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Texas Woman Faces Frog in Frozen Beans

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:30:26 -0700

What's the deal with frozen green beans? Last Fall, a New Zealander discovered a shrunken mouse's head in hers, and, proving we're just as prone to the situation stateside, a Texas woman reportedly opened a bag to find a frog's face staring back at her.

Chasity Erbaugh from Tyler, TX, went to stir butter into her green beans and encountered the whole front end of a frog, spinal cord attached, with its tongue hanging out. Horrified, she notified county health inspectors, who got in touch with the Wal-Mart where she purchased the beans to have the rest of the lot pulled from shelves. Although the county health department filed a complaint with the FDA, it also urged consumers to look closely at their food before eating it. But Erbaugh has lost her confidence with frozen foods. Moving forward, she vows to only buy fresh vegetables, even if the measure is at her expense. "Do you know how much my grocery bill is fixing to go up?" she said.

After hearing about a shopper who - almost literally - got a frog in her throat, are you less likely to buy frozen fruits and vegetables? Do you agree with the health department, which insinuated that the responsibility lies with each diner to ensure he is eating safe food? Have you ever found something that's less than kosher in your frozen produce?

What Do You Know About Frozen Foods?

YumSugar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:50:08 -0800

Last month, I asked what you could tell me about canned foods and since today happens to be National Frozen Foods Day, I thought I'd find out what you know about frozen foods. Although much of the food industry's focus lately has been on farm-fresh produce, it's important to to give flash-frozen products some credit - after all, they help millions of Americans get food on the dinner table each day.

Will you freeze in your tracks when I quiz you on your knowledge of frozen products? There's only one way to find out.

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Woman Finds Mouse Head in Frozen Green Beans

YumSugar — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:00:13 -0700

How's this for a Halloween fright? A woman in Auckland, New Zealand, was opening a package of Heinz-Watties "choice cut" frozen green beans when she came across a strange-looking foreign object. The unidentified frozen object in question was a shrunken mouse's head.

"I thought it was a little husk or something so I took it out of the microwave and pulled it out. It had eyes looking back at me," said Jacquie Lewis, the surprised recipient. If she hadn't stopped to take a closer look at the one-centimeter-wide object, she could have eaten it. She described the experience as "incredibly nauseating. I thought, 'If this is your head, where exactly is the rest of you?'"

Heinz-Watties explained that wildlife can get into its food products from time to time, but the thought of this happening to someone still makes me shudder. Have you ever found something in your store-bought products that shouldn't have been there?

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Healthiest Supermarket Foods: Dairy Aisle

FitSugar — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:00:00 -0700

Women's Health has read all those confusing food labels for you and compiled a list of the 100 Best Supermarket Foods. Next time you're shopping in the dairy aisle be sure to put the following items in your grocery cart.

Curious about other foods? Then also check out healthy carbs and healthy Frozen Foods.

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Healthiest Supermarket Foods: Frozen Foods

FitSugar — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:30:00 -0700

Women's Health has read all those confusing food labels for you and compiled a list of the 100 Best Supermarket Foods. If you're looking to pick up some quick-to-make frozen foods, be sure to put the following items in your grocery cart next time you go shopping.

Curious about healthy carbs? Then also check out this list of healthy breads, pasta, and rice.

Source

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What's Your Advice For a Healthy Frozen Meal?

FitSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:30:00 -0700

Sometimes I get a question that I know you guys will be able to answer better than if I were to attempt it myself. So help fellow user mandy2lin out by giving her your expert advice.

"Being a college student, I practically live on frozen meals. I was just wondering which healthy entrées are the most delicious. I just recently discovered South Beach Living Pizzas. What other frozen meals should I try?"

I've found that I enjoy frozen meals from Amy's Kitchen and Kashi, especially the Lemongrass Coconut Chicken. You may also want to check out my advice on how to pick a healthy frozen meal. I know you guys have your own go-to tasty and healthy frozen foods so share them in the comments section below. You may even find a few items to add to your grocery list this week.

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How To Pick a Healthy Frozen Meal

FitSugar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:30:00 -0700

In a perfect world you can do all you want and need to do as well as make yourself a lovely dinner. Unfortunately, the world just doesn't really work like that. When push comes to shove on those tightly scheduled days, a frozen dinner doesn't necessarily have to be an unhealthy option. You just need to know what you are looking for. Here are a few guidelines to following when shopping for a frozen meal.

Fat: Look for a fat to calorie ratio that is three grams to 100 calories. If the meal is 500 calories, you want there to be only 15 grams of fat.

Saturated Fat: Keep the ratio of saturated fat to calories per serving to be one gram saturated fat to 100 calories. So that same 500 calorie meal should have only 5 grams saturated fat.

Trans Fat: Steer clear of trans fat. If you see the words "hydrogenated oil" on the ingredients list, put the package down and move on!

Fiber: You want a frozen entrée to have at least three grams of fiber. Fiber helps keep you feeling full.

Sodium: You want no more than 200 milligrams of sodium for every 100 calories. A 500 calorie dish should have no more than 1000 milligrams sodium. Remember, the recommended upper limit of sodium intake per day is 2,300 milligrams.

A couple of frozen food ideas for you: Bean and Rice Burrito from Amy's Kitchen and Kashi Lemongrass Coconut Chicken.

All this being said, you still should supplement your frozen meal with some fresh fruits and veggies just to ensure you're getting all the nutrients you need per meal.

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Healthy Freezer Meals Evaluated

FitSugar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:15:00 -0800

We all have those times when we just want to pop something in the oven, or microwave and have it come out ready, healthy, and tasty. A simple goal for the girl standing in the freezer aisle at the grocery store pondering hundreds of frozen foods, right? Wrong. Often times we get these healthy frozen meals home and heated up only to find they lack one key ingredient: taste. Lucky for us the good folks over at Epicurious have done the dirty work and evaluated healthy frozen meals to find the best of the best.

Here's their take:

The Winner: It's not just for cereal. . . Kashi, a newcomer to the frozen-dinner scene, was our favorite of the bunch. We really liked its Lemongrass Coconut Chicken, a colorful, well-balanced meal that combines a chewy, nutty whole-grain pilaf, chunks of chicken, carrots, and sugar snap peas with a sauce that had a lemongrass kick. Though Kashi's frozen dinners aren't marketed as diet meals, this one comes in a fairly large portion (10 ounces) for only 300 calories, which is comparable to a similarly sized diet meal, plus it has fiber (7 grams) to fill you up. We also liked Kashi's Chicken Pasta Pomodoro, which has toothsome multigrain pasta, veggies, and a well-spiced, not overly sweet tomato sauce.

There's more so read more.

Runners-Up: If you're looking for the comfort of pasta with an Alfredo-style sauce, we recommend Lean Cuisine's Chicken Fettuccini Dinnertime Selects, a fairly big portion of pasta with a creamy sauce and fresh-tasting broccoli, along with a side dish of caramel apples for dessert (12 ounces, 360 calories). Also good was the cumbersomely named Weight Watchers Smart Ones Bistro Selections Chicken Fettucini [sic], which had the cheesiest-tasting sauce but no veggies (10 ounces, 340 calories).

I always loved Kashi myself, so I'm glad I'm not the only one supporting such a great brand. If you have a healthy frozen meal that you're particularly fond of, share it with us in the comments section below.

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More From Amy's Kitchen: Pesto Pizza

FitSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0800

Foods made by Amy's Kitchen are perfect in a pinch because they take less than 10 minutes to cook and are made with all-natural, organic ingredients. Plus the veggies are full of flavor and are never overcooked. The other night, I needed a quick meal for the whole family, so I picked up this Pesto Pizza.

Want to know how it was? Then read more.

I was loving this Pesto Pizza because it had a crispy crust with a chewy center, and instead of tomato sauce, there was a delicious pesto sauce spread on the crust. It wasn't too overwhelming, and complemented the veggies well. I'm a fan of broccoli on my pizza, and I was pleasantly surprised that the pieces on this pizza tasted fresh and had a firm consistency (cooked broccoli can be oh so gross). The juicy tomatoes added a little bit of sweetness, and the overall taste was really, really good. I'd definitely buy this pizza again.

On the label, the nutritional info was for one third of the pizza, but half the pizza is a much more reasonable serving size, so I included them both.

Serving Size	1/3 pizza	1/2 pizza
Calories	310	465
Total Fat	12g	18g
Saturated Fat	3.5g	5.3g
Cholesterol	10mg	15mg
Sodium	480mg	720mg
Carbs	39g	58.5g
Fiber	2g	3g
Sugar	3g	4.5g
Protein	12g	18g

The sodium content seems a tad high, but it's not too bad considering that the recommended daily amount should be around 2,300 mg a day. I definitely wouldn't eat this pizza every day, but since it's made with wholesome ingredients, I'd feel good about picking this up every once in awhile. I'm excited to try the other flavors, too.

Lean Cuisine Flat Bread Melts

FitSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:00:00 -0800

I am not one for processed food, let me state that up front. In a recent pinch for lunch the other day I tried a Lean Cuisine Flat Bread. I tried the chicken pesto melt because even in a pinch I have a weakness for pesto. The flat bread cooks in less than three minutes, but needs to rest, much like a steak, for 60 seconds. It tasted good though not great, but only kept me full for about two hours. There was a generous portion of chicken and I had a sweet sun dried tomato in almost every bite. The problem with many of these quick food solutions is you need other food to make them a sustaining meal, but when you are on the go chances are high you don't just happen to have a salad or some steamed broccoli stashed in your back pocket.

To see nutritional information and what the flat bread truly looks like, just read more

The flat bread looks very much like the image on the box, you can see there are a lot of red peppers and sun dried tomatoes.

Calories	Fat (g)	Protein (g)	Cholesterol (mg)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)	Sugar (g)
330	8	22	20	630	5	6

My main problem with this meal is the amount of sodium, since it contains 25% of the recommended daily intake of sodium (2,300mg is the upper limit of healthy per day). Plus why not use whole wheat in the crust and make the bread part healthy and more than just a vehicle for toppings? I do think it is great that Lean Cuisine gets credit for not using trans fat in this one.