Reevaluating Stouffer’s Entrees: A Keto Perspective
When my husband and I were still working, Stouffer’s entrees were our go to dinner on most weeknights. We loved the convenience. We were on different work schedules, and I was too tired to cook after long hours at work.
When I had to go gluten free a few years back, we established that Monday’s would be a day where my husband and I could each fend for ourselves. It gave him a break from eating gluten-free food, and it gave me a break from cooking a large meal. I have since reintroduced gluten into my diet, but we have kept that Monday night habit. We each eat what we want on those nights. For a long time, I stuck to Stouffer’s entrees. This was, of course, before I started keto.
A few months ago, I broke my lower denture. While I was waiting for a new one, I had to eat soft foods. Even though I had already started a keto diet, I could not eat much in the way of keto. I relied on Stouffer’s again for two weeks, along with other higher carb foods.
Every once in awhile I get a Stouffer’s craving. This past Monday, I had a Stouffer’s spaghetti and meat sauce dinner. I’m sure you all know that the carb count was through the roof:
Yes, it has 50 grams of net carbs. I did budget for it, but I was still over twice my daily allowance of 50 net carbs when the day was over. The thing that annoyed me more than that is as I ate it, I realized that it just didn’t taste all that good. It was bland, even with all of that sodium. It was also mostly spaghetti, and very little in the way of sauce.
Eating it made me realize that I need to make better choices. Sure, it’s convenient, but it sure isn’t worth the carbs. A recent cheat day at Cheddar’s was absolutely worth the high carb count. The food was amazing. I can’t say the same for my spaghetti. I make much better homemade meat sauce for far less carbs. I eat carba nada pasta, which is much lower in carbs. I also eat zucchini noodles and butternut squash noodles.
It’s funny how your taste changes when you’re on keto. I am losing my taste for highly processed food (okay, I still eat keto treats). I’m talking more about dinner food here. I find that frozen low carb entrees even leave a lot to be desired. They just don’t taste good. I love convenience foods; dirty keto is built on them. But there are some that should be left by the wayside, and this is one of them.
Writer, blogger and 60 something housewife who is exploring the keto diet. Follow me on my journey of discovery. View all posts by Janice Schroeder
Originally published at https://fromcarbstoketo.com on June 19, 2024.
