Get the lowdown on low-fat pizzas
Pizza is a big-time favorite of the Lunch Ladies. In fact, it was the first review we did, and since then, we’ve tried every new low-fat pizza to hit the market: Lean Cuisine’s Crispy Crust, Michelina’s Lean Gourmet and even Pizza Hut’s Fit N’ Delicious. Now it’s time for another round because Lean Cuisine has come out with Deep Dish varieties, and there are a couple of others we wanted to try.
Lean Cuisine
Let us give you a little history about the Lunch Ladies and Lean Cuisine Pizzas. We hated the original French bread pizzas and thought they smelled like vomit. Then LC came out with the Crispy Crust pizzas – and we love, love, loved them. Now the brand has new Deep Dish pies. Would we love them, too? We decided to find out, as well as give the French bread pizza another taste – they must have improved it, too, right?
Three Meat Deep Dish
Price: $2.99
Portion size: 6 3/8 oz.
Looks/smell: The tiny toppings (pepperoni, Italian sausage and ground beef) reminded us of those on Totino’s Party Pizzas, which Gretchen loves. Otherwise, it looked like a real pizza and a hearty portion. The sausage gave it a spicy aroma.
Texture/taste: The deep-dish crust wasn’t too chewy like Lean Cuisine’s French Bread Pizzas (see below). The cheeses and sauce were perfect. Are they sure this is healthy?
Gretchen: Although it’s a little higher in fat than other low-fat frozen brands, this is still much better for my pizza cravings than ordering out.
Sunni: I’m still not a huge fan of whatever product these companies use to simulate sausage; it’s always sort of chewy. But overall, this pizza was very good. Then again, I never really taste these pizzas anyway, ‘cause I end up dipping them in ranch dressing.
Score: 5 lunch bags (out of 5)
Web site: www.leancuisine.com
Per serving: Cal 350; Fat 9 g; Fiber 4 g; Carb 48 g; Protein 21 g; Weight Watcher Winning Points 7
Spinach and Mushroom Deep Dish
Price: $2.99
Portion size: 6 1/8 oz.
Looks/smell: It looked like a quiche and smelled strongly of spinach.
Texture/taste: The mushrooms were a bit mushy – as if they had come out of a can. Instead of regular pizza sauce, it had alfredo sauce.
Gretchen: It wasn’t pizza-y enough for me.
Sunni: It tasted a little weird, but it wasn’t exactly bad. More creamy than I prefer my pizzas to be.
Score: 3 lunch bags
Web site: www.leancuisine.com
Per serving: Cal 310; Fat 7 g; Fiber 4 g; Carb 46 g; Protein 17 g; Weight Watcher Winning Points 6
Pepperoni French Bread
Price: $2.99
Portion size: 5 1/4 oz.
Looks/smell: At first sniff, we thought the pukey odor was gone, but then a coworker walked into the break room and made a face.
Texture/taste: The crust was tough and chewy. The sauce was still questionable, and there were not enough toppings.
Gretchen: Too much bread and not enough of the good stuff: toppings!
Sunni: I can’t believe that we not only gave this one a second chance, but we actually believed it might have improved. Boy, have our standards lowered.
Score: 1 lunch bag
Web site: www.leancuisine.com
Per serving: Cal 290; Fat 8 g; Fiber 3 g; Carb 42 g; Protein 15 g; Weight Watcher Winning Points 6
Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Five Cheese
Price: $2.19
Portion size: 5 oz.
Looks/smell: It was smaller in size than the others, but there were gobs of aromatic cheeses (mozzarella, cheddar, romano, asiago and parmesan).
Texture/taste: This crust was doughy, not crispy like the Michelina’s Pepperoni Pizza we tried a while back. Perhaps our office microwave is losing power. The cheeses tasted as good as they looked and smelled.
Gretchen: Mmm, I love cheese. And after I put some of the Lean Cuisine pepperonis on this one, it was to die for.
Sunni: I think mixing and matching the toppings from the pizzas is cheating, but whatever. I liked this one as is. The cheese is fabulous!
Score: 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.michelinas.com
Per serving: Cal 290; Fat 8 g; Fiber 2 g; Carb 40 g; Protein 14 g; Weight Watcher Winning Points 6
Weight Watchers Smart Ones Four Cheese
Price: $3.49
Portion size: 6.56 oz.
Looks/smell: At first glance, we could tell this one was inferior to Michelina’s. It looked uncooked, and the sauce was in little balls. Plus, it only had four cheeses, and one of those was ricotta. Ick.
Texture/taste: Despite its ball-shaped appearance, the sauce was spicy and flavorful. The rest had not much flavor at all.
Gretchen: It had the most points of all of these. No thank you.
Sunni: Just plain weird. And sort of dough-y.
Score: 2 lunch bags
Web site: www.eatyourbest.com
Per serving: Cal 400; Fat 7 g; Fiber 3 g; Carb 65 g; Protein 20 g; Weight Watcher Winning Points 8