Frozen dinner recommendations please.

Doc

Administrator
Staff member
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Silver Sage's post got me to thinking everyone gets tired of cooking at times.

Eating out is always an option but sometimes an easy option for getting dinner is a frozen dinner. My problem is I can only name one that I like. Stouffer's Laguna. I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

Hoping some here have discovered a frozen dinner that is tasty.
 

Ironman

🍺
Besides pizza, :mrgreen:

I used to like stouffers chicken enchiladas but I can only ever find the family size and takes over an hour to cook.
Marie Calendar has some good looking entries but I haven't tried any.
 

medtran49

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I like the larger size Marie Callender chicken pot pies. The filling to pastry ratio on the small ones is way out of whack to me. I have not had the shepherds pie, which is really a cottage pie, but Craig has and wasn't thrilled with it. They do take most of an hour in the oven, but there is a microwave option.

We have tried some of the the P.F. Chang meals recently, honey garlic chicken, dan dan, and pad thai. We both liked the honey garlic chicken very well, craig had the dan dan and liked it, the pad thai about blew my taste buds out but craig liked what i couldn't finish.

We've also tried a couple of the Bertolli meals. Don't remember which ones because it's been a while but we liked them.

I've been buying and trying them when they are on sale so if we don't like them there's not much lost.
 

Sass Muffin

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I like both Rao's and Stouffer's lasagna.
Ditto on both Marie Callendar and Stouffer's chicken pot pie, though my favourite pot pie is the beef.
Most of their meals are pretty good, except for the chicken enchiladas Mark mentioned.
They used to have a flour tortilla frozen enchiladas but they don't now that I'm aware of.
The corn ones lack taste to me.
🤷‍♀️
 

Ironman

🍺
I like both Rao's and Stouffer's lasagna.
Ditto on both Marie Callendar and Stouffer's chicken pot pie, though my favourite pot pie is the beef.
Most of their meals are pretty good, except for the chicken enchiladas Mark mentioned.
They used to have a flour tortilla frozen enchiladas but they don't now that I'm aware of.
The corn ones lack taste to me.
🤷‍♀️
I haven’t had the enchiladas in forever. Probably won’t again now. Best make my own.

I think I remember why I don’t buy Marie Callender stuff:

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Doc

Administrator
Staff member
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Besides pizza, :mrgreen:

I used to like stouffers chicken enchiladas but I can only ever find the family size and takes over an hour to cook.
Marie Calendar has some good looking entries but I haven't tried any.
Over the years I've tried quite a few on looks alone. Been disappointed about every time. Mostly bland. The frozen meat in them was downright gross. Be it chicken or beef. That is the reason for asking for suggestions. I refuse to buy any more other than the lasagna once a year and pizza. I forgot pizza earlier. Some of them are okay, some are like cardboard

We had some PF Chang a year or two ago it was good. But now our regular grocery store does not carry PF Chang any longer.
 

dansdiamond

Food Sound Eng.
Gold Site Supporter
Silver Sage's post got me to thinking everyone gets tired of cooking at times.

Eating out is always an option but sometimes an easy option for getting dinner is a frozen dinner. My problem is I can only name one that I like. Stouffer's Laguna. I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

Hoping some here have discovered a frozen dinner that is tasty.
I Had a Marie Challendars Steak and Potato Yesterday.
It takes 7 Minutes in the Microwave, Not only
tasty- But they give you a satisfying amount,

mar 13223 1.jpg
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
Tonight was Bird's Eye Garlic Chicken. It was edible but that's about the best you could say. There was very little chicken, and they were tiny pieces. Moderate amount of rotini pasta. Large amount of carrots and broccoli, though most of the broccoli was stems. Moderate amount of corn. No garlic taste. Predominant taste was carrots. I had him add about an extra 1/8 cup water last few minutes because there was supposed to be a light sauce and I could hear the pan had cooked dry when he lifted the lid to stir.

I guess if you chopped up some onions and garlic, cooked them a little, stirred in a chopped chicken breast or thigh, then proceeded with the bag, it might be good but that kind of defeats the purpose of buying the bag.

Verdict was to NOT buy again.

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QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
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Tonight was Bird's Eye Garlic Chicken. It was edible but that's about the best you could say. There was very little chicken, and they were tiny pieces. Moderate amount of rotini pasta. Large amount of carrots and broccoli, though most of the broccoli was stems. Moderate amount of corn. No garlic taste. Predominant taste was carrots. I had him add about an extra 1/8 cup water last few minutes because there was supposed to be a light sauce and I could hear the pan had cooked dry when he lifted the lid to stir.

I guess if you chopped up some onions and garlic, cooked them a little, stirred in a chopped chicken breast or thigh, then proceeded with the bag, it might be good but that kind of defeats the purpose of buying the bag.

Verdict was to NOT buy again.

View attachment 56363

Excellent post, Karen!

Lee
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
P.F. Changs vege egg rolls and Mongolian beef, with pantry ramen. It was a pretty darn good meal. Egg rolls were nice and crisp. Filling was vege, so had a fairly strong Asian cabbage taste, but they were good, especially with Chinese mustard. The Mongolian beef slices were tasty and were pretty tender and there was a good amount. Nice amount of red bell and onion. Green beans aren't the pretty bright green on package after cooking, but still tasted good and were about the same amount as other veges. After seeing the amount of sauce, which tasted very good, I decided to cook some ramen noodles. Planning ahead, you could cook rice or glass/celophane noodles.

All in all, a definite (y) even if they aren't on sale. They were when I bought them, so at 2 for $8, plus the minimal amount for a package of ramen, not a bad meal at all for 2 people.
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Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
Medtran, I got the Mongolian beef, but couldn't find their brand of egg rolls, so I got the Tai Pei.
Got some ramen too so I can make your meal posted above.
One of these nights 😊

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medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
Frozen bag of Bertolli chicken florentine with farfalle cooked on the stovetop. Garlic bread made with a small sub roll from the freezer and homemade garlic/ParmR butter.

The meal was okay for a frozen dinner, don't feel like cooking night. I will add grated parm and a little bit of chicken broth and cream next time.

There was about 1 decent sized chicken breast, maybe just a bit more worth of meat in the bag. Pieces were pretty small. Chicken was a bit tough and a little dry, but with that kind of meal and the piece sizes not sure you could expect better.
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