Healthy Choice vs. Lean Cuisine: Which Brand Has the Best Frozen Meals?

Anyone who frequents the frozen entree aisle at their favorite grocery store knows that the pickins’ are far from slim. A vast array of frozen dinner brands are readily available at most grocery stores, with popular options including Stouffer’s, Hungry Man, Michelina’s, and Marie Callender’s. And, among these meals are two brands more geared towards those looking for a diet-conscious dinner option: Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine.

I’ve put in the leg work to try both brands separately — in both a Healthy Choice frozen meal ranking and a Lean Cuisine frozen meal ranking — and now I’m prepared to determine which health-conscious frozen meal brand is better. In determining which one is best, I’m considering a few important criteria. First, I broke down the differences between the two brands, including the types of meals they offer, nutritional stats, availability, and price. Next, I directly compared and contrasted a handful of similar or identical meals from each respective brand; spaghetti and meatballs and shrimp entrees are two examples of these direct comparisons. I also compared the brands’ meals in a broader scope, narrowing down which one I ultimately thought had tastier or more cohesive meals. Finally, I answer the question we’re all dying to know — which brand, Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine, offers the best frozen meals?

Healthy Choice is a frozen meal brand that’s been around for a long time. In fact, these meals have been available since 1989, gracing frozen food aisles with a vast variety of entrees, and even offering a non-frozen soup line. Products in Healthy Choice’s frozen entree repertoire include Café Steamers, Simply Steamers, Power Bowls, Max Bowls, Zero Bowls, and plated meals, meaning that there are dozens upon dozens of meals available. When I ranked Healthy Choice frozen meals, I tried to cover a broad scope of products, so I tried a few café steamers, a few power bowls, a few zero bowls, a few simply steamers, and a few plated meals.

As for what specific foods Healthy Choice offers, it’s a pretty wide spectrum, though I did find that many meals relied on the same ingredients, just used in different ways. For example, Healthy Choice has various pasta offerings, including spaghetti and meatballs and chicken Alfredo, two of which I tried. You’ll find lots of stir-fry-type meals in Healthy Choice’s repertoire, those that will often have some sort of protein (chicken, beef, or shrimp) along with rice, vegetables, and sauce. The brand’s zero bowls rely heavily on a meat-sauce-vegetable formula since they boast zero preservatives and no added sugar. The plated meals are meant to be more like a dinner you might make for yourself at home, featuring some sort of protein with two distinct sides, typically rice, potatoes, or some sort of vegetable.

Much like Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine meals are also available in large varieties and are geared towards those who want a meal that isn’t super calorie-dense. Lean Cuisine’s specific products vary significantly, though the brand’s approach hones in a little bit more on comfort classics, minus the calories. You’ll find plenty of frozen pasta meals in Lean Cuisine’s lineup, like Vermont white cheddar mac and cheese or five cheese rigatoni. Also, like Healthy Choice, many Lean Cuisine meals follow a certain formula, with many meals featuring a protein (often chicken) with sauce, rice or noodles, and a vegetable.

The brand also offers frozen sandwiches and frozen personal pizzas, something that sets it apart from Healthy Choice. Of the Lean Cuisine meals I sampled, I also found many of them to have more cohesion or to feel like a full-fledged, well-thought-out meal. For example, Lean Cuisine offers entrees like roasted turkey breast, which comes with turkey, stuffing, and spiced apples, and a chicken enchilada suiza, which has the enchilada, rice, and a creamy sauce. There are also Balance Bowls, which I personally found to be weaker options in Lean Cuisine’s repertoire; the two I sampled were lemon garlic shrimp stir-fry and marinara chicken and broccoli entrees, and felt sort of thrown together and lacking in cohesion compared to others.

Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine both offer low-calorie meals, but the exact breakdown in nutritional stats varies a little bit. Lean Cuisine’s meals are all 400 calories or fewer, whereas Healthy Choice’s Max Bowls (which are 40% larger than Healthy Choice Power Bowls) have the most calories, ranging from 430 to 460. Most Healthy Choice meals have far fewer calories than that, however. Power Bowls range from 170 to 340 calories, Zero Bowls range from 180 to 240 calories, Café Steamers range from 200 to 390 calories, Simply Steamers range from 180 to 300 calories, and plated meals range from 230 to 310 calories. A specific, higher-calorie Healthy Choice meal example is the sweet and sour chicken, which has 390 calories, 9 grams of fat, 12 grams of protein, and 63 grams of carbs. A specific lower-calorie meal is the verde chicken zero bowl, with 180 calories, 7 grams of fat, 18 grams of protein, and 10 grams of carbs.

According to Lean Cuisine’s website, its most calorie-dense meal is the personal pepperoni pizza, with 390 calories, 21 grams of protein, 10 grams of fat, and 53 grams of carbs. Its least calorie-dense meal is the herb-roasted chicken, with 180 calories, 18 grams of protein, 4.5 grams of fat, and 16 grams of carbs. All Lean Cuisine meals that I sampled fall somewhere in this calorie range — between 180 and 390 — and all meals had 10 grams of fat or less.

Both Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine frozen meals are incredibly popular and ubiquitous, so there’s a good chance that, regardless of where you grocery shop, you’ll find both brands in the frozen meal aisle. I purchased all meals from Meijer, which is a large grocery store chain with a very large selection of both brands. Other big chains that carry both brands include Walmart, Target, Mariano’s, Jewel, and Publix, though you can use Healthy Choice’s product locator and Lean Cuisine’s product locator to get a better idea of where exactly you can find the meals. And, naturally, the exact meals that you find at a given grocery store may vary. For the best selection, it’s a good idea to look for meals at big grocery stores that have large frozen food sections.

As for the price of the meals, this is something else that will vary depending on which stores you go to and where you live. At the Chicago suburb Meijer where I purchased the meals, most Healthy Choice ones were on sale for $3, down from either $3.19 or $3.69. Some meals were on sale for $3.50, and the two plated entree meals were on sale for $4, down from $4.29. Nearly all of the Lean Cuisine meals, purchased at the same store, were $3.75. A couple of LC meals were $3.15, and a couple were $3.49. So, ultimately, both Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine meals were in the same ballpark when it came to price, but many of Healthy Choice’s options were a bit cheaper, even before the sale price.

One meal that both Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine offer is a classic spaghetti and meatballs. Like nearly any frozen spaghetti meal, both brands kept things pretty simple, and I found this simplicity to work in both brands’ favor. In my respective frozen meal rankings, I ultimately gave Healthy Choice’s spaghetti and meatballs sixth place out of 20, and Lean Cuisine’s 10th place out of 16. These ranking placements might make it seem like Healthy Choice’s spaghetti and meatballs meal was better, but this isn’t necessarily the case. The only reason Lean Cuisine’s spaghetti and meatballs hadn’t ranked higher was simply because the brand had meals that were that much better, whereas I struggled to find Healthy Choice meals that were much better.

Something I appreciated about both meals was the fact that every ingredient worked well together, from the spaghetti itself to the sauce to the meatballs. I do think Lean Cuisine’s version had a slightly more successful sauce, one with just a bit more seasoning and flavor, but both were good overall. I did ultimately find both meals to be middle-ground options, and I noted in the respective slides that neither of them was exactly anything super special. If I had to pick one that I liked slightly more, it would probably be Lean Cuisine’s, but that’s just because the sauce was a little bit better.

Another pasta favorite, Healthy Choice satisfies those Alfredo lovers with classic chicken Alfredo, and Lean Cuisine with a very similar chicken fettuccine meal. Healthy Choice’s chicken Alfredo ranked 13 out of 20, whereas Lean Cuisine’s fettuccine ranked 11 out of 16.

So, neither of these meals really blew me away, and despite being such a simple comfort classic, I think both brands missed the mark a little bit. The biggest issue with Healthy Choice’s chicken Alfredo was that some of the chicken pieces were gummy. The sauce and noodles were okay, but it was hard to overlook that bizarre chicken.

As for Lean Cuisine’s chicken fettuccine, I didn’t find the chicken to be particularly offensive, but it also wasn’t amazing. Again, the sauce and noodles were fine, but I was hoping for something a little tastier, a little creamier, and a little more memorable. As for which is better — Healthy Choice’s or Lean Cuisine’s chicken Alfredo entrees — I’d say it’s a draw, but if I had to pick one, it’d be Lean Cuisine. Neither were extraordinarily awful, but they were both equally forgettable.

Shrimp is not typically a protein I seek out in frozen meals, though I gave it a go in both Healthy Choice’s Mediterranean-style shrimp bowl and Lean Cuisine’s lemon garlic shrimp stir-fry. It’s important to note that these aren’t identical meals, but they both feature shrimp with grains and veggies, so the similarities were apparent.

The shrimp entree came in dead last place in Lean Cuisine’s ranking — so it’s pretty safe to say that Healthy Choice wins in the shrimp round. (For context, I ranked the Healthy Choice shrimp entree 10th place out of 20.) I didn’t hate Lean Cuisine’s shrimp entree — I didn’t find any Lean Cuisine meals to be downright terrible — but it was super watery and bland. The brown rice also had a weird texture, making for a meal that didn’t have many redeeming qualities.

As for Healthy Choice’s shrimp entree, I found it to be quite forgettable, but it was certainly not the worst meal I’ve had. The shrimp were okay in the entree, albeit a little devoid of flavor. Ultimately, I do think Healthy Choice’s shrimp entree was better than Lean Cuisine’s, but I wasn’t super impressed by either of them.

Perhaps the tightest race of all direct comparisons is between Healthy Choice’s beef teriyaki and Lean Cuisine’s chicken teriyaki. Yes, different proteins were at play, but the dishes were similar otherwise, both featuring vegetables, a sweet-tangy teriyaki sauce, and respective starch. Healthy Choice’s beef teriyaki came in seventh place out of 20, and Lean Cuisine’s chicken teriyaki came in sixth out of 16 — so, like I said, pretty neck-and-neck when compared in their respective rankings.

Something that I found to be really successful in both entrees was the teriyaki sauce, which tasted good in both iterations, but Lean Cuisine’s was slightly better. Healthy Choice’s protein was better, however, with the tender beef strips outshining the chicken in LC’s meal. The Healthy Choice version came with rice, whereas the Lean Cuisine version came with noodles, and I think it’s a tie as to which of these worked better. The rice was kind of forgettable in the beef teriyaki, but I found the noodles to be a bit overbearing in the chicken teriyaki. So, overall, I’d say this one is nearly another draw, but Lean Cuisine wins by a slight edge. This edge is the LC teriyaki sauce, which had a better texture and a more nuanced flavor than the HC sauce.

Of the meals that I directly compared, Lean Cuisine ultimately edged out Healthy Choice, and I’d argue that this trend stays true when comparing the flavor of the brands’ meals in general. When I did the respective rankings for both meals, which were largely based on flavor, I somewhat struggled with determining Healthy Choice meals that I thought were truly delicious or particularly appealing. I had the opposite problem with Lean Cuisine, as I found so many of them to be really strong that even really tasty meals didn’t rank super high, because there were that many even better ones in the lineup.

So, when it comes to flavor alone and which meals simply taste the best, Lean Cuisine wins that battle. A common thing I noticed with Healthy Choice meals was that they were pretty bland, whereas I found most Lean Cuisine meals to be pretty flavorful overall. Obviously, I didn’t love the flavor of all the Lean Cuisine meals, like the shrimp entree, but that one was more of the exception than the rule. The quality of flavor was also more consistent throughout Lean Cuisine’s meals, so no matter what kind of entree you’re looking for or what type of cuisine, there’s a good chance that your Lean Cuisine selection will taste good regardless — Healthy Choice is way more of a toss-up.

Taking all factors into consideration — flavor, quality, cohesion, price, accessibility — there’s still one true winner: Lean Cuisine. It is important to note that Healthy Choice does have Lean Cuisine beat in terms of price, at least where I purchased them. Ultimately, however, the prices of both meals are so similar that I find the discrepancy to be negligible, especially when considering the better quality of the Lean Cuisine meals. Also, both brands have equally accessible meals and meals with very similar nutritional breakdowns, so regardless of whether you want something that has fewer than 200 calories or more than 350, both brands have meals to accommodate those needs.

If you read through my ranking of Healthy Choice meals, you’ll notice that I found many of them to lack cohesion. So many of the meals felt like a strange conglomeration of items that didn’t necessarily work together, like the Cajun-style chicken and sausage meal. I found the Lean Cuisine meals to feel much more curated, cohesive, and well-thought-out, making for a more enjoyable experience all around. 

Finally, the quality of ingredients was simply more apparent in the Lean Cuisine meals. While many Healthy Choice meals featured really simple meals of rice, chicken, and vegetables with a sauce, the sauce would be incredibly liquidy and watery. The Lean Cuisine meals really didn’t have this watery sauce issue, and even those meals that did have pretty simple ingredients — like the top-ranked orange chicken — felt fresh despite having been frozen, had flavorful, thick sauces, and boasted vibrant veggies that helped round out the meal, as opposed to feeling tacked on.

The first step in determining whether Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine has the better frozen meals was to sample a wide variety of each brand. So I did just that, first purchasing 20 Healthy Choice meals and ranking them from worst to best. Then I did the same for Lean Cuisine, purchasing 16 meals and ranking them, gathering a fair and broad idea of what both brands have to offer. 

When comparing the two brands against each other rather than against their own meals, I made sure to cover things that I didn’t necessarily cover in the rankings. These topics included nutritional facts, availability, and prices of the frozen meals. Then, I found it useful to pinpoint a handful of meals that overlap between the brands, drawing direct comparisons instead of exclusively relying on broad comparisons. Of course, the final decision in determining Lean Cuisine as the better brand did ultimately come down to factoring in every aspect of both brands — broad and direct comparisons — and basing the choice on quality and, of course, personal preference. Ultimately, if there’s one brand I’d keep stocked in my freezer based on quality alone, it would be Lean Cuisine, so even a slightly higher price feels worth it in the end.