Did you check "copycat" recipes for Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choices? That's where I would start.

I'd also suggest starting with real homemade broth over boxed/canned versions. You can do a reduction for more intense flavor. Make a quick pan sauce with a few cubes of broth (I freeze bone broth in ice cube trays and store them in the freezer), herbs/spices/seasonings, and after it's reduced in the pan add a dab of butter at the end to thicken it. Learn how to make some basic/classic sauces that would translate to your favorite frozen meals.

thank you.

I didn't check the copycat things because most of them turn me off. I rarely buy them. Just want to make my own with things that please me. Olives, diced tomatoes, Artichokes, onions, garlic, asparagus/broccoli, spinach. So I should just boil chicken broth down and add butter? Wow, how diet friendly is that? Butter is not exactly fat or diet friendly, but I love it. Just trying to find a tasty work around.

If you put cartilage, and even chicken feet, in your broth, the collagen, which is good for you, and which thickens it naturally will come out. You can also thicken a sauce just by reducing out the water. Just let it steam away. For a shortcut use dehydrated vegetables (you can buy them that have no additional ingredients, or make your own), which therefore don't add water. Or you can oven roast your chicken bits with the vegetables in a shallow pan, like a sheet pan, without any water, and the water released by the veg becomes the broth.

Another shortcut which has minimal flavor but affects mouth feel is to use gums (agar, guar, etc.). These are natural plant products used as stabilizers and thickeners in factory packed foods. Packets and jars of gums are available at supermarkets. Just don't use too much as they can have a slickening affect on the innards. You can also use arrowroot powder, which I think is one of the least "starchy" in sauces. It's quite low in calories and especially sugars.

One thing to remember, as well, is that packaged foods use a lot of salt. If you're used to a lot of salt it'll take you awhile to reset your expectations. Most pre-made foods taste salty to me, and I don't avoid salt. I just don't use a ton of it.

Do you have favorite sauces? Some are adaptable to more diet friendly versions. Most sauces have either a strong fat component or a strong sugar component. The exception is gravies which are made from meat juices. Fat carries flavor. One pat of butter divided over a whole pan of sauce, as Grainlady suggested, isn't very much, and a controlled could be just enough to take your sauce from boring to delicious.

Evaporated skim milk makes a decent white sauce and vegetable purees are good sauces with some broth added. I don't have recipes though but have made things like that in the past with recipes.

Agreeing with the above -- when concentrating a broth, homemade is best, as you can reduce the salt content. You can take the broth, add a tiny bit of soy sauce and cornstarch, dunk slivered garlic/ginger in it for a while and finish your veggies with it. This is a simple and classic finishing sauce for stir fry.

Also, you can try the broth reductions above with a dab of butter, but finished with some fresh chopped herbs.

Nonfat greek yogurt can make for an incredibly rich sauce, when combined with lemon, garlic and herbs. Great on whole-wheat pasta or mixed in roasted veggies. Just let the residual heat warm the sauce.

There is a Turkish dish called Hunkar Begendi that makes for a smooth sauce/paste based on eggplant. You can reduce the fat by using skim milk. Baba ganoush is another eggplant based puree.

I'd like it to be easy, and you have all been so helpful. Lots of ideas here I can mesh together to get the taste I want. How do they get the cheesy sauces to taste so rich and cheesy?

Keep in mind you don't get much sauce. They do use low fat cheese but not much and it is always a sauce that is based on a skim dairy product.

Also, you can't duplicate the sauces, their list of weird chemical ingredients is mind boggling but the real key is going to be exercising supreme portion control.

If you melt some good, strong cheese into 4% fat creme fraiche, you'll get a lovely tasty sauce with reduced calories. I think the secret to a good sauce is to use good ingredients, but just eat less of it :)A little butter in a sauce isn't the end of the world. As as been said above, a good home-made, reduced stock with a little red wine added and spot of butter at the end will give a richer flavour without adding too many calories. I would go the reducing way rather than the thickening way.

A really good sauce for grilled meat is to take 4% fat creme fraiche, add a squirt of tomato puree, some chilli, some garlic and perhaps some horseradish if you like it. Just play about til you get the taste you like.

You can't do a good cheesy sauce without a little fat, but you only need some fat, not a boatload. Make a roux with good oil instead of butter (you'll have to adjust the proportion to account for the liquidity, but it'll work) to cut down the amount of animal fat, and use nonfat evaporated milk to make your bechamel. Grate up some low fat cheese and melt it in, and you have a low guilt cheese sauce. I also prefer barley flour (Wondra), which doesn't clump, for the roux. Most low fat cheeses don't have the rich ripe flavor of "better" cheeses, so you can go half of each, or add a smaller amount of a dry aged cheese like parmesan or an aged gouda to the low fat cheese. Just be really deliberate with your additions as you make the bechamel, and stir a lot so your sauce doesn't break.

It's actually pretty easy. Mostly, you have to remember that a cheese sauce is a serving of cheese and account for it within your diet. Before you make the sauce, measure out your quantities by weight, and figure out how how many servings you're making so that when you add it to your meal, you're not using too much and over indulging.

Also, use spices to make up for the lack of flavor in a low fat cheese. Onion powder is great, as is any kind of red pepper (paprika, cayenne, etc.), but also the kinds of spices you might put in a curry, or anything that's to your taste.

IC, I don't think most of our markets have creme fraiche, let alone 4%. Even in the big city it's usually a specialty item from ethnic stores. Pity. I'd forgotten how nice it was in sauces until your post.

Suzi-

That little dab of butter in the sauce (or fat from a small amount from cheese/yogurt/cream, etc.) will help with the mouth feel of any sauce and doesn't introduce high-glycemic starches (which are diet enemies and don't always withstand freezing and reheating). The meal will also be more satisfying (satiety level - effect of fat saturation on satiety, hormone release, and food intake is key to a good diet) with a small amount of fat. A mistake dieters often make is going extremely low-fat or fat free. Fat is an essential nutrient in a balanced diet. Have you ever seen someone eat an entire box of fat-free cookies when they intended eating a single serving? Fat-free cookies have a low satiety level because they are all carbs, low-fiber, and no fat.

Cook extra when making several of your favorite meals and make freezer meals out of them. The small amount of sauce on the meat (1-2 T. or so) is there so the meat doesn't dry out in the freezer and doesn't dry even more when reheated. You would never be able to keep a chicken tenderloin moist without some kind of sauce.

There is a whole science to thickeners when it comes to freezing and reheating them if you decide to make a sauce with a starch-type thickener. So do your homework to find which one works best for freezing and reheating. Here's a sample of what I have notes on.

-All-purpose wheat flour:
Poor resistance to thinning when over-cooked.
Fair gel formation
Does NOT freeze well

-Cornstarch
Good resistance to thinning when over-cooked.
Good gel formation
Does NOT freeze well (turns spongy)
Cornstarch and prolonged heat don't go along well together

-Arrowroot
Good resistance to thinning when over-cooked.
Fair gel formation
Does NOT reheat well
Handles well freezing and with acidic foods

-Potato starch
Fair resistance to thinning when over-cooked
poor gel formation

-Rice flour
Good resistance to thinning when over-cooked.
Poor gel formation
Freezes well

Other thickeners:
Agar Agar, butter, potato flakes, egg yolk, nut butter, grains/cereals, chickpea flour, flax seed meal, coconut flour, sour cream, cream cheese, masa flour slury (great tortilla flavor when used on a Mexican entrée), cream, almond flour, pureed vegetables, gelatin, and a low-carb thickener - Konjac flour.

You are not going to have the same taste as what you can buy from the stores.

They all have MSG in them in one form or the other.

They don't have to explain to you on their labels.

dcarch

Thanks for all the great ideas. I do plan on making several TV dinners at one time and freezing them. I actually have a source for creme fraiche locally. Trader Joes, Ralphs, and Fresh & Easy all carry it. I buy it when we have caviar for special occasions.

I would go back and re-visit granddaddy's first response. 'copycat' means recipes on-line through a search....people creating a homemade recipe from a favorite store purchased frozen processed food item.

If you know the exact name of your favorite, Like Kasha lemongrass chicken with snow peas...(not sure the exact name, but the only frozen dinner i have had), .... *working out of town years ago in a hotel with only a microwave. Someone out there has a homemade version. I make one but i've never written a recipe, i wing it.

A very simple 'TV' dinner at home.

In a small saucepan with lid, add 1 tbsp oil, i use coconut, on med-low heat, place two skinless chicken breast, in a pan that fits them tight but in a single layer...top with very small diced...one celery rib, one carrot, one medium onion, two roma tomatoes chopped, half a sweet potato or one small reg potato and a minced/chopped garlic clove. Lower the heat to a simmer, your lowest setting. (all stoves are different) you want this to simmer/steam, not sizzle and brown. Once simmering, add 1/4 cup water, white wine or stock.

Let simmer/steam for 1/2 hour. No need to stir, let it be.

After the 1/2 hour remove the chicken breast to an oven sheet pan/cookie sheet. Top with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or sesame oil/soy sauce blend. Just a tbsp will do. Pepper and any herbs or herb blend you like. Place in your pre-heated 350 oven.

At the same time turn up your 'sauce' veggies to med heat and reduce a bit if it needs it. Until the potatoes are soft. I take half of this and put in the blender with a tbsp of non-fat greek yogurt...instant sauce. And back into the sauce pan, stir. Turn heat back down to low, Take out your chicken breasts from the oven...at this point they should be tender cooked after in the oven 15 min. Slice as you like it and back in the sauce.

This is where you can customize your meal. Lay on top sliced asparagus, snow peas, chopped spinach, just about any veggie to stream for 5-10 min. The veggie topping choice will be crisp and fresh. I like to put heartier veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, baby artichokes, etc. on the sheet pan in the oven with the chicken to give it the extra needed cooking time.

*note, i prefer a stick blender in the saucepan instead of a blender, easier cleaning...

*we prefer skinless bone-in chicken thighs over breast. Bone-in skinless breast would be better, adding its own stock to the cooking process.

*fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley, added at the end, a fresh squeeze of lemon or lime, 1/4 cup of low-fat coconut milk instead of yogurt...

Lots of personalizing, using what you have or what is fresh in your market and seasonal.

This makes 4-6 servings depending on the size of your chicken. Can be portioned and frozen.

I have 9 chicken thighs marinating in ginger, soy, toasted sesame oil i prepped last night...these are huge. We will have leftovers for a chicken salad. I'll do a greek style with olives capers, chopped apple, grapes, celery, cashews, a bit of feta...lots of lemon. etc. over a bed of fresh, not cooked spinach. (need to use up)

I only salt at the end. If it even needs salt. Sometimes a bit of sriracha and richer spice blend in the oven topper sauce. Tonights meal may be on the grill as the weather is lovely. I'll still start a similar 'sauce' but it will be more of a bbq style...and probably over a mixed grain, not pasta. Skewer a row of asparagus on the grill...three avocados are very ripe, hmmm.

I will try your sauce method. I have a stick blender. Thanks!