Review: Healthy Choice Frozen Dinners

Quite a while back, I tried a Cafe Steamers meal from Healthy Choice. It is not labeled gluten-free, but a call to the company confirmed the product is made with gluten-free ingredients. The meal was very good, though a bit on the pricey side. Recently, I checked the label of some other Healthy Choice frozen dinners which sell here for $1.99. To my surprise and delight, I actually found one that didn’t contain gluten ingredients. There was no disclaimer about the product being processed on lines that process wheat either so I decided to give it a try.

Since Healthy Choice products are not tested for the presence of gluten, Con-Agra (manufacturer of Healthy Choice) will not state anything they make is gluten-free. They will only state whether or not gluten ingredients are used in them. Even though I think Con-Agra is woefully behind the other large food companies in the U.S. in terms of the gluten-free market, I also think they take allergens seriously. Like any large company, their legal departments work overtime worrying about the many ways the company can be sued. Due to that issue, companies tend to be overly careful when it comes to labeling foods that contain ingredients that are top allergens. Seriously, is the disclaimer “may contain nuts” really necessary on a jar of peanuts?

The Spicy Caribbean Chicken is the only meal I could find that didn’t contain any gluten ingredients on the label. The meal has 310 calories, 30 grams of whole grains and 15 grams of protein. For a relatively small meal, it packs a pretty impressive nutritional punch. The meal took longer than stated on the package to get completely hot – about 25% longer, in fact. Immediately, I noticed that there is not a lot of rice in the container. The picture on the box indicates that there is more rice than is actually in the package. The taste of everything was very good, though the tanginess factor was a little overwhelming. More rice mixed in would have calmed that down a bit, but adding my own rice would take away the value of buying a fairly healthy meal for only $1.99. I’d rather have them  at least double the amount of rice and charge $2.49 instead.

The black beans, corn, pineapple and sauce really worked well together and I enjoyed the overall flavor much more than I expected to. Spicy Caribbean Chicken is a ‘select entree’ within the Healthy Choice line. Since Weight Watchers exchanges are listed on the website, and don’t indicate a milk exchange and the only allergen statement is about soy, the meal appears to be dairy-free. Below is the rest of the nutritional information for the meal I tried.

Amount/Serving %DV*
Total Fat (2 g) 3%
Saturated Fat (.5 g) 3%
Trans Fat (0 g)
Cholesterol (20 mg) 7%
Sodium (290 mg) 12%
Vitamin A (10%)
Calcium (6%)

*Please note – there are some mistakes on the Con-Agra website regarding allergens on individual products. I noticed that a Cafe Steamer lists only shellfish as an allergen, even though the item is made with pasta. Either the company switched to gluten-free pasta for this item or they goofed on the website. As always, read the entire ingredient list on products before deciding to purchase them.