Using frozen homemade and purchased dinners during for weight loss offers you an affordable and convenient way to have tasty entrees every evening. Planning your frozen meals for a week in advance can help with your scheduled calorie allotment and avoid unplanned trips to a restaurant.
Considerations
When planning weekly meals, consider whether you will purchase all your frozen dinners at the grocery store, make your own entrees and freeze them in individual portions or use a combination of the two strategies. The benefits of grocery store frozen meals lie mainly in the convenience and quick preparation, and the benefits of home-prepared meals include being able to control the ingredients and cook to your preferences and dietary needs. Frozen dinner diet meals often contain less than 300 calories per meal, which can help your weight-loss efforts. However, a study published in the January 2010 issue of the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association" discovered that the calorie counts on many frozen diet meals may be under-reported by an average of 8 percent.
Healthy Grocery Store Frozen Meals
Choose frozen grocery store meals that are low in calories, fat and sodium. Some frozen diet entrees can have more than 600 mg of sodium in a single portion. Your total sodium for the day should not exceed 1,500 mg. Vary the type of meal you select to include poultry, lean beef and vegetarian meals each week. Choose meals that include steamed vegetables, as vegetables are low in calories and beneficial while losing weight. An appropriate calorie level for your frozen meals should be in the 400 to 500 range.
Home-Prepared Frozen Meals
Making meals in advance to use as healthy frozen meals involves some planning, but the process allows you to make meals you know you enjoy. Boil or roast a whole chicken, and divide the cooked meat among three meals. Shred 4 oz. of chicken and add barbecue sauce to the meat, use one breast as a roasted chicken breast meal and add 4 oz. of sliced chicken to pre-cooked pasta and vegetables. Freeze each in a microwave- or oven-safe container. Cooked beans and rice freeze well, as do cooked ground beef or turkey burgers. Use lean beef or turkey in fajitas, and freeze the rolled fajita.
Weight-Loss Strategies
Add healthy, easy-to-prepare fresh or canned foods to complete your frozen dinners or lunches. Prepackaged salads, vegetables canned without salt, fresh fruit and whole-grain breads help you meet your calorie and dietary requirements. Remember to eat healthy fats and 2 1/2 to 3 cups of reduced-fat or fat-free dairy each day, as your body needs both. Keep your frozen foods frozen until you are ready to heat them up, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates you should keep frozen foods at 0 degrees Fahrenheit until ready to serve or heat.
References
- "Journal of the American Dietetic Association"; The Accuracy of Stated Energy Contents of Reduced-Energy, Commercially Prepared Foods; Lorien E. Urban, et al.; January 2010
- LeanCuisine: Nutrition Information
- American Heart Association: Sodium (Salt or Sodium Chloride)
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Eat Well Monday; March 2011
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Freezing and Food Safety
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