The other day, I received an email from someone who said they had just spent a lot of time trying to locate Nutrisystem products in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. She had seen the lean cooking section, the weight watchers section, and the “smart” picks, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn’t find what she was looking for. She asked, “Am I wrong in thinking that Nutrisystem sells frozen meals? If they do, where can I buy them?” I will answer this question in the next article.
The company does offer a line of frozen foods, it’s called Nutrisystem Select:Many of the foods on this diet are prepackaged but not frozen. However, the company has a new line of frozen meals. These meals are touted as “restaurant quality” and taste decent and are quite convenient. However, these meals are not sold in grocery stores. Like all diet plan products, you must also order this option online. But, this is not as bad as it seems. They usually have the food for you in just a few days, and sometimes offer free shipping if you can find the right coupon.
Cost and options in Nutrisystem Select: This plan is slightly more expensive than the company’s regular plan that does not include frozen food. For example, the monthly cost of the basic regular program is $299. For the Select program, you’ll pay around $369 instead. However, both plans often offer coupons that will lower this price. And many people feel the extra cost is worth it because many find the food tastes a little better.
They also give you many options with this plan. Some of the examples of breakfast offerings are French toast, egg sandwich, vegetable frittata strata, and pancakes. (You are also allowed to have some of the regular options, like oatmeal, bagels, scones, cereal, etc.)
For lunch and dinner, just a few examples are chicken and shrimp Alfredo, ravioli, pizza margarita, chicken fajitas, steak and melted cheese, ham and cheese panini, Asian steak, and steak with portabella mushrooms.
Desserts include Apple Peach Crisp, Fudge Sundae, Ice Cream Sandwich, Chocolate Bar and Blueberry Parfait to name a few. Whether you think these frozen entrees are worth the extra money is going to be an individual choice. They’re quite convenient, requiring only reheating, or in the case of ice cream, just removing the wrapper.
I am sometimes asked what is the difference between going with the Nutrisystem frozen foods or just buying some of the frozen foods in the grocery store aisle, like the lean kitchen. In fact, there is a noticeable difference in nutrition and carbohydrate/protein content. The results and success of the Nutrisystem are based on your body entering a metabolic state called ketosis. To get there, you need to consume higher amounts of protein and lower amounts of carbohydrates. If you look at the carb content in frozen foods, such as lean cuisine, you’ll see that the protein content is often not high enough to get you into ketosis. Also, they tend to be much higher in salt and carbohydrates.
So sure, you may be eating a low number of calories, but that’s not all you need to do (at least for most people) to get the results you want. The protein, carbohydrate, and fiber content must be satisfactory to enter ketosis, and most grocery store offerings simply don’t fit the bill.