I think out of all frozen foods Stouffers does make a product more edible than most and of course home made is better.
We never eat any of those premade dinners, so have no opinion as to taste. However, consider a couple of things:
1. Ingredients. Read the labels on those things. Putting aside the excessive amounts of sodium and hfcs, about halfway down you start on a list of things you cannot pronounce. Do you really want to eat all those for the sake of convenience?
2. Expense. Even on sale, frozen dinners are always more expensive than homemade. Keep in mind, too, that there are different quality grades of ingredients, and the odds are the ones you use are better than the ones used by the processor.
On the question of convenience, it's really no big deal to make your own frozen dinners. For instance, while there's just the two of us now, I always make full recipes. We eat one meal. The others are set up on microwavable plates, covered with cling film and foil, and frozen. When we need an easy-fix meal, we just grab a pair of those frozen meals (we jokingly call them MREs).
The point is, other than the time taken to wrap them, preparing these meals represents no additional time in the kitchen because all the cooking is done at the same time.
1. Ingredients. Read the labels on those things. Putting aside the excessive amounts of sodium and hfcs, about halfway down you start on a list of things you cannot pronounce. Do you really want to eat all those for the sake of convenience?
2. Expense. Even on sale, frozen dinners are always more expensive than homemade. Keep in mind, too, that there are different quality grades of ingredients, and the odds are the ones you use are better than the ones used by the processor.
On the question of convenience, it's really no big deal to make your own frozen dinners. For instance, while there's just the two of us now, I always make full recipes. We eat one meal. The others are set up on microwavable plates, covered with cling film and foil, and frozen. When we need an easy-fix meal, we just grab a pair of those frozen meals (we jokingly call them MREs).
The point is, other than the time taken to wrap them, preparing these meals represents no additional time in the kitchen because all the cooking is done at the same time.
As far as the Stuoffer's Lasagna goes, The only questionable ingredient is AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT. I love how tricky these ingredients can be. Why don't they just call it what it is-- MSG.
Also the fact that a family sized Stouffer's Lasagna takes 90 minutes or longer to bake. A home made lasagna doesn't take that long so it's not a time saver. I would call it an energy consumer.
For the non cook I would say that it is probably the closest thing they will come to for the real thing. I'm sure that's the market Stouffers is looking for. A Lasagna for a busy parent to prepare for the kids after a day of work and school.
Also the fact that a family sized Stouffer's Lasagna takes 90 minutes or longer to bake. A home made lasagna doesn't take that long so it's not a time saver. I would call it an energy consumer.
For the non cook I would say that it is probably the closest thing they will come to for the real thing. I'm sure that's the market Stouffers is looking for. A Lasagna for a busy parent to prepare for the kids after a day of work and school.
