DSB Review: LYFE Kitchen Healthy Frozen Meals

A few things about me:

• Unless it is pancakes, french toast or eggs, I generally don’t cook. And I rarely cook those things. I am lazy, I am impatient and I can’t have ingredients in front of me without just eating them all on the spot.
• I eat as healthfully as possible, despite the whole not cooking thing.
• Most of my product reviews are for things I’ve paid for. I only accept freebies from companies if it is a product I think I’d actually use and hopefully like. For example, the Plant Fusion protein powder review? I’m on my second two pound tub of it and I ordered the small packets as well this morning.

That brings me to this post. When the PR agency for LYFE Kitchen reached out to me about healthy frozen meals, I jumped on it. I’ve tried other brands that claim healthy and delicious in their frozen-ness, but other than one particularly delicious no-cheese pizza nothing stuck. Most of the meals I’ve tried have left a strange aftertaste or just tasted terrible. A popular vegan restaurant in NYC started offering frozen meals at Whole Foods and it was extremely disappointing.

From LYFE Kitchen’s press kit:

LYFE Kitchen was founded on a simple idea: people should love their food—how it tastes, what it does for their health, and how it supports a more sustainable planet.  Every LYFE Kitchen dish is free of artificial ingredients and trans fat, low in sodium (but still big on flavor) and complete with environmentally friendly packaging.  LYFE Kitchen meals are less than 500 calories and contain less than 500 mg of sodium in each entrée.   You prepare them in your microwave or oven in LYFE’s exclusive, patent-pending paper pouch – similar to the classic French en papillote technique – and when opened, LYFE Kitchen meals are perfectly plated.

In addition, LYFE meals all have amazing taste created with lots of herbs and spices, no butter or cream, and are always low in salt. They are all preservative free, affordable, sustainable, nutritionally dense food and the packaging recyclable and sustainable.

The folks behind LYFE  Kitchen are a dream team of passionate experts, including innovative chefs such as superstar Art Smith, Tal Ronnen (one of America’s leading vegetarian innovators) and James Beard Foundation member, John Mitchell, nutritionists, leading doctors such as Dr. Mark Hyman (one of the doctors credited with turning President Clinton’s health around) and healthy lifestyle advocates, from actress Jennifer Garner to football player Troy Polamalu.

This is basically my dream come true: meals that someone else cooked for me that are healthy and ready to eat. I’ve been in a serious rut, especially for lunch, lately too. I became so sick of sandwiches every day for years and years (I can’t eat salad because of my chronic GI illness) that I simply can’t eat them anymore. I can’t even buy sliced bread. Needless to say, it can be difficult to figure out a quick, easy, healthy meal for lunch.

While breakfast isn’t as challenging for me, there are times I’d like a change in my usual routine (I tend to eat the same things every day) and for dinner, I get sick of the same takeout options. While Andy’s cooking is delicious, he shouldn’t have to cook for me every single day after a long work day.

I might cook more if I wasn’t so exhausted at night and impatient to eat. But I am and I’m not going to change anytime soon. I know because I tried. I even bought a crock pot and my sister got me a vegetarian crock pot cookbook and I haven’t even used that.

If I have a child, I will cook then. Until then, this is how it is.

LYFE Kitchen sent me three meals to try:

(1) Farmer’s Market Frittata with Sweet Potato Hash & Garden Salsa
I was REALLY impressed. I kept making “mmmm” sounds while eating it and Andy commented that it smelled good. If you served it to me in a restaurant, I would have liked it just as much.

I tweeted:

(2) Steel Cut Oatmeal with Quinoa & Mixed Fruits
I loved the oatmeal and quinoa parts of it but found the fruit a little too sweet. However, that is definitely a personal preference. I eat some type of hot cereal almost every day and I only add almond butter, banana and cinnamon. Anyone who enjoys a fruitier or sweeter breakfast will probably really enjoy this one. And I would still eat it again anyway.

I ate it with a giant spoon.

(3) Chicken Chile Verde with Polenta and Black Beans
I forgot to tell them I am a vegetarian, so the final meal was a chicken dish. It worked out because now I can add another person’s take on LYFE Kitchen. Here’s what my husband Andy had to say:

I am not usually a fan of frozen chicken meals as the chicken tends to lose its taste in the microwave and dry out. But this was actually full of taste and quite delicious. The beans tasted good as well. If you need a quick dinner after a workout or on the go, this is something definitely worth trying.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that LYFE Kitchen exists and that I found out about it. I’m going to buy more meals this week. I’m particularly excited to try the Oat Bran & Ricotta Pancakes, Whole Grain Pilaf and Orange Carrot Ginger Soup.

LYFE Kitchen meals are available at supermarkets nationwide as well as Costco, Amazon and HSN, and in the NYC area via Fresh Direct, Gristede’s, Shoprite, Morton Williams and Gourmet Garage. Also, Mark Bittman wrote an article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine   about the new trend of healthy and tasty fast and prepared food that featured LYFE Kitchen.

If you’re interested in a truly healthy and delicious frozen meal, I absolutely recommend LYFE Kitchen. I’m excited to buy more of their meals and keep my freezer stocked. And I am SO happy a company finally managed to make a delicious, healthy, easy, convenient frozen meal.

Is anyone else as lazy as I am? Do you like any frozen meals? Would you try LYFE Kitchen?

I received three LYFE Kitchen to try at no cost. My review is honest and all opinions are my own. All food photos courtesy of the LYFE Kitchen website – I hope they don’t mind.