Customers Agree, Leave These 9 Frozen Lasagnas In The Freezer Aisle

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Sometimes seeking convenience, like opting for frozen lasagna instead of making your own, comes with tradeoffs that devalue the savings in time and effort. Given the array of options available in any supermarket freezer aisle, one might wonder how to begin to discern which entrees are a good buy and which ones may merit a hard pass. Fortunately, many a hungry timesaver has tread where you walk before rather than choose the tastier alternative of a restaurant lasagna, and enough have been vocal about their experience to try to steer you clear of a regrettable purchase.

Aside from complaints about flavors — including cases of artificial, bland, sweet, and even chemical-like profiles — which may be unique to the tastebuds of the consumer, more measurable issues often standout in reviews. Cheese alone warrants myriad criticisms like there being too much, too little, it being gritty, or the cheese seeming a risk to one's health by proving too challenging to cut or chew. What follows takes into account areas of consensus advising against specific frozen lasagnas be it disappointing sauces, questionable noodles, and at least one variety that may fall short of the criteria to be considered a lasagna.

Making organic the mission, one might get the impression that the vegetable lasagna from the California-based Amy's would mean the produce is prominent. This is especially true as, like a bestselling author's name on the latest hardcover, "vegetable" is the largest word on the package, and it's spelled out in green letters above an image of the lasagna with well-represented verdant layers. However, among the leading complaints from those disappointed with Amy's offering, consumers wonder where the vegetables actually are.

After the wheat pasta, tomato purée, and ricotta cheese, the ingredients list features organic zucchini as the next most represented inclusion before water and cheeses. Organic spinach, onions, and carrots follow, but remain insufficient to satisfy some, just as the portion size left others wanting — so much so that the single-serve tray is considered likely to leave even a child hungry. Additionally, for the asking price of this freezer find, customers ask where they might find the flavor of the arguably bland lasagna.

Given the reputation stakes, one can reasonably expect that a food product endorsement from a celebrity chef carries a little more weight than a run-of-the-mill spokesperson. So it is that the bar had been set high for the notoriously critical Chef Gordon Ramsay with his first ever line-up of frozen meals. Unfortunately for the "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares" star, the lasagna with bolognese meat sauce, available through his exclusive line of frozen products at Walmart, falls short of clearing the bar for many.

Touted as "gourmet" by the international chef, negative opinions of the lasagna consider the quality to be no different than a typical frozen entrée while it suffers from the burden of a brand name cost. In addition to weighing in on the small size for a single serving, consumers voice dissatisfaction with the amount of sauce that lends to an overly dry experience. Others report the meal lingering on after eating as the dish is said to come with the unexpected cost of a parting residual film in the mouth.

Another Walmart exclusive, Great Value's addition to the frozen lasagna category has some feeling it's being sold along with the wrong type of comfort food. Rather than a hearty construction of layered cheese, pasta, and sauce, the consistency of this store brand dish calls to mind soup. Those with negative experiences supping on the entrée also lament just how long they have to wait for their disappointing dinner.

According to the package, baking from thawed takes roughly an hour while attempting to skip that step will still require two hours of time in the oven at 425 F. Then a wait of 10 to 15 minutes is necessary to allow the lasagna to rest before slicing and serving. After all that time, critics of the premade dish report that the pasta is thick. Others point to use of cottage cheese instead of a preferable ricotta alternative — with Parmesan way down the ingredient list — leaving them feeling cheated on cheese. What's more, like the vanished fast-food slogan from Wendy's, some of those interested in the titular meat sauce find themselves asking, "Where's the beef?"

Consumers looking for a frozen lasagna option that can satisfy their craving for decadence without necessarily cramping their caloric quota aren't shy about sharing their reservations with one option from Lean Cuisine. The negative responses to the Comfort Cravings Frozen Lasagna with Meat Sauce even include those who used to be keen on the single-serve entrée. The newfound distaste for the product arises from a suspected change to the dish on which they once relied.

The range of disfavor hit on taste, quality, and even portion size as all are believed to have altered after a while. Where it concerns flavor, the consensus among negative reviews is that the lasagna is lacking, even tasteless. Hand in hand with those critiques, issues on consistency of the finished product are called out, with some reporting that the meals contain little more than noodles and sauce with barely any beef. Others complain of an unwelcome sweet flavor to what should be a savory supper. What's more, former frequent purchasers took notice of a shift in scale over time as the entrée either has ceased to fill the tray or the entire package has become smaller in the style of shrinkflation.

Microwaves are notorious for serving up hot plates of cold food, and this appears to be a consistent complaint from those seeking to enjoy Marie Callender's bowl version of a lasagna. For those looking to avoid the 45 to 50 minutes of wait time — not accounting for the preheat — of a conventional oven, the appliance of ease boasts of readying the Traditional Lasagna With Meat & Sauce Bowl in less than six minutes. However, not only do consumers report uneven heating for the entrée, they also detail hard or overcooked pasta.

In addition to the woes of heating, others speak to issues with measurements, that is to say how much or how little of the ingredients are included in each single-serve meal. Some complain of too much sauce while others say not enough. Others familiar with the product say that there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of salt in addition to a disappointing reduction in the amount of ricotta. Meanwhile, a smaller portion was made worse by an apparent artificial taste.

Whereas a chief complaint for other frozen lasagnas is scant or insufficient amounts of cheese, an offering from Rao's is said to have the opposite problem. Of course, the trouble with the Rao's Made For Home Meat Lasagna isn't simply how much ricotta is included, but the fact that the cheese is also said to have a dry, sandy quality to it made worse by limited or nonexistent levels of seasoning.

A seemingly straightforward solution for those looking to make lemonade out of lemons — or in this case tasty out of tasteless — attempts to dress up the entrée did not go as planned. Given the gritty texture of the dish that remains shy on sauce, the addition of fresh ingredients, albeit not from this list of ingredients you should be using in lasagna, did not improve the situation. Others report that the noodles make al dente seem soft as a knife was necessary to both divvy up the servings and to secure a single bite of the entrée that also lacks in the meat category.

This quest to make gluten free alternatives to popular recipes can sometimes strain credulity, and the frozen lasagna bowl from Real Good Foods Co. is no exception. Expectations of an alternative to traditional sheets of pasta are in fact met for those dining on this single-serve entree. The explanation on how the company did this also makes sense of the macronutrients of the dish that boasts 25 grams of protein against 4 grams of net carbs. It's just that, instead of something like a lentil-based noodle, cold cut chicken slices are substituted in as the pasta.

Not every consumer is aware of the swap as some find the "noodles" tough or rubbery not realizing they are eating chicken. In addition to the major ingredient change leaving doubts as to whether this bowl qualifies as a lasagna, others take umbrage with the overall quality of the entrée. The list of grievances includes an unappetizing appearance with an off color, a lack of sauce as only tomato purée is listed, and complaints that the ricotta cheese is watery.

Loyal customers are turning away from a leader in the frozen lasagna section as their most recent sampling has them wondering about a recipe change. Mind you, it isn't just a matter of taste preference that they are talking about as each element of the Stouffer's Classic Lasagna with Meat & Sauce faces criticism. For some, construction complaints are raised beyond the absence of this clever way Italians build their lasagna as some layers of the dish have been missed leaving either ricotta or sauce out. As for those with negative reviews of the sauce, they report its lack of meat as well as its lack of flavor, with some even suggesting a chemical taste.

Meanwhile, the noodles aren't beyond reproach thanks to their being either tough or doughy. Furthermore, unlike single-serve options, this party size lasagna does not boast a microwave option despite some reviewers making an effort to cutdown on cook time — an understandable motivation given the alternative. According to the package, the lasagna takes at least 90 minutes in the oven from frozen before allowing it to rest for another 15 minutes before serving. If thawed, 40 minutes can be shaved off still leaving just over an hour of total time for the final product to come out — as some say — unevenly done.

Unlike another frozen lasagna that took an extreme step toward achieving a gluten free designation by subbing in meat for pasta, Udi's version of a lasagna with meat sauce actually uses alternative ingredients to make its noodles. That said, the brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch pasta is said to add to a strange taste. On top of that, some also complain of an overall lack of noodles that leaves the dish more reminiscent of a cheesy tomato soup than a lasagna.

Others who advise that this dish is better left behind in the freezer aisle voice their disfavor for the ingredients that have enough of a presence to actually taste. For some, the cheese is described as akin to plastic making it tough to cut with utensils and even a challenge to chew. More lament a lack of flavor for the sauce that, though listing ground beef in the ingredients, remains sparse on meat.

This list relies on customer reviews where consensus can be found regarding negative aspects of each lasagna. Wherever possible, multiple retail sites were examined to further support that reported poor experiences are more than mere outliers. It is important to recognize that they do not represent unanimous views on the entrées and that, especially where taste is discussed, some positions remain a matter of personal preference.