Rosina brand Italian foods are all very good, the only downside is they aren’t the cheapest and really do need to be cooked in a conventional oven rather than microwave for best taste. Their lasagna is delicious!
Michelina’s line of budget TV dinners range from passable to really damn good, only downside is the rather small portion size but it is budget after all.
Totino’s pizza rolls are absolute garbage food, they don’t even have real cheese in them, yet they are pretty good tasting. An occasional greasy indulgence.
The horrible:
Totino’s party pizzas are horrible, even if you’re only paying a buck for one you might want to know Little Caesar’s takeaway is superior!(and that is saying a lot).
Interestingly my wife came up with a way to cook these that tastes a lot better than in the oven, in a big cast iron pot that is lightly greased place the frozen pizza and cover with a lid and cook for 20 or so minutes on high(it won’t burn) which makes the pizza dough rise and get fluffy.
I guess it depends how you define “really good.” None fit that description IMO, but some are “good enough,” given that they are after all frozen meals. I tend to get these for lunches at work and bounce around depending on if I want to save money (Michelenos), get something more filling (Marie Callendars) or what is IMO just better quality (Healthy Heart, some of Stouffers). Most of the other popular ones (Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine, hungry man) I’m not a fan of.
I just love Lean Cuisine. I can’t remember a really bad one, though a few have been mediocre. My new favorite is the Thai-style chicken spring roles, very spicy and tasty.
In fact, most frozen eggrolls are passable-to-very-good. (The eggroll I got at the local Chinese takeout was awful, leathery and filled with too much white minced cabbage, I would rather get a P.F. Chang’s frozen, or even a generic store brand package).
Stouffers lasagna is really quite tasty for a frozen dinner. When the big family sized ones are on sale, I usually buy three or four and use them up over a couple of months.
I couldn’t honestly call them “good” but the cheap chicken pot pies really do satisfy an occasional craving of mine. Usually in the early winter when we get the first good cold snap, I’ll just need to consume a few. Comfort foods and childhood memories I suppose.
I loved Mexican TV dinners when I was a kid. There was no other way to get something remotely resembling Mexican food. They were and still are pretty awful, but nostalgia tempers that somewhat.
Stouffer’s mac and cheese is excellent. Likewise the lasagna, spinach souffle, and the corn pudding/souffle thing. Their stuffed green peppers aren’t bad either. Actually most of their food is good.
Michaelangelo’s eggplant parmesan is as almost as good as you can get in any restaurant.
I eat a lot of the Lean Cuisine frozen lunches at work. They’re low calorie and I can stock up at Wegmans when they have them on sale for $1.99. Some of the asian ones, especially, are quite tasty.
Health-wise, I know they have a lot of sodium, but blood pressure is one problem I don’t have.