And so it begins. A research project about frozen dinners and meals for one or two that can be heated in the microwave or prepared in a skillet. What are the pros and cons of eating these meals? Are they filling/satisfying? How do they taste? Are they healthy?

Let’s begin with whether or not they are healthy. With this in mind, first let’s define a healthy meal. What is a healthy meal? After briefly looking up some information on the internet about what constitutes a healthy meal, we find that it is basically one that is low in fat and sodium and high in dietary fiber and protein. Everyone watches calories when dieting but the amount of calories anyone eats during a meal can vary greatly depending on the total number of calories you need each day to sustain a certain level of energy. More active and athletic individuals can most times consume more calories than those who are less active or sedentary.

Good nutrition is a combination of all foods and supplements you consume based on what your body needs to function properly each day. Therefore, overall nutrition levels should be set based on individual goals for weight loss or weight gain and physical strength, appearance and performance.

So, looking at the criteria for a healthy meal, we should do our research in a way that focuses on the nutritional facts of a random sample of frozen dinners. We will focus on the total grams of fat, the amount of sodium, the dietary fiber, protein, and also the number of calories in each meal per serving.

Based on that criteria, there are a few things that stand out as we get started. First, I am finding out that the sodium content on some frozen dinners is outrageously high. This new Banquet Mega Meals Salisbury Steak dinner has 2,590 mg of sodium! And although it is most likely very filling, it does not include any vegetables.