Convenience Eating: Microwaveable Meals

Eating at work can be hazardous. How many times have I attempted to take a lunch and left it in the heat to rot? Or brought a homemade dish in a plastic container only for said container to leak all over the floor of the car or the car seat itself? Its horrendous. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Hannah, why don’t you just take those handy microwaveable meals they have nowadays?” My reply is simple… microwaveable meals are processed—meaning they are full of soy protein isolate, soy lecithin or soy flour (or all of the above). Its has been a hard road finding a soy free, handy, affordable microwaveable alternative so my soy free lifestyle.

But the hard road has hard won rewards! After digging around in the internet and then my local Kroger (which has the best options for organic foods which are often subsequently soy free) I found Amy’s. Now, I’ve had amy’s in the past. Their soups are fabulous and I’ve eaten them on and off over the years. But I’d only ever found them at Whole Foods and the closest one to me is about an hour away (tragic I know). But after my said digging I found that Kroger has a host of Amy’s variety and Amy’s has a large variety of soy free options.

Keep in mind though that you will have to check the labels. Amy’s does employ the use of Tofu in some of their dishes (an obvious soy no no) but some of the burritos and even a few of their meals (though not a whole lot of ‘em) have some variety of soy in their ingredients list. But they have a boat load of soy free options which are equally delicious as they are convenient and relatively affordable. By “relatively” I mean that they will be slightly more expensive than the Lean Cuisine counterpart but less expensive than the organic options you would find at Whole Foods.

Everything from their Tamale Verde to Paneer Tikka Masala and Pizza Bites are fair game to the soy free eater. All of their options are also vegetarian so I’ve begun having a protein smoothie in the morning (more on this in my next episode) to make sure I have enough protein in my diet. Over all though the meals are filling, nutritious and tasty.

Whats more, I wrote in to Amy’s via their website (which by the way has a host of information about their products including which ones are soy free and which ones are not) and let them know how excited I was about this new discovery of mine. They promptly thanked me via email and then mailed me a book of coupons. Their company supports health care at work (they have a clinic onsite for their 700+ employees) and seem concerned with their community and their contribution to society. In short, besides their decision to sell their products at walmart (a limited variety but its there) I find them a company I can get behind. I budget my lunches around their meals and enjoy them on a consistent basis.