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THE TOP 17 DIET MEALS COMPARED WITH THE CAMBRIDGE
DIET!
"Perfect nutritional meals to use with Atkins,
South Beach & The Zone Diet"
Cambridge has been proven Safe
For Fasting for more than 24 years! |
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 Ratings
based on overall
categories, in order of overall quality. |
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Product |
Per
serving |
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Dieting Alternatives,
Information & Ratings |
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CAMBRIDGE
Original 330 Formula Shakes |
16.0 |
$1.25 |
110 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
500 |
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Available in many
delicious flavors to choose from in Liquid
Diet/Shakes.
VERY GOOD
Flavorful
Diet Meal Replacement
Works great for safe diet fasting & very low
in carbs
Three Servings a day
guarantees you .........
100% of the U.S. RDA 's for protein, vitamins
and minerals
100% of minerals, trace elements and
electrolytes
3 meals a day guarantees you
Recommended
by the Nation Academy of
Sciences
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CAMBRIDGE
Food For Life Formula Meal Replacement Nutrition Shakes |
16.0 |
$1.50 |
140 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
500 |
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Cambridge Meal Replacement Nutrition Bars,
Shakes, & Soups |
16.0 |
$1.50 |
140 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
500 |
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Available in many
delicious flavors to choose from in Bars, Liquid
Diet/Shakes & Soups.
VERY
GOOD
Flavorful Diet
Meal Replacement & works great for safe diet
fasting
Works great for safe diet fasting & very low
in carbs
Three Servings a day
guarantees you .........
100% of the U.S. RDA 's for protein, vitamins
and minerals
100% of minerals, trace elements and
electrolytes
Recommended
by the Nation Academy of
Sciences
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CHICKEN TERIYAKI
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VERY GOOD
Flavorful
chicken, rice, and vegetables in a slightly hot
sweet-and-sour sauce. |
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Weight Watchers
Smart Ones Bistro
Selections Bowl Teriyaki Chicken & Vegetable
Bowl. |
10.5 |
$3.50 |
280 |
3 |
1 |
48 |
3 |
700 |
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GOOD
Lean Cuisine
has flavorful chicken; Healthy Choice, soft,
bland chicken. |
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Lean Cuisine
Cafe Classics Asian
Style Cuisine Chicken Teriyaki
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11.5 |
$3.70 |
290 |
2.5 |
1 |
52 |
3 |
860 |
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Healthy Choice
Chicken Teriyaki
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11.0 |
$3.50 |
270 |
6 |
2 |
37 |
6 |
600 |
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ROASTED CHICKEN
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GOOD
Lean Cuisine has
tender, moist chicken; the others, spongy, bland
chicken. All have flavorful sauces.
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Lean Cuisine
Cafe Classics Herb
Roasted Chicken |
8.0 |
$3.20 |
180 |
3.5 |
1 |
21 |
3 |
610 |
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Healthy Choice
Roasted Chicken
Breast |
11.0 |
$4.00 |
280 |
8 |
3 |
32 |
7 |
600 |
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Weight Watchers
Smart Ones Bistro
Selections Roasted Chicken with Sour Cream &
Chive Mashed Potatoes. |
9.5 |
$3.30 |
190 |
3.5 |
1 |
23 |
3 |
790 |
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BEEF/POT ROAST
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GOOD
Healthy
Choice has moist, very tender meat. All have
onion- and garlic-seasoned beef-broth-based
gravy. Others have less-tender meat and bland
vegetables, or potatoes that need salt.
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Healthy Choice
Beef Pot Roast
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11.0 |
$3.80 |
320 |
9 |
3 |
39 |
6 |
550 |
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Weight Watchers
Smart Ones Bistro
Selections Roast Beef with Gravy
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9.0 |
$3.70 |
220 |
7 |
2.5 |
19 |
3 |
830 |
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Lean Cuisine
Cafe Classics Beef Pot
Roast |
9.0 |
$3.50 |
190 |
6 |
2 |
19 |
3 |
690 |
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FETTUCCINE ALFREDO
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GOOD
Slightly
soft pasta, slight grain flavor; top three are
about equally good, with higher-quality
ingredients. |
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Lean Cuisine
Everyday Favorites
Fettuccini Alfredo |
9.25 |
$2.50 |
280 |
7 |
3.5 |
40 |
2 |
670 |
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Healthy Choice
Familiar Favorites Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
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8.5 |
$3.40 |
290 |
7 |
2.5 |
32 |
3 |
570 |
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Weight Watchers
Smart Ones
Fettucini Alfredo |
9.25 |
$2.60 |
270 |
6 |
3.5 |
39 |
3 |
650 |
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Slim-Fast
Fettuccine Alfredo Pasta
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2.3
(dry) |
$1.40 |
240 |
6 |
3 |
41 |
5 |
890 |
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FAIR
Pasta
tastes a little like cardboard or has little
flavor; sauce has no hint of freshness.
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Diet Center
Fettucini Alfredo
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2.1
(dry) |
$4.17 |
220 |
5 |
3 |
33 |
1 |
900 |
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Atkins
Quick Quisine Pasta
Sides - Fettuccine Alfredo |
2.4
(dry) |
$2.47 |
320 |
15 |
8 |
18 |
9 |
650 |
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Almost all the frozen meals tasted good. The standout was the very good Weight
Watchers Smart Ones chicken teriyaki, a flavorful blend of chicken, rice, and
vegetables in a fruity, slightly hot, sweet-and-sour sauce.
Steer clear of the dry products--the pastas from Slim-Fast, Diet Center, and
Atkins--which tend to be inferior overall.
All the meals have 320 calories or fewer and are fairly low in fat. The number
of carbs varies, so check the Ratings if you're counting. Otherwise, choose the
dinner you feel like eating or the one that's least expensive in your store.
Many of the meals come with side dishes or extra ingredients in the main dish
(beef and roasted chicken come with potatoes and sometimes veggies; some
fettuccines have chicken or broccoli; teriyaki chicken has vegetables and rice).
If a meal doesn't fill you up, add vegetables, a salad with low-fat dressing, or
fruit.
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Product
Ratings are based on flavor and texture quality as judged by trained
panelists in blind taste tests. To the FDA, a “meal” weighs 10 ounces or
more, but we use the term to describe all the products, whatever their
weight. All are frozen unless otherwise noted. All frozen products:
Come in a single-serving package. All dry products: Come in a
multiple-serving package. Most of the meals are available in
supermarkets. The Diet Center Fettucini Alfredo is not, but may be
available at some Diet Center locations and is sold online, which is how
we bought it.
Per serving
Weight per serving and nutrition figures are from labels.
Some people count net carbs, which, for these meals, equal total carbs
minus fiber. Recommended daily values are roughly 2,000 calories per day
and no more than 65 grams of total fat, 20 grams of saturated fat, and
2,400 milligrams of sodium.
Cost
Cost per serving is based on approximate retail price per package.
Atkins includes the cost and nutrition of half-and-half, required for
preparation. For online products, price does not include shipping. |
How Does Cambridge Compare
to other "diet meals" and "regular meals"
You can be pretty sure that a frozen meal from
Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, or Weight Watchers
Smart Ones will be relatively low in calories
and fat. Some regular frozen meals may offer
comparable counts, but you'll need to read the
nutrition facts on the packaging to find out.
Below is a look at how four non-diet frozen
meals compare with a diet meal in the same
category.
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"Diet" frozen meal |
"Liquid" meal
replacement |
"Regular" frozen meal |
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Product |
Weight
(oz.) |
Calories |
Fat
(g) |
Sat.fat
(g) |
Total
carbs (g) |
Fiber
(g) |
Sodium
(mg) |
Comments
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Cambridge
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Cambridge
"Food for Life"
Chicken Soup
Meal Replacement |
16 |
140 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
500 |
The Cambridge meals,
have 1/2 the (calories & sodium)
1/4 the
Total
carbs (g) of
Uncle Ben's. |
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Cambridge
"Original 330"
Chocolate Shake
Meal Replacement |
16 |
110 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
500 |
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Chicken
teriyaki |
Uncle Ben’s
Rice Bowl Teriyaki Chicken |
12 |
380 |
3.5 |
0.5 |
62 |
3 |
1,470 |
The regular dinner,
Uncle Ben’s, has more calories and double the
sodium of Weight Watchers Smart Ones.
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Weight Watchers
Smart Ones Bistro
Selections Bowl |
10.5 |
280 |
3 |
1 |
48 |
3 |
700 |
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Herb-roasted chicken
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Marie Callender's
Complete Dinner |
14 |
530 |
35 |
12 |
20 |
6 |
1,270 |
Callender's version is
bigger, but not twice as big. Yet it has about 3
times the calories, 10 times the fat, and twice
the sodium of Lean Cuisine. |
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Lean Cuisine
Cafe Classics |
8 |
180 |
3.5 |
1 |
21 |
3 |
610 |
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Beef pot roast
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Stouffer's
Homestyle Entrées
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9 |
250 |
9 |
2.5 |
28 |
2 |
930 |
Regular Stouffer's has
more sodium, less fiber, and fewer calories than
Healthy Choice. |
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Healthy Choice
|
11 |
320 |
9 |
3 |
39 |
6 |
550 |
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Chicken fettuccine Alfredo
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Marie Callender's
One-Dish Classics |
13 |
630 |
37 |
15 |
43 |
6 |
900 |
Marie Callender's serves
up a bigger dish of pasta than the diet dinner,
with twice the calories and five times the fat.
It also has broccoli. |
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Healthy Choice
Familiar
Favorites |
8.5 |
290 |
7 |
2.5 |
32 |
3 |
570 |
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Manufacturer says product has been reformulated slightly
since our testing, but change
