Food Review - Kashi Frozen Dinners

I am not a fan of frozen dinners. I find them to be bland, despite the typically high sodium count, and also not very filling. However, I am a fan of the Kashi brand of foods, which is why when I saw a four pack of their frozen dinners at Costco, I decided to give them a whirl. Additionally, because I have seen them featured on health food shows, I figured they could make a healthy addition to my diet for those days when I was crunched for time or needed a quick, healthy lunch.

The Costco 4-pack included two flavors: The Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Chicken Pasta Pomodoro. The nutritional info for both can be found on the Kashi website or you can click on these links for more info:

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken Pasta Pomodoro

Both dinners in Weight Watchers points equate to 6 pts.

Now, for the most important part: the taste! The Sweet and Sour chicken was quite sweet. I still needed a bit of salt but it had a bit of a nice, smokey flavor to it. I loved all the different textures of the fresh vegetables in there, especially the edamame. I thought the sweetness overpowered the dish and could be toned down as they have a lot of really great ingredients that could shine through with less sweetness and slightly more of a saltier flavor. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being totally awesome, I would give this a 3.5. Note to Kashi - more soy sauce please!

The Chicken Pasta Pomodoro was slightly less exciting. I loved that they used whole grain penne pasta and that they were generous with the chicken. However, this was also a bit bland for me. I'm not sure if Kashi decided to go deliberately low in sodium to given the consumer the choice of amping up the flavor, but I found myself needing more of a couple of things in this meal. I felt it could have used more marinara sauce, more parmesan cheese, more salt and maybe a bit of pepper. I would give this a 3 for quantity, quality of ingredients, but not much on taste.

All in all, I think they are a great addition to any healthy eating plan. I would suggest, as I did, pairing them with a steamed vegetable or a soup as they leave you wanting a bit more. I look forward to trying some of the other flavors they have, especially the Lime Cilantro Shrimp and the Lemongrass Coconut Chicken.

Have you tried them or any other healthy frozen entrée? If you have, please do share your thoughts and suggestions.

Happy Eating!

Lara.