Heat-and-serve winners

Thu, Aug. 19, 2010

These are the best of the dozen products we sampled. Our criteria: good flavor and no more than 10 or 12 fat grams and 500 or so milligrams sodium per serving.

Stouffer’s Easy Express Rigatoni With Chicken: Requiring just 10 minutes in the microwave, this creamy pasta dish has nice roast-chicken flavor along with 260 calories, 10 fat grams and 430 mg sodium per serving. The meatball rotini also is reasonably nutritious, but many other Easy Express varieties — especially Asian flavors — have way too much sodium. About $7.20 per 4-serving container at supermarkets.

Simply Potatoes Country Style Mashed Potatoes: With 100 calories, 3.5 fat grams and 190 mg sodium per serving, these could almost pass for homemade. Watch for sales and coupons; they freeze well, and make for a real comfort meal alongside our favorite heat-and-serve roast beef (see below). About $2.70 per 5-serving container at supermarkets.

Mama Mancini’s Sunday Sauce and Meatballs: These fat, tender meatballs are absolutely delicious — better than many restaurant versions I’ve had. Each serving has 160 calories (you’ll want to add pasta, of course), 10 fat grams and 550 mg sodium. $6.99 per pound at Fresh Market; $14.99 plus shipping per 4-pound package at mamamancinis.com.

Available at local supermarkets.

Morton’s of Omaha Beef Pot Roast With Gravy: We tried three supermarket varieties, but they weren’t nearly as tasty as this warehouse-store brand with an impressively short ingredient list (no artificial anything). It has 230 calories, 450 mg sodium and 12 fat grams per serving — easy to improve on if you remove the hardened fat from the gravy before heating. $4.99 per pound at Costco.

Green Chili Kabobs: These pleasantly zingy chicken-breast skewers require cooking, but they take only about 10 minutes on the grill or 20 minutes in the oven, and are delicious on a bed of rice or couscous. $8.38 per 8-serving package at Costco.

Schwan’s Chicken Bites: Minnesota-based Schwan’s offers doorstep delivery of more than 350 frozen items — some ready-to-cook, some heat-and-serve — including entrees, side dishes, desserts and beverages. They’re quite pricey, but the quality is high, and you can’t beat the convenience. I especially liked their Chicken Bites — moist, tasty chunks of roasted breast meat with 90 calories, 1 fat gram and 450 mg sodium per serving that are far healthier than breaded chicken nuggets. $14.99 per 8-serving bag at www.schwans.com <http://www.schwans.com> or 888-724-9267.

– KATHY MARTIN

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