Because there is a multimillion dollar business built up around convincing you that you need them to lose weight.

But, really, you don't.

You can lose weight much more effectively without using specially packaged (and marketed ... and marked up!) "diet" foods.

If convenience is a factor, I can show you ways to spend a few hours in the kitchen on a day off to make your own convenience foods. And if you have kids, they'll have just as much fun helping you.

Average price of a frozen entree: $3

What you get for your $3

A few ounces of a meatlike food product - cut into little chunks, spongy, and covered with a sauce full of questionable ingredients like added sugar, thickeners, and preservatives.  And the sodium can be a third to a half of the daily sodium recommended for a healthy adult.

A quarter to half cup of a starch food - mostly of the less healthy "white" variety versus a whole grain. Yes, there are other frozen entree brands out there that give you whole grains, but they either 1) give you a very small portion for your $3 or 2) cost more than $3, on average.

MAYBE a quarter cup of an overcooked vegetable, like green beans, or carrots.

If you are lucky, the whole mess won't be freezer burned.

AND you are going to have to add some more vegetables or a side salad, plus a piece of fruit, to get anywhere near a balanced, wholesome meal.

You probably have everything you need to make your own smarter and healthier and cheaper frozen entrees in your kitchen, right now.

For three dollars, I can buy a half pound of chicken breasts, a bag of brown rice, and a large bag of frozen spinach or chopped broccoli or any other frozen vegetable you like.  I can make at least a half dozen comparable frozen meals out of that grouping. 

But, you don't have to go buy new food to make frozen entrees.  What are you having for dinner tonight?  Will there be leftovers?  Is it something that freezes well? 

Put it in one of the divided entree dishes most of the container manufacturers make, add some cooked brown rice or other whole grain, and the vegetables you served with dinner, mark the contents and date (and put it on freezer tape if you want to reuse the container) and freeze.  Do that for a week...and suddenly you have a week's worth of convenient frozen entrees ... that are made the way YOU like to eat, with wholesome ingredients, and only the sodium that you yourself added.

I've given you some links on what freezes well and what doesn't, as well as how to freeze various food items.

They are EVERYWHERE these days, and they seem to contain EVERYTHING.  And man, is Big Food Business making a killing on these ... out of YOUR pocket.  You are paying up to 300% more for the SAME FOOD ITEM when it's prepackaged for you as a 100 calorie pack versus in its usual packaging (and you're paying too much for anything prepared, preprocessed and packaged on your behalf, you know..... but that's another Hubpage)

What is the secret to these?  It's prepackaged portion control.  You can do this at home in just minutes, packaging the treats into snack size plastic bags.  Let the kids help!

Ideas for your own, healthier 100 calorie packs

• Pretzel sticks and a few nuts or raisins
• Popcorn (airpopped and seasoned yourself with herbs and spices or cinnamon and sweetener, of course)
• Almonds, peanuts or cashew with a teaspoon of chocolate chips
• Pita chips (that you have made yourself from small, wholegrain pita bread, a misting of olive oil and herbs and spices)
• Make healthy cookie recipes in small cookie size and package those up.
• Ditto mini muffins.
• How about some fresh food 100 calorie packs?  Baby carrots.  Celery sticks.  Grapes.  Strawberries.  Season plain yogurt either savory  or sweet to use as a dip.  Did you know you can have MORE THAN A CUP of most fruit compared to a half dozen little crispy cookies, for 100 calories.  I know what I want for my 100 calories!

Just as an eye opener, here is a list of fresh wholesome food you can have for 100 calories.  Some of it clearly is not a 100 calorie "pack" type food (12 cups of torn lettuce?) but it sure gives you an idea of what you can get for your calorie "buck" when you focus on whole foods.

• 1/4 of an avocado
  1.75 cups apple slices
  1 medium banana
  1 cup grapes
  2 cups berries
  1.5 cups sliced peaches
  1.25 cups orange sections
  1.25 cups blueberries
  2 cups diced watermelon
  1 cup sliced pears
  1.33 cup diced pineapple
  1.5 cups raspberries
  1 cup cherries
  2 large kiwifruit
  3 clementines
  4 cups cherry tomatoes or 10 plum tomatoes or 3 large beefsteak tomatoes
  1 medium baked sweet potato
  1 small baked white potato
  2 cups carrot strips or slices
  12 cups torn lettuce
  10 large broccoli spears
  8 cups sliced cucumbers
  5.5 cups sliced bell or sweet peppers
  5 cups whole raw mushrooms
  32 spears cooked asparagus
  2.5 cups cooked green beans
  80 snow or sugar snap pea pods
  4.5 cups mixed vegetable salad (without dressing)
  1/2 cup cooked grain/rice/pasta (most, bulgur is 3/4s cup)
  1 jumbo hard boiled egg
  20 large boiled or steamed shrimp
  2 oz chicken breast meat (a little more than 2 oz)
  2 oz sirloin steak (a little less than 2 oz)
  0.75 cup plain fatfree yogurt
  3 cups airpopped popcorn

And if that doesn't make you stop and think....

Fat free mayonnaise.  Fat free salad dressing.  Fat free cheese.  Fat free ... butter?

Point one:  Read your labels.  Fat free foods almost always contain more SUGAR than their fatfull counterparts.  This is because fat heightens flavor, and so does sugar.  When a food manufacturer removes the fat .... they add sugar in, to heighten the flavor.  Are they doing you any real favors here?

You are far better served to use reduced fat or "the real thing" and use less of it, less often. 

Nobody needs piles of mayo on a sandwich.  A good mayo with flavor goes a long way, and there are a million other sandwich spreads you can have instead.  I love a good whole grain sandwich spread with hummus and piled high with sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, romaine lettuce and a smattering of black olives and sliced pepperoncini.  Yum.  In fact, I think that's what I'll have for lunch.

Instead of buying bottles of fat free (sugar full) salad dressing, make your own with a little good olive oil, a fullbodied vinegar and some herbs and spices.  Did you know that most raw vegetables NEED the addition of a fat to get the most vitamins and minerals out of the food?  Good fats like olive, canola, and flaxseed oil have a place in a healthy diet ... and when you are losing weight, you simply limit their usage to a few teaspoons daily.  Easy peasy.

Fat free cheese isn't cheese at all.  Use real cheese .... and use it as a FLAVORING, not as a food item all on its own.  Besides, fatfree cheese doesn't melt well, which makes an awful grilled "cheese" sandwich or macaroni and "cheese" casserole.

Fat free butter?  How about ... better butter?  1 cup of real butter.  2 cups of olive oil.  Whip the butter and olive oil together.  It will be the consistency of cake batter.  Pour into a container, cover with a lid and chill overnight.  It will turn into a spread.  You've maintained the flavor of butter, added Omega 3's from the olive oil.  No, you haven't reduced the fat, but you've made the fat at least half GOOD healthy fat .... and the flavor is good, so you use less of it.  A teaspoon of better butter tastes a lot better than an entire mound of "fat free butter".

Decide for yourself where not to sacrifice quality for quantity.  Sometimes .... a little bit of something really good is a lot more satisfying to both the body and soul than a big pile of something mediocre.