Atkins Frozen Meals
Yesterday I happened to see new Atkins frozen meals in the frozen food section at Walmart. I thought it was a neat idea, good for a quick meal that would be fairly close to my paleo foods. While I usually cook all my meals at home and bring them with me with the past two weeks being an exception. First I had that nasty stomach virus that put me down and I couldn’t cook. Furthermore as soon as I got over that I caught what might be the flu. In any case once again no cooking. Seeing these I thought that in a pinch having a few of these handy could help you get through a sickness or lazy spell. If they taste any good that is. So let’s get down to eating these Atkins Frozen Meals I’m starving!
Selection
The Atkins Frozen Meals selection was pretty big with probably around six different varieties. Unfortunately though either they are very popular and are selling out or they have just not all came in yet, because I was only able to find three different flavors to test. The flavors I got were: Crustless Chicken Pot Pie, Beef Merlot and Farmhouse Style sausage Scramble. Looking at the labels for the rest thought I am eager to try them as well.
Farmhouse Style sausage Scramble
This is a breakfast bowl with scrambled eggs with custom-made sausage, American cheese, green and red bell peppers and fire-roasted onions. It has 22g of protein, no added sugar, 29g of Fat, 370 total calories and 5g net carbs. I’ve eaten a few breakfast bowls in my time, the Hardee’s low carb one, other frozen ones with potatoes, and some homemade ones. With the exception of my homemade ones this is by far the best I’ve ever had. To be honest it might beat out some of the homemade ones.
The eggs in this meal came out the microwave fluffy and delicious. I’ve had some of the eggs I’ve frozen come out off tastings. The Atkins Frozen Meals folks must have a secret trick. Otherwise the flavor is perfect I did not even have to add any salt and I love salt. I did add some Louisiana Hot Sauce to the last few bites and actually think it brought the flavor down. So I can see myself buying more of these in the future.
Beef Merlot
The dish features tender beef and broccoli florets in a delicate merlot wine sauce. It has 16g of protein, no sugar added, 21g of fat, 310 total calories and 6g net carbs. This is a TV style dinner I’ve wanted for a long time. Beef and broccoli belong together and without a lot of added things I don’t want. It comes close, it has a few things in the ingredients I don’t care for. While it certainly is not paleo approved at 6g of carbs in a pinch it will fit the bill. The flavor is definitely great. The quality of these meals has greatly impressed me. The beef taste better than most textured brown slop I find.
Crustless Chicken Pot Pie
This meal features premium white meat chicken breasts, broccoli & cauliflower florets, spinach and julienne carrots in a sherry & herb cream sauce. It has 22g protein, 22g fat, No sugar added, 330 total calories and 5g net carbs. I enjoyed all three of the meals, This one however was my personal favorite. I’m a huge fan of cauliflower and it worked great in this dish. As a result I have already been kicking around the idea of a paleo chicken pot pie and if I can make it half this tasty I will call it a success. The chicken from this frozen meal compared to what most companies try to pass off as chicken does not even compare. This was tasty chunks of chicken meat. Th e sauce is what made this dish though it was amazing.
Final Thoughts
Admittedly Atkins Frozen Meals are not the best choice to be eating. Home cooking trumps anything from the frozen food section. However if you were to say to me, “James I’m either going to grab one of these or just eat a bagel” then yes by all means eat these. Which is the role I see them play, food to eat as a backup plan. If you’re too sick or tired to cook then yes grab one of these. The price on these is around $3 each. In conclusion my only real complaint is that they are a bit on the small side. Due to hunger I demolished all three of them. I would recommend these completely while I wait for the first 100% paleo TV Dinners or MRE’s.
Great review. I hate when I’m in a rush not having something healthy, paleo, and fairly cheap to just grab and go instead of buying something nasty from the machines at work or being hungry all day. These sound like the perfect things to keep in the freezer just in case.
Nice review. I agree with what you said. These are good for days when you just don’t feel like going to all the effort and you want to stay pretty close to paleo. My only two complaints are (1) they don’t have a great variety of meals yet and (2) they are too small. I usually supplement with something easy like a piece of fruit or some nuts because they just don’t fill me up. They are pretty good tasting for what they are though, especially the breakfast bowls.
I would have to disagree with all you said. I tried the meals, two so far, and will try the third either tomorrow or the next, whenever I get the nerve up to try it. I had the steak scramble for breakfast. I don’t like mushrooms so I figured I could pull them all out and be happy. Unfortunately mushrooms seem to be the star of that show. Even after pulling them all out, the meal was left with a very strong sweet mushroom flavor surrounded by watery eggs. Just threw my chili con carne out from lunch. The little tidbits of meat are the only edible part of that meal, and it definitely tastes like a frozen meal, a bad one. I will go back to cooking my own meals for this diet plan. I was really hoping for a quick fix for me when I have to cook “regular” food for my family.