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When you're too busy to cook, there's nothing like the convenience of a frozen meal.

They're fast, simple to prepare and portable - easy to pack for the office or carry into the living room and eat while watching television.

And you can't beat a frozen meal if you're controlling calories. Heating up a one-serving entrée prevents you from going back for seconds.

But not all frozen meals are friendly to your arteries. Some serve up a hefty dose of artery-clogging saturated fat, and most are overflowing with sodium. You need to read nutrition labels to know what you're getting in your meal - and what you're missing.

The frozen meal made its first appearance in 1953 when Swanson introduced its frozen turkey TV dinner with mashed potatoes, green peas and gravy.

Since then, the frozen dinner has evolved. Today, supermarket freezer sections are stocked with meals that are low in fat, light on calories, organic and vegetarian, and some even offer generous portions to satisfy hearty appetites.

Frozen bowls - meals packaged in one dish - cater to people wanting to spice up their menu with ethnic meals. They offer everything from Italian-inspired pastas to Asian stir-fries to Mexican casseroles.

When choosing a frozen meal, convenience shouldn't outweigh nutrition. The following label-reading tips will help you decide which frozen meals are worth adding to your grocery cart.

Calories

Most frozen meals supply 250 to 350 calories, about the amount in a small turkey sandwich. That's fine if you're dieting, but it's not enough food if you're looking for a meal to fill you up. The small portion size of many frozen meals can leave you feeling hungry and searching the cupboards for snacks once you've "finished dinner."

A meal for active people should supply 400 to 500 calories. If your frozen meal is on the light side, boost calories by drinking a glass of low-fat milk or soy beverage and having fruit for dessert.

Saturated fat

Choose a meal with no more than three grams of saturated fat in each serving (this is the type of fat that raises LDL, or bad, cholesterol.) Check labels for serving size. Most frozen entrées provide only one serving, but some offer two.

Many frozen meals are low in total fat and saturated fat thanks to their small size and lean ingredients. But it's surprising how much cholesterol-raising fat some manufacturers can squeeze into such a small container. Cheesy, meaty and creamy meals can tip the scales when it comes to saturated fat.

Michelina's Lasagna with Meat Sauce packs eight grams of saturated fat into its 310 calories. Even worse: President's Choice Shepherd's Pie delivers 16 grams of saturated fat - more than half a day's worth - because of the addition of whipping cream in the mashed potato topping.

To put these numbers in perspective, your intake of "bad" fats (saturated and trans fats) should be limited to 10 per cent of daily calories. That means if you eat a 2,000-calorie diet, you shouldn't consume more than 20 grams of saturated and trans fats each day.

Sodium

Look for a frozen meal with no more than 200 milligrams of sodium for each 100 calories. That's pretty generous considering the upper recommended limit for sodium intake is 2,300 milligrams a day. Anyone with high blood pressure should keep their daily sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams.

Once you factor in the sodium limit, the number of healthy frozen meals drops considerably. Just because a meal is low in fat doesn't mean it's also light on salt. Michelina's Spicy Beef and Broccoli Advantage Bowl contains less than one gram of saturated fat for its 300 calories, but you'll also find 1,380 milligrams of sodium - more than in most fast-food burgers.

Some brands do better. Amy's Kitchen offers a Light in Sodium Brown Rice & Vegetables Bowl with only 270 milligrams of sodium in its 260-calorie serving.

Even the healthiest of frozen meals can have more salt than a home-cooked meal. If you're going to dine on a frozen entrée, keep your other meals low in sodium by avoiding processed foods and restaurant or fast foods.

Vegetables

A colourful picture on the box doesn't guarantee you're getting one serving (½ cup) of vegetables inside. Some meals provide no more than a tablespoon or two.

Compared with other frozen meals, frozen bowls tend do a better job at providing vegetables. Many contribute one - even two - servings to your meal.

It's not possible to open up the box and measure out the vegetables when selecting a frozen meal. Instead, look at the fibre content. Choose a meal with at least four grams of fibre, an indication there are more vegetables (or beans or whole grains).

If your favourite frozen meal doesn't measure up in the vegetable department, add your own. Enjoy your meal with a green salad, baby carrots or steamed fresh or frozen vegetables.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based

dietitian at the Medcan Clinic,

is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website

at lesliebeck.com.

Frozen 'bowls' with nutrition in mind

"Best bowls" contain no more than three grams of saturated fat and at least four grams of fibre for each serving. They also contain no more than 200 milligrams of sodium for each 100 calories. Honorable mentions have no more than 275 milligrams sodium for each 100 calories.

		Saturated
BEST BOWLS	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fibre (g)
Amy's Kitchen Light in Sodium Brown Rice & Vegetables Bowl	260	1	270	5
Amy's Kitchen Baked Ziti Bowl	390	2	590	5
Amy's Kitchen Brown Rice, Black-Eyed Peas & Veggies Bowl	290	1.5	580	8
No Name Sweet & Sour Chicken Bowl	320	1	490	6
Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Cafe Classic Mango Curry Chicken	310	1	550	4
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Amy's Kitchen Brown Rice & Vegetables Bowl	290	1	550	5
Amy's Kitchen Teriyaki Bowl	290	0.5	780	4
Michelina's Advantage Bowl Teriyaki Steak	270	0.5	670	4
Stouffer's Bistro Classics Grilled Chicken Caesar	370	2.5	890	4
Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Cafe Classic Creamy Chicken Alfredo	330	2.5	680	4
Swanson Hearty Bowls Chicken Pennine Alfredo	420	2.5	890	4

TRISH McALASTER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

SOURCE: THE MANUFACTURERS