Healthier prepared foods?

[bnme]

These prepared foods have become all too common around here and I'm looking for some healthier options

mac'n cheese (we use Annies, I think that my be one of the healthier ones?)
Dino Nuggets from BJs
canned chicken noodle soup
frozen turkey meatballs from BJs

We do have a Trader Joes nearby but I am not that familiar with there stuff.

Tia

[elephantmeg]

what about rotisery chicken or the grilled chicken chunks you can get in the meat aisle (for salads/fajitas etc).
I use a lot of canned veggies with no salt added and canned fruit in pear juice (labled as no sugar added). Frozen fruit is handy too-peaches/raspberries/blueberries.
You could try making your own chicken noodle soup and freeze it into servings

[SnuggleBuggles]

Do you have a Whole Foods? YOu can get tons of prepared foods there and their ingredient lists are far shorter and healthier than the mainstream options. Bell and Evans chicken nuggets, Amy's brand frozen, WF brand frozen mac&cheese, frozen ravioli, veggie burgers...

I would just go over to Trader Joes and see what strikes your fancy. They have a lot of good options as they have tons of frozen and prepared foods that also don't have as much junk in them. My favorite thing there is the $.99 pizza dough that you can use to make all sorts of yummy foods (veggie pizza, regular pizza, garlic bread...).

I think as far as boxed mac and cheese goes Annies is a good choice. Back to Nature brand is pretty yummy and healthier than Kraft.

That Back to Nature brand (natural food stores usually though sometimes at the regular stores) is really good; the ingredient lists are made up of things you could find in your pantry and they taste good.

In general though, the 365 brand at Whole Foods isn't that expensive and you can get a lot of prepared staples to have around.

Hope that gets you started...and hopefully you have a WF nearby. If not I will try to rack my brain on TJ options.

Beth

[JTsMom]

Another option is to make some things yourself in large quantites and freeze them. It's easy to make a huge batch of homemade, healthy chicken fingers and freeze them, ditto chicken soup and meatballs.

I buy Amy's frozen pizza snacks occasionaly- they are pretty yummy, and reasonably healthy. You can often find pre-cut fruits and veggies in the produce section of most grocery stores. Boars Head makes all natural deli meats which are available in some places. Frozen veggies can be microwaved, some frozen fruits can even be eaten frozen- like blueberries. Back to Nature brand makes crackers. I just tried one version that is comparable to Wheat Thins, but much healthier. You can microwave a whole sweet potato and serve it right in the skin- I mash it up a little, add some butter and a little bit of cinammon-sugar.

[anamika]

I buy Health Valley organic no salt added soups for DD. They're really handy for quick lunches. I add a little salt for flavor but much less than the regular soups.
Also, Dr. Praegers Veggie burgers, broccoli bites or any tofu based burger.

[Sillygirl]

My son loves soup and I was getting really concerned about the salt levels. Every time he ate one he would want lots of water to drink at the same time. So I made a big pot of chicken stock and bought some whole wheat noodle ribbons at Whole Foods - the noodles cook in six minutes. I froze the stock in two cup portions and when he wants soup for lunch, we toss a frozen chunk into a pot. Soon it's boiling and we add the noodles. Six minutes later, we're done! Plus I have stock for when I have time to cook more elaborate meals. Jonathan really really likes this - I'm so glad I started doing it before his tastebuds got used to that high salt load!

[jacksmomtobe]

I would recommend checking out Whole Foods if you have one nearby they have a lot of healthier options including the Bell & Evans chicken nuggets. The B&E chicken is antibiotic free and actually tastes good. I haven't really checked out Trader Joes but I think I've heard that they also have some good stuff. As a side note the Annie's does have a lot of sodium. I used to feed it to ds then I read about the sodium on this board and looked for myself. I was a bit shocked at the amount. After that I tried to only feed it in moderation..now however that he's a toddler he has decided he doesn't like mac n cheese. It's tough finding good stuff for the kiddies. I feel like once I find something he likes that is healthy I get in a rut for awhile variety wise.

Good Luck!