By Jennifer Russo

Let me begin by saying I do not advocate for eating frozen TV dinners on Thanksgiving. Seriously, if you can get a real meal somewhere and a freshly sliced piece of the bird with homemade gravy and stuffing ~ do it. However, if you do find yourself in a predicament where you need to visit the freezer aisle, I have done the homework for you.

My mission: find out which frozen turkey meal is the best of the best. I am pretty sure the girl behind the register at Price Chopper thought I was a little crazy when I purchased these all at once ~ who buys four brands of turkey frozen dinners? Well, me apparently. I will say that while conducting this experiment, I was shockingly surprised at the fact that not all brands are created equal. I expected everything to taste exactly the same; not the case at all, and there was actually a winner.

Because there is no way I could ever eat four frozen dinners, I shared them and got some weigh-in from my boyfriend. As men and women don’t necessarily eat the same way, I thought it would be great to get a guy’s perspective. So you will see my rating (out of 10, 10 being the best) and the “guy rating.”

Weight Watchers Smart Ones ~ Slow Roasted Turkey Breast with Classic Gravy and Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes

Calories: 200, Fat: 7g, Carbs: 18g, Sodium: 710mg.

Out of the four dinners I tried, I liked this one the least. The potatoes were very thin, watery and flavorless despite their claim of garlic. The turkey wasn’t horrible, and the texture was alright, but I found the look unappetizing. Though the gravy had some flavor, it was way too thin and clearly “diet gravy.” Pass on this one.

My rating: 1
Guy rating: 2

Boston Market Turkey Breast Medallions with Homestyle Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Carrots and Green Beans

Calories: 290, Fat: 9g, Carbs: 30g, Sodium: 1050 mg

Applause goes to this meal for offering a non-starch side. The veggies were good; nothing special, but good. The potatoes were kind of thin for my taste, but had pretty good flavor, and if you put a pat of butter and some pepper on it, it would be better. Though the gravy was a little thin, it was tasty. Turkey was OK, aside from having a couple fatty pieces. All in all, just OK.

My rating: 5
Guy rating: 7

Hungry Man ~ Roasted Carved White Meat Turkey with Homestyle Gravy, Seasoned Stuffing, Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables. Includes Apple Cranberry Dessert.

Calories: 430, Fat: 11g, Carbs: 62g, Sodium: 1340 mg (whoa!)

The picture on the box looks delicious; I thought this would be the best one based on that. Not only did it look good, it was the only one with dessert. This meal had actual sliced turkey. Unfortunately, it looked and tasted like luncheon meat. The perfect half-circle-shaped slices were thin and processed. The potatoes were kind of pasty in texture, but had decent flavor. Tasted with the gravy, they worked. The veggies were seasoned well and pretty good. I am on the fence about the stuffing. Because it was placed under the turkey and gravy, it sops it all up to the point where it just becomes part of the gravy and not its own side. I will say that though there was hardly any of it, it was easily the tastiest stuffing of all the dinners. The dessert: pie filling.

My rating: 7
Guy rating: 6

Stouffer’s Roast Turkey Tenderloins Over Stuffing in a Homestyle Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Calories: 270, Fat: 9g, Carbs: 30g, Sodium: 910 mg

I was surprised that out of all four, this ranked at the top. It didn’t have a veggie or a dessert, but it simply tasted better than the others. The stuffing was good and had good-sized pieces of celery throughout, which I really liked. Stouffer’s really made an effort to get this right. It wasn’t too mushy or too dry. The potatoes had some sour cream mixed in, which boosted them higher than the rest in taste, and their texture was perfect. They tasted like potatoes, go figure. The turkey was pretty good; texture was the way poultry should be, and the gravy tasted good, too. I would actually eat this again ~ not on Thanksgiving, but some other time when I don’t feel like cooking, sure.

My rating: 8
Guy rating: 8