300 Calorie Lean Cuisine Copycat Sticky Ginger Chicken Recipe (2024)

Jump to Recipe

Meal prep by making your own homemade version of the Lean Cuisine Sticky Ginger Chicken frozen meal at home!

I started looking at freezer aisle meals and frozen meal delivery services the last few weeks. I was interested both in the time saving it would provide, as well as how these meals have built in portion control, and that they would be controlled for calories.

But at the end of the day, I found it extremely difficult to justify the cost. The meals from the grocery store ranged from $2.88-$6.00. The meals in a meal delivery service are around $10 or more per meal!

So, I bought a few Lean Cuisine frozen meals, just to see if I could re-make it myself. And I did! Not only did it save me money, but I thought the dinner I made for my copycat trial tasted AMAZING!

How did my homemade Lean Cuisine dinner save money?

I paid almost $3 for the frozen Lean Cuisine. When I calculated all the ingredients, matching for calories and macros, I was able to make my Lean Cuisine Sticky Ginger Chicken recipe for $1.14.

I used:

• 1 cup dry rice ($0.54 total) 6 ounces dry. = made 2 cups cooked or 12 ounces (1/2 cup in each container),
• Chicken tenderloins 8 ounces (1.50 total) or 3.00 per pound. 2 ounces in each container
• G Hughes sauce. 0.13 per tablespoon (0.52 total)
• 1 large yellow carrot- 4 ounces total (0.23 total for 4 ounces) 1 ounce in each container.
• 1/2 can green beans (0.25 for 1/2 can) a few beans in each container.
• Slivered almonds. 1 ounce or 4 tablespoons. ( 0.43 per ounce total) 1/4 ounce in each container. Walmart brand = $7 for 16 ounce bag.
• Broccoli- 2 ounces in each container. 8 ounces total – 1/2 pound. (1.10 total)

TOTAL for all 4 $4.57 or $1.14 per container.

The bonus: Now I have 4 dinners, instead of just one.

How was my homemade Lean Cuisine Sticky Ginger Chicken Healthier?

To just look at the calories and macros, they were actually, exactly the same! This really surprised me because I was trying to use whole, low calorie ingredients.

Of course, if you doubled the vegetables in this meal, you would absolutely be getting more meal, while keeping the calories down.

I did make one specific swap, and that was to use the G. Hughes Orange Ginger Marinade. I’ve been loving these for sugar free sauces. (see my grocery store buying guide for more low calorie store finds!)

The total calories I got for this dinner were 316 calories, 20.4 grams of protein, 47.7 grams carbs, and 5.3 grams of fat.

How to make the Sticky Ginger Chicken

In order to prep this dinner ahead of time, I cooked all of it, and separated it into containers.

• I first cooked the rice, and divided equally into small containers I found at Walmart.
• Then I cooked the chicken, and again, divided into the four containers.
• Then, I cooked the veggies, and divided it into the prep containers.
• I topped with the Sugar Free Orange sauce.
• Then, I labeled the meal so we would know what we had!

Then, just stored the meals in the fridge until I was ready to eat! 4 days of lunches or dinners for me!

Of course, I shared with my family, so it was actually one day. LOL

I also added the calories and macros to the label, because I always like to know! Calorie counting is the best way I can maintain my weight loss.

Here’s a picture of the Lean Cuisine I tried for $2.88 vs. my homemade Lean Cuisine meal.

Pin to your favorite meal prep boards, and follow my healthy meal prep board on pinterest!

Download the free 7 Day Meal Plan here.

If you liked these Printable Portion Sizes Chart options, you might also like