pomodoro and more. These selections are characterized by the yellow label.
• Café Classics-If you are in the mood for more exotic tastes, look for the green label that designates the entrée as a "Café Classic", with choices like Chicken Fried Rice and Beef Portabello, as a well as a variety of other options.
• Comfort Classics-If you are searching for a more traditional meal, then choose the red label with foods like Baked Chicken, Glazed Turkey Tenderloins, and Chicken Parmesan to name a few.
• Spa Cuisine Classics-You can select foods made with 100% whole grains when you look for the blue label. Food suggestions include Butternut Squash Ravioli, Chicken Pecan, and more.
• Casual Eating-If you are looking for a more casual meal, then select an orange label. Food choices include Cheese French Bread Pizza, Pesto Chicken Flatbread Melts, Gourmet Mushroom Pizza, and more.
• Dinnertime Selects-These brown-labeled dinners offer 30 percent more food than a typical Café Classic dinner but still have no more than 400 calories per entrée.

When you visit the Lean Cuisine site, you can access information on health and nutrition. The site offers links to health care resources, dietary tools, and relevant articles, and you can also find answers to a variety of questions through the "Ask the Nutritionist" link. To receive their newsletter, up-to-date product news, and coupons, sign up online.

Lean Cuisine is popular with Weight Watchers participants as well. For those who are counting points, the entrées list a point value for each meal. You can also download an information spreadsheet on specific nutritional values of their products.

There are those who hesitate to eat Lean Cuisine because of the salt content. Is it too high? According to their website, although they don't have to meet any U.S. Food & Drug Administration guidelines regarding sodium, they state "we maintain a self-imposed guideline to ensure great taste and good health..." Those who do worry about the sodium levels in the entrées often limit their salt intake in other ways, such as choosing fresh fruits and vegetables in addition to the Lean Cuisine dinners they eat.

If you have further questions, you can either access their Lean Cuisine site or call them at 1-800-993-8625 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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