Yep this about says it all!       image via

For the last few years I have been making most of our food from scratch. Lately I've been much busier working on making fashion accessories for my store Ornute and remodelling our house, so I'm trying to spend less time cooking but still eat healthy.
At first still eating a healthy diet with cooking less was a challenge but I've been finding a lot of good ideals of course I want to share, so this will be the first in my new series of Quick Healthy Meals. In this post we will look at Healthy Frozen Food Options. 

Frozen food has come a long way!

Frozen food is the king of convenience, but is also the king of processed food.  And therefore, it's usually loaded with sodium, preservatives, calories, and GMOs.  Not to mention pesticides, high fructose corn syrup, Artificial colors and flavours, MSG (which goes by like a dozen other names) and animals given antibiotics and hormones.  I could go on but I think you get the drift.

So what is healthy?  To me healthy means good quality organic ingredients (GMO and pesticide free) with out the artificial flavours, colours, and preservatives.  If it's low in calories too that's great, but I'll take quality ingredients over low fat and calories any day. 

Healthiest Frozen Foods


1. Artisan Bistro
Considering how bad frozen food can be I never thought there could be any really truly high quality frozen foods, until I found out about Artisan Bistro's meals.   I was so excited when they sent me some meals to try out (I was not however paid in any way for this review). Most of the ingredients they use is organic (they say specifically what is and what is not on the package) and the meat is antibiotic, hormone free.  There beef is grass fed which I have never seen with any frozen meals (if you have let me know), and sea food is wild caught (not farm raised).  And of course there meals also don't have preservatives, and unnatural flavours and colours.  Below are the meals I tried.   


This grass-fed beef with mushroom sauce meal is paired with organic veggies and rice for a total of 350 calories, 13g of fat, 580mg of sodium, and a whopping 23g of protein.

I cooked mine in the oven as directed and the rice was super mushy, and the mushroom sauce lacked flavour, but considering the super high quality of ingredients (gluten free, grass fed beef, organic veggies) and high protein I would still buy this for lunch if I worked outside of the home.

Roasted Poblano Chicken Serves 2 

This roasted free range chicken, in a fire-roasted poblano pepper sauce tossed with red bell peppers, green beans, corn, black beans and brown rice has per serving: 260 calories 5 g fat 490mg sodium 6 g fiber 21g protein

Artisan Bistro has approached the problem of cooking two servings of a complete meal in a thoughtful way: the protein and starch portion of the meal is packaged in one tray, while the vegetables are packaged in a second tray. I cooked mine in the oven as directed.

The chicken (free range antibotic free) chunks are flavorful and juicy. Again I found the brown rice and black beans to be mussy and gummy, the poblano sauce much like the mushroom sauce lacks flavor.  The vegetables were just OK.

Wild Salmon With Pesto Sauce


Wild caught Alaskan salmon with basil pesto sauce with chickpea pilaf and zucchini and green beans for 310 calories 370 mg sodium 18 g fat 3 g fiber and 16 g protein.

This was my favourite so far.  Of course frozen fish is never as good as fresh, but comparative to other frozen salmon I've had this is good.  I only have wild caught salmon because farm raised is high in toxins fed synthetic dyes (versus having astaxanthin a super antioxidant from eating krill in the wild) and food no fish would ever eat in the wild, as well as just being healthier overall in fat and nutrients.  Salmon is really so good for you on a bunch of levels (omega 3's astaxanthin, heart healthy, great for your skin and brain, etc).  I was trying to eat it at least a few times a weak, but I admit I got out of the habit.  Perhaps If I have some frozen salmon meals in my freezer I'll be more likely too....

As for the rest of the meal, kind of the same as the rest.  The rice was mushy, veggies just OK, and the sauce lacked pizazz.  But the salmon was good considering it was frozen.  I would suggest adding a shot of lemon juice, pasture raised butter and a tiny pinch of sea salt (since it's fairly low in sodium for a frozen meal you can get a way with it and it) to the fish to help add some more intense flavour.  Since this was my fav and I am trying to eat more salmon I would indeed buy this again


The verdict: There seems to be a theme of sauces lacking in taste and mushy rice. I would suggest staying away from the rice dishes and maybe coming prepared with some flavour enhancers such as garlic powder, chilli or hot sauce, a pat of pasture raised butter.  Despite the lack of taste and texture in the meals I tried, I would still consider trying Artisan Bistro for lunch if you work outside of the home, considering the quality of ingredients.  I'm thinking It's likely to be cheaper (was $5 at my local coop) and better ingredients than eating out and I was full after eating the meals until dinner time.

Where Can You Find It?
I was surprised to find Artisan Bistro is really in just about every major grocery store in Minneapolis, not just the health food stores.  Even Cub Foods!  At my local co-op most meals were $5, which of course will very from store to store.  So chances is it is in a store nearby you.  You can check to see where it is in you area here.  And if you can't find it in a store near you or you don't want to go to the store, you can have it shipped to you on dry ice. 



2. Amy's
I'm new to the healthy frozen food market, since I've avoided almost all processed foods for the last 4 years.  I've basically only shop in the bulk section, dairy, veggies and fruit and meat, that's it.  So I haven't had a chance to try most healthy frozen food options.  But doing research on healthy frozen foods one name keeps coming up Amy's. Amys is all free of GMOs and artificial flavors colour and preservatives, vegetarian (no meat, eggs, poultry, or fish),
fruits, veggies, and grains are all organic, and their cheeses are rbst free and have no animal enzymes.

These look good!  And it has only 280 calories and 8g fiber!

They also are family owned, and support GMO labeling,so they are a company I feel good about supporting and a brand I want to try.  I plan to start trying some on my next grocery trips.  I first plan to try their Light and Lean line.  They have a bean and cheese burrito and an Italian veggie pizza that is calling my name....   I'll update when I do with a review.  Have you tried Amy's frozen food?  What do you think of it? 

Amy's Italian Veggie Pizza with only 280 calories 4 g fiber and 6 g of fat

Trader Joe's Family style Meat Lasagna