Frozen meals such as Stouffer's chicken breast with mashed potatoes provide a quick alternative to making dinner. Many families rely on such products because they find it onerous or time-consuming to come home from work and prepare meals from scratch. While there is room for frozen foods in a healthy diet, consumers should make sure they are getting sufficient nutrients.
Calories and Fat
Stouffer's baked chicken with mashed potatoes has 250 calories; 90 of these calories are from fat. There is a total of 10 g of fat in this product, 3 of which are saturated fats. This meal has 60 mg of cholesterol.
The USDA recommends that people on a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet limit their intake of saturated fats and cholesterol to 20 g and and 300 mg, respectively.
Vitamins
This meal has no vitamin A or vitamin C. People who choose this frozen entree may want to supplement the meal with squash, carrots or broccoli to boost the vitamin content of their meal. Alternatively, they may elect to have a salad or fruit for dessert to make this more healthy.
Minerals
Stouffer's frozen chicken breast with mashed potatoes provides 4 percent of the recommended daily allowance of iron and 2 percent of the daily allowance of calcium. The label does not provide any other information on minerals the meal may provide. Given that these amounts make a only a small contribution to daily requirements, consumers may want to boost the nutritional content with other fruits or vegetables.
Warning
The product information states that the classic baked chicken breast with mashed potatoes has 730 mg of sodium. Because the American Heart Association suggests that healthy people limit themselves to 1,500 mg of sodium, people who indulge in this meal should be vigilant about their sodium consumption for the rest of the day.
The US Food and Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture require that foods claiming to be healthy limit their sodium to 480 mg or less. Using this guideline, this meal does not qualify as a healthy food.
Comparison
Investigating other comparable products may reveal a healthier alternative. By way of comparison, Lean Cuisine offers a frozen baked chicken, cornbread stuffing and whipped potato meal that has 250 calories, 8 g of fat and 600 mg of sodium. The Weight Watchers frozen dinner products called Smart Meals do not offer a chicken-and-potatoes meal, but they do make various other chicken dinners
Member Comments